curious about signal strength

[memory]

When connected through a network, does signal strength make a difference on how fast the internet is? For example, right now I have a signal strength of 2 bars out of 5 bars and the internet seems slower than usual. If it was 5 bars, would that make a difference? You know what I am asking?

 

[b1gapl]

Yes, signal strength is a factor in internet speed. Kinda like cell phones. You have a weak signal, the call is not clear.

When I was installing laptops into a wireless network, one had a weak signal strength, so it struggled to get on the internet. And the other one had a full signal, because it was near the access point, so the internet was smooth and responsive.

 

[peterhuang913]

The signal strength is how well the router and the wireless client is connected. A low signal strength will in turn result in slower internet speeds because the data can't be transmitted fast enough.

 

[mikesgroovin]

I know that this is a little old but I am bored this evening
Just to throw in my .02...
Believe it or not, every wireless signal is judged by 2 physical signal marks: Signal Strength and Signal Integrity. A lot of home use applications that are provided with cards to show how strong a signal is only show the user 1 set of bars. There is an obvious reason for this: The end-user
All signals showing 1 bar is a basically taking both signal levels into account and then showing you a "theoretical signal strength". So, lets say that a signal strength by itself is 5 of 5. A signal integrity level may be at a 3 of 5. Signal integrity is drawn by the succession rate from sending and receiving packets to the wireless capturing device in question that the card is being connected to. In a lot of cases, the signal shown through the OS or application is an average of the 2, in this case it would be a 4 out of 5 (even if you are right next to it. All Cisco cards show both, mostly because of their client base (small to large business/enterprise levels) So, take that into consideration when, in some cases, you might be RIGHT NEXT to a wireless device and only see 3 or 4 bars of signal strength. There is absolutely no logical or excusable explanation for this other than a poor broadcasting device, receiving card or simply that the 2 devices just don't work very well together.

Applying a device to adhere to a standard like 802.11g or 802.11b doesn't mean that devices have to prioritize packets at the same level they are being sent, hardly actually. It only means that they must speak the same and be able to communicate.