Microsoft - Collect Wi-Fi diagnostic connection info

Microsoft - Collect Wi-Fi diagnostic connection info

Problem

When encounters prpoblems with Wi-Fi receptoin you may wish to collect further information about the Wi-Fi recepction data.


Applies to

  1. Microsoft Windows

Reoslution

Please find below information that may help with collecting information and diagnosing Wi-Fi reception problems.

Collect data

Please use one of the two methods to collect data: 

Using command prompt

  1. Click Start menu and search Command Prompt, right click then choose Run as Administrator.
  2. Click Yes when prompted or provide authentication credentials.
  3. At the command prompt type the following and press ENTER:

    netsh wlan show interface

  4. The report will show similar to below:




Notes

Note
You will notice from the above report that RSSI and Noise figures are not given directly, instead signal is represented as a percentage figure.  The figure 17 percent represents a very poor signal.


Use a third party tool

If the netsh command is not enough then you can download WifiInfoView further info here:
  1. https://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wifi_information_view.html

Measurements

In order to determine if wireless network reception is adequate one may try to take more detailed measurements to assess the conditions.


RSSI

Two measurements are of interest here RSSI and Noise. The RSSI will be the most useful unless the case is marginal and there is also a lot of noise in the RF environment.

RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication)
Measured in decibels (dBm -120 to 0 dBm). A figure closer to 0 is best and -120 weakest.

RSSI signal levels and indicative comment:

  1. RSSI < -90 dBm: signal extremely weak, at the edge of what may be discernable from noise
  2. RSSI -67dBm: moderate signal level
  3. RSSI > -55dBm: very strong signal
  4. RSSI > -30dBm: excellent signal, probably right next to Wi-Fi transmitter.

Notes
Note
< = less than
> = greater than

Noise

Noise can be defined as the presence of interference in a Wi-Fi signal itself such as interference from cordless phones, microwaves, radar, etc. which may all obscure the signal from the Wi-Fi access points.  Ideally the ratio between the signal to noise should be as high as possible but in noisy conditions this may lower that ratio.  Noise is also measured in as a negative figure in decibels (dBm) where -120 is the lowest to 0 dBm the greatest level of noise in a signal).  Typical environmental measurements of -90 to -98dBm indicate an acceptable level of noise in the signal.  Figures may however still be impoved by locating nearer the access point or changing channels.

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