Day Twenty-two: late evening of August 23th 2009

I worked on the wifi today. Both consoles have the ability to check the signal strength, so that was what I investigated today.

I think that the Airport base station has a range of about 150 feet. Our house is a two flat on a 125 by 40 foot lot. So the range shouldn’t be an issue. There are other factors involved. The materials used in the construction of the building can diminish the signal. The house is frame structure built in 1897. Generally that type construction wouldn’t be an issue, but in the process of updating the building, adding duct work,bringing wiring up to code with flexible sheilding and even certain types of appliances can affect the signal. Even other wireless devices, such as the wireless home phone systems can actually cut into the transmission of your wifi.

This actually happened to our system. Whenever the phone in my daughter’s room was picked up, we would loose the connection to the base station. It took us a while to figure out what was causing the drop out, but eventually we did. Now the problem was how to fix it. Research was needed, and luckily we had the internet and Apple Support on line. Most of the wireless devices transmit on channels and those channels can be selected via software that comes with the wifi base stations. Even the modular home phones allow channel selection (I’m not sure if all wireless phone base stations have it-you have to check). Some of the channels are reserved for the unit’s system-check the manual. If you can’t find the manual, most manuals are on line now.

Back to the set up of the wireless network. The consoles (2) that are directly beneath the transmitter had the strongest signal. The Xbox 360 had 3 out of 4 bars, while the Playstation 3 next to it showed 100% reception. I was impressed. Now the consoles in the front room, about fifty feet from the other two, showed a considerable drop off in strength. The Xbox 360 showed one bar and it was red, The Playstation 3 show 35% signal strength. I was troubled by the really low Xbox reception. But I shouldn’t, because the signal falls of geometrically. I’ll try shifting the location in the near future, attempt to improve the reception, and publish the outcome here.

I did play a little bit of this (Battlefield 1943) and a little bit of that (Fallout 3), but I guess that will be enough for now.