WiFi signal strengths and dBm

A stronger Wi-Fi signal means a more reliable connection. This is what enables you to take full advantage of the internet speeds available to you. Wi-Fi signal strength depends on a variety of factors, such as how far you are from the router, whether it’s a 2.4 or 5ghz connection, and even the materials of the walls around you. The closer you are to the router, the better. While 2.4ghz connections broadcast further, they might have interference issues. Thicker walls made of denser materials (like concrete) will block a Wi-Fi signal. A weaker signal, on the other hand, leads to slower speeds, dropouts, and (in some cases) total disconnection.

Cell phone signal strength is measured in decibels (dBm). Signal strengths can range from approximately -30 dBm to -110 dBm. The closer that number is to 0, the stronger the cell signal. In general, anything better than -85 decibels is considered a usable signal.

When trouble shooting connection problems looking at the how strong the signal is on a device can usually give a good indication as to what the issue is. 

WiFi signal strength is tricky. ... Ultimately, the easiest and most consistent way to express signal strength is with dBm, which stands for decibels relative to a milliwatt. Since RSSI is handled differently by most WiFi adapters, it's usually converted to dBm to make it consistent and human-readable.

To see the connection strength:

Using MacOS

Click the WiFi icon while holding the 'option' key. This will provide you with the network drop down menu but with some additional information. 

                             

Using Win 10 

Enter the follow into the 'command prompt' terminal and press enter. The signal percentage shows the strength as a percentage, the higher the better. 

netsh wlan show interfaces

 

                          

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