How are we supposed to read 5GHz WiFi signal strength bands?

C

ceg

Guest
I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.
Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

I can't make any sense of the 5GHz chart (for example, what band to use?).
Can you?
 
In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:45:56 +0000 (UTC), ceg
<curt.guldenschuh@gmail.com> wrote:

I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.

It's awfully pretty.

>Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

I think it means "LIfe is empty and the only true solace is in
technology."

I can't make any sense of the 5GHz chart (for example, what band to use?).
Can you?

No. But it's awfully purty. Maybe a museum would want to display it
 
In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:45:56 +0000 (UTC), ceg
<curt.guldenschuh@gmail.com> wrote:

I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

A strange thing. The image above displayed just fine at first and for
at least a couple minutes, and I went and did something else, but later
when I looked at the tab, it was all black. When I reloaded, I got the
message.
"The image http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg cannot be dsplayed because
it contains errors". I checked the spelling.

You didn't change the image in the 15 minutes preceding the current
time, did you?

When I clicked on the link above just now, got the same black screen
with one line error message at the top, as above.
 
In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 23 Aug 2015 06:33:36 -0400, micky
<NONONOmisc07@bigfoot.com> wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:45:56 +0000 (UTC), ceg
curt.guldenschuh@gmail.com> wrote:

I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

A strange thing. The image above displayed just fine at first and for
at least a couple minutes, and I went and did something else, but later
when I looked at the tab, it was all black. When I reloaded, I got the
message.
"The image http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg cannot be dsplayed because
it contains errors". I checked the spelling.

You didn't change the image in the 15 minutes preceding the current
time, did you?

When I clicked on the link above just now, got the same black screen
with one line error message at the top, as above.

Tried again just now, 14 minutes later, and it worked just fine. Maybe
because I had closed the two tabs with error messages?
 
On 23/08/2015 06:45, ceg wrote:
I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.
Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

I can't make any sense of the 5GHz chart (for example, what band to use?).
Can you?

It got misdirected from a disco gobo.
 
CEG,

Puzzling that your graph or chart on the right does not have a labelled
"x" axis. What is it showing? If it is meant to be like the chart on the
left then that suggests that you do not have anything but noise at 5 gHz.
Looks like a lot of noise.

Dave M.
 
On 23/08/2015 06:45, ceg wrote:
I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.
Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

I can't make any sense of the 5GHz chart (for example, what band to use?).
Can you?

You could start by choosing the same graph format for both images and
then actually choosing the 5Ghz one for the one on the right (hint no 5G
displayed)
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:45:56 +0000 (UTC), ceg <curt.guldenschuh@gmail.com>
wrote:

I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.

While viewing the 2.4GHz chart, tap the screen once. You'll see a freq band
indicator over on the left, near the -db scale. If you do nothing, the freq
indicator times out and disappears again, but if you tap it while it's
visible, the screen switches to the 5GHz band.

What you're calling the 5GHz chart is really just another view of the 2.4GHz
chart. You *swiped* to get there. You need to tap.
 
"David L. Martel" wrote in message news:mrcld0$oik$1@dont-email.me...

CEG,

Puzzling that your graph or chart on the right does not have a labelled
"x" axis. What is it showing? If it is meant to be like the chart on the
left then that suggests that you do not have anything but noise at 5 gHz.
Looks like a lot of noise.

Dave M.


Carefully.
LOL
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:45:56 +0000 (UTC), ceg
<curt.guldenschuh@gmail.com> wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.
Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

No, it's not. We've been through this before. If your smartphone
supports 5GHz wi-fi, Wi-Fi Analyzer will produce a square box, near
the upper left hand corner of the screen, just below the "W" in "WiFi
Analyzer" with either 2.4G or 5G inside the box. The problem is that
the box disappears. Tap that area and the box will magically appear.
Tap it again to toggle modes. Also, if you're looking at 5G and no
SSID's are showing, the program will magically switch back to 2.4G.

The mess you were looking at on the right is the signal strength
versus time graphs. Too bad the author of WiFi Analyzer didn't bother
adding page titles.

You're not done yet. I've noticed that several "smart" devices, such
as cheapo cell phone and tabloids, that are allegedly dual band, turn
off the unused band when connected to an access point. The result is
that WiFi Analyzer pretends that there's no 5G in the device.
Disconnecting from your access point should solve that problem.

Also, there's something wrong with your Comcast connection. Your
download speed is fine, but you should be getting about 12 Mbits/sec
upstream. At least that's what I've been seeing at various customers.
Winner of the highest residential speed award so far was about 160/30
in Felton with a Comcast Cisco DPC3939:
<http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/device.php?devid=357>
There's suitable conspiracy here, but I promised not to tell.


Leak of the week (which means you didn't read this here): Comcast
Business class will also get a boost in speed on Thurs, Aug 27. Reboot
your modems in order to see the improvement. I pried this out of a
Comcast installer last week. If it doesn't happen on time, I'll claim
that this was a forgery and that I never said it.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
Does that app exist for iOS? I didn't see it.

On 8/22/2015 10:45 PM, ceg wrote:
I ran a WiFi survey using "Wifi Analyzer" freeware on my Android phone in
a college-dorm atmosphere earlier today (after installing Windows 10),
and I think I completely understand the 2.4GHz wifi signal-strength
chart; but I totally fail to gather any useful information out of the
5GHz signal-strength chart (specifically what band to set the 5GHz wifi
adapter to).

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

The 2.4GHz chart is at the left; while the 5GHz chart is to the right.
Can you help me interpret what I'm seeing in the 5GHz chart?

I can't make any sense of the 5GHz chart (for example, what band to use?).
Can you?

--
"Wow, I haven't felt this powerful since I got to decide which ant lives
and which ant dies. You shall battle to the death, and the winner will
be given his freedom. Why are you looking at me like that?" --Peter;
"Peter, would you like a glass of...? Oh, my God! I told you not to play
God with those ants!" --Lois in Family Guy S12E16.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see
this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) Chop ANT from its address if e-mailing privately.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 16:35:09 -0700, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

>Does that app exist for iOS? I didn't see it.

Nope. Apple has decided that you should not be allowed to install
wi-fi sniffer, monitor, and troubleshooting applications on Apple
handsets. Apple knows what is best for you. This is typical:
<http://www.adriangranados.com/blog/where-did-wifi-analyzer-go>
Limitations like this is why I gave up on IOS long ago.

Of course, that's why people jailbreak their iPhones. Try the Cydia
store on your jailbroken iThing:
<https://cydia.saurik.com>
Firing up my ancient iPhone 3G (jailbroken), I find
- yFyLite Network Finder
and nothing else. There might be something newer. I just ran Cydia
to see if there's anything new, and it's furiously updating packages
and indexes. Yawn... Argh, this thing is slow. How could I ever have
used it? The Cydia listing shows a huge list of WiFi related
utilities. A few are similar to WiFi Analyzer. The others are
connection managers and password managers. Most are useless tweaks
changing the stock signal stength icon to something more interesting.
One I recall from long ago is WiFiFoFum with its goofy radar like
display.

Of course, if you have a laptop, Apple allows Wi-Fi monitoring for
OS/X:
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wifi-explorer/id494803304?mt=12>
<https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wifi-signal/id525912054?mt=12>
Any semblance to hypocrisy is hopefully coincidental.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 06:48:42 -0400, micky wrote:

Tried again just now, 14 minutes later, and it worked just fine. Maybe
because I had closed the two tabs with error messages?

Works for me.
http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg

Anyway, I can't make any sense out of the 5GHz graph, so, I was hoping
someone who knew what it means would chime in.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 05:03:54 -0700, trader_4 wrote:

Does the app have a setting where you can limit the ones plotted to ones
that are above some cutoff level?

None that I know of.
The app is the freeware "WiFi Analyzer".

At home, with only a handful of 5GHz WiFi signals, the chart is
easy to read, and you are correct, the graphs are color coded
to the access points (ESSIDs) in the boxes at the top, and the
upper squiggles are of greater signal strength.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 13:09:55 +0100, N_Cook wrote:

http://i.imgur.com/JS4BDiy.jpg
It got misdirected from a disco gobo.

BTW, why do so many people use HOME as the prefix to their
SSID's?
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:31:36 -0400, David L. Martel wrote:

Puzzling that your graph or chart on the right does not have a
labelled
"x" axis. What is it showing? If it is meant to be like the chart on the
left then that suggests that you do not have anything but noise at 5
gHz.
Looks like a lot of noise.

At home, I can see better what is going on.

The 5GHz graph from Wifi Analyzer freeware has signal strength on the
Y axis (-30dBm at the top line, then -40dBm, -50dBm, -60dBm, -70dBm,
-80dBm, and -90dBm on the first line above the x axis, where the
y intercept must be at -100dBm Signal Strength.

The X axis isn't labeled, but it must just be time since I can watch
the graphs grow from one side to the other in about two minutes time.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 15:56:04 +0100, Lee wrote:

You could start by choosing the same graph format for both images and
then actually choosing the 5Ghz one for the one on the right (hint no 5G
displayed)

I don't think you get any option to choose anything, least of all the
graph format.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:01:03 -0500, Char Jackson wrote:

What you're calling the 5GHz chart is really just another view of the
2.4GHz chart. You *swiped* to get there. You need to tap.

Oooooooooooooh. I *did* swipe to see what I was calling the 5GHz chart!
(How did you know?)

I see now, that it's the *same* chart, only over time instead of over
frequency! (slaps head ... duh) It was just frequency versus time for
the x axis between the two charts. (embarrassed).

I see I have 5 options for viewing that 2.4GHz chart:
1. Channel graph
2. Time graph
3. Channel rating
4. AP list
5. Signal meter

If I *tap* at the top left (near the top of the y axis), then I see a
box with "2G" and "5G" alternatively, as I tap that box.

Geeeeeeez. I feel stoooopid.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 10:34:24 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

If your smartphone
supports 5GHz wi-fi, Wi-Fi Analyzer will produce a square box, near the
upper left hand corner of the screen, just below the "W" in "WiFi
Analyzer" with either 2.4G or 5G inside the box. The problem is that
the box disappears. Tap that area and the box will magically appear.
Tap it again to toggle modes. Also, if you're looking at 5G and no
SSID's are showing, the program will magically switch back to 2.4G.

I only just now realized that what you are saying it totally correct!
I was wrong. I misinterpreted what I was seeing.
And that's why it confused me.

The mess you were looking at on the right is the signal strength versus
time graphs. Too bad the author of WiFi Analyzer didn't bother adding
page titles.

Now I see that, since I have far fewer access points at home.

You're not done yet. I've noticed that several "smart" devices, such as
cheapo cell phone and tabloids, that are allegedly dual band, turn off
the unused band when connected to an access point. The result is that
WiFi Analyzer pretends that there's no 5G in the device. Disconnecting
from your access point should solve that problem.

When I tap the top left, I do get a 5G and a 2G box, alternating with
each other. So, WiFi Analyzer does seem to see both.

Also, there's something wrong with your Comcast connection. Your
download speed is fine, but you should be getting about 12 Mbits/sec
upstream. At least that's what I've been seeing at various customers.
Winner of the highest residential speed award so far was about 160/30 in
Felton with a Comcast Cisco DPC3939:
http://mydeviceinfo.comcast.net/device.php?devid=357
There's suitable conspiracy here, but I promised not to tell.

That's interesting. It's the kid's Comcast setup. I'm at home now, so,
I can't test it. But they get about 90 down on 5GHz and about 5 or 6 up.

On 2.4GHz, they get only about 30 down and about 5 or 6 up.

The "service", as I recall, is nominally 45 down and 5 up.
So, should they really be getting double the upload speeds?

Should we complain to Comcast since it's at least 5Gbps?

Leak of the week (which means you didn't read this here): Comcast
Business class will also get a boost in speed on Thurs, Aug 27. Reboot
your modems in order to see the improvement. I pried this out of a
Comcast installer last week. If it doesn't happen on time, I'll claim
that this was a forgery and that I never said it.

I wonder what "Business Class" is. Are these kids in Business Class?
It's an apartment building with a lot of kids in it (all from the
school) but it's an off-campus building.
 
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 20:59:34 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 16:35:09 -0700, Ant <ant@zimage.comANT> wrote:

Does that app exist for iOS? I didn't see it.

Nope. Apple has decided that you should not be allowed to install wi-fi
sniffer, monitor, and troubleshooting applications on Apple handsets.
Apple knows what is best for you. This is typical:
http://www.adriangranados.com/blog/where-did-wifi-analyzer-go
Limitations like this is why I gave up on IOS long ago.

Of course, that's why people jailbreak their iPhones. Try the Cydia
store on your jailbroken iThing:
https://cydia.saurik.com
Firing up my ancient iPhone 3G (jailbroken), I find - yFyLite Network
Finder and nothing else. There might be something newer. I just ran
Cydia to see if there's anything new, and it's furiously updating
packages and indexes. Yawn... Argh, this thing is slow. How could I
ever have used it? The Cydia listing shows a huge list of WiFi related
utilities. A few are similar to WiFi Analyzer. The others are
connection managers and password managers. Most are useless tweaks
changing the stock signal stength icon to something more interesting.
One I recall from long ago is WiFiFoFum with its goofy radar like
display.

Of course, if you have a laptop, Apple allows Wi-Fi monitoring for OS/X:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wifi-explorer/id494803304?mt=12
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wifi-signal/id525912054?mt=12
Any semblance to hypocrisy is hopefully coincidental.

Jeff is correct.
On iOS, you are screwed unless you jailbreak it to make it functional.
But OS/X should work, as would any other operating system not iOS.
 

Welcome to EDABoard.com

Sponsor

Back
Top