Select the Wireless tab and click Wireless Options. To change the frequency that an AirPort Extreme uses, for example, launch AirPort Utility, select your router, and click Edit. We saw much less interference on the 5GHz frequency band.
#Wifiperf macos rssi pro
As you can see from this image captured with MetaGeek’s $599 Wi-Spy DBx Pro spectrum analyzer, interference from an operating microwave stomped all over our 2.4GHz network, reducing network throughput from just over 100 mbps to about 3 mbps. The problem is particularly bad on the 2.4GHz frequency band-a reason to avoid using that frequency if you can. A microwave oven can emit a tremendous amount of energy while heating up your leftover Chinese takeout. ‘Microwave ovens can interfere with your Wi-Fi network.’
They increased our router’s performance by up to 46 percent. We made these cool-looking parabolic signal reflectors out of paper, tape, cardboard, and tinfoil. The antenna boosters really did offer a boost to our network’s performance. Doubling the distance reduced the throughput both with and without the reflectors, but still they helped the router deliver 46 percent higher throughput speeds overall. Moving about 70 feet away, the performance benefit increased to 43 percent. We then printed out templates for 6-inch parabolic signal reflectors from and constructed the reflectors using paper, tape, cardboard, and tinfoil.Īt about 20 feet away from the router, the tests showed roughly a 12 percent throughput improvement when we used the reflectors. First, we took a Linksys EA6900 router with three external antennas and measured the throughput (using the WiFiPerf utility) at different locations around our offices. We’d seen claims on the Internet that a simple antenna enhancement could boost Wi-Fi signal strength. ‘Do-it-yourself Wi-Fi antenna boosters are totally bogus.’ And at 78 feet, the speeds in my office were down 51 percent from the speed I got in front of my house at the same distance. At 54 feet, the indoor test was 44 percent slower than in my quiet neighborhood. At 26 feet, the office speed dropped to 305 mbps, 33 percent less than the suburban test result from the same distance. At my home, the MacBook detected 25 networks at the office it saw 150.Īt a distance of 6 feet from the Time Capsule, our average throughput was 489 mbps, 11 percent less than the suburban network speed. To test this theory, I brought that same outdoor suburban distance test indoors to a long hallway in our seven-story office building in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood. ‘The more wireless networks there are around you, the worse your Wi-Fi performance will be.’ At 150 feet we got 25 mbps and at 200 unobstructed feet, we were able to eke out just 12 mbps. Getting past 100 feet, the speed dropped precipitously to just 139 mbps-about a quarter of the throughput we saw from 6 feet away.
At 54 feet, the throughput dipped under 400 mbps.
At 26 feet away, that rate dropped by 17 percent to 456 mbps. At 6 feet away, the transfer rate from the client (MacBook Air) to the server (MacBook Pro connected to the Time Capsule via ethernet) was 547 megabits per second (mbps).