The Tips - Mac Kung Fu - page 140

Checking Signal Strength
For information about signal strength, pay particular attention to the line
labeled RSSI (for received signal strength indication), about halfway down the
list. It'll probably be a minus figure, like -40 or -73. The closer this figure is
to 0, the stronger the signal. So, -30 is better than -50. The scale is from -100
to 0. My experience is that networks beyond -80 are impossible to connect
to, but your mileage may vary. See Figure 22, Viewing the technical details of
a Wi-Fi connection .
Figure 22—Viewing the technical details of a Wi-Fi connection
Checking Data Transfer Speeds
The transmit rate figure is also worth paying attention to. It tells you the
maximum data speed possible with the connection. For example, at the
moment, my MacBook Pro's transmit rate figure reads 54 , indicating a
54Mb/sec connection speed and also indicating I'm connected to the Wi-Fi
base station using 802.11g—the older but still widely used Wi-Fi standard.
Using a more modern 802.11n router over a good connection, the transmit
rate figure will read anything up to 300, indicating speeds of up to 300Mb/sec.
Performing a Wi-Fi Diagnostic
OS X has a hidden Wi-Fi diagnostics tool that lets you monitor the perfor-
mance of the connection, among other things. It's primarily for those who
understand the technical details of how Wi-Fi works, however. To access it,