Signal Strenth

[bevcoke]

Hi, I'm new to ipad and am wondering how I can measure what strength of signal I am receiving from my BT Home hub as it seems to drop out in certain rooms and am wondering whether changing my hub for a newer model would improve the signal

Thanks

 

[NSquirrel]

Probably the simplest method is to look at the signal strength indicator at the top left of your screen as you move around your house, even though it is only three '(' between min and max.

Which homehub have you got? I have a hh4 which seems to give reasonable strength over a 3 bedroom semi, but then I took care in positioning it.

 

[bevcoke]

Hi, Thanks for the reply, I'm using a BT Home Hub 1.5, which is a very early model, so probably upgrading that would help me?

 

[NSquirrel]

Another thought; If you have an old router, you may be able to turn it into a 2nd wifi source elsewhere in the house.

 

[giradman]

Hi, I'm new to ipad and am wondering how I can measure what strength of signal I am receiving from my BT Home hub as it seems to drop out in certain rooms and am wondering whether changing my hub for a newer model would improve the signal

Hello and welcome to the forum! Unfortunately, iOS and its iDevices do not offer the best options for monitoring one's home network - I do much better on OS X w/ my MBPro.

However, there are plenty of iOS apps related to network analysis, but many just don't do much of use - let me suggest a couple that might help w/ your questions above. Ookla's Speedtest measures your download (DL) and upload speeds which are throttled by your ISP - see the first image below from my iPad Air 2 - I usually get about 20+ Mbps DL speeds - available at the App store.

Wi-Fi SweetSpots (also at the App store) likely is measuring the 'transmit' speeds of your router (see second image) which will be higher than your DL measurements, as is evident - I have an Apple Extreme router (801.11 b/g/n) which is currently providing a higher transmit rate but the Wi-Fi radios in my laptop & iPad are not detecting this 'ideal' amount, AND remember that your ISP is the bottleneck!

SO, by using these apps, especially the latter, stand near your router and see what speeds are being obtained, then walk around your house to determine how these speeds vary - please post back your results and suggestions can be given as to improving your network signals. And yes if you have an old router running outdated protocols, such as 801.11b/g, then a new one would most likely help. Dave
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