& Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

I'm using a very up to date Android smartphone, (released in the UK like 3weeks ago) Motorola Defy Plus and I don't know if it's a Superhub 'feature' or perhaps a design of the phone, but I notice that wi-fi drops off incredibly quickly, to the point that one room away from the router (lets say 20 ft max) and the signal is degraded by a good 50% to, going upstairs where it will struggle to get 1 bar of signal.

Anyone else with a smartphone & superhub? for all I know that's the kind of range to expect on a phone's wi-fi receiver. It does seem pretty poor though.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Sounds like typical superhub wireless performance.

Have you manually optimised your channel selection? It does help.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

How do you do that?

I don't even know how to change any settings on my superhub.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

it might be normal dude tbh dude. Your bandwidth drops off incrementally in stages as you move set distances away from an access point and the wireless on the shub is pants anyways which probably makes it even worse

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Setup

Download and run inssider to see which channels are in use around you, then use the link below to change the channel.

Channels

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Thanks Hugh

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

How do you check who is on which channel around you for your smartphone and superhub when your pc is hard wired?
I only use the superhub wireless for my Andriod phone, not my pc.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

There's an app on android market called "wifi analyzer" that does the same thing as inssider.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Thanks for that. Will check it out.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Excellent news Hugh, I've run wi-fi analyser app and found for me that Ch 8 rather than Ch1 should be better, I'll give it a whirl and see what happens (I suspect though once the SH gets bridge ability, i'll be putting a decent router on)

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

This feature is already enabled. Check out MODEM MODE in the HTML.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

My superhub is on auto and the wi-fi analyser shows am on either 1 or 2 which is free around me.
The best signal is 14 but the superhub only goes up to 13. Maybe 14 is not an available wavelength.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

14 is only available in Japan. You can use 1-13. Note that some adapters (notably Broadcom ones in laptops) can only use channels 1-11 because no-one at Broadcom can think outside of US restrictions.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

I'm probably just being stupid. But I can't get inssider to work

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

I don't know if this helps?

You must run it on a computer that has a wireless adapter installed.

I have it installed on my laptop but find it convenient to run from my wired desktop via a VNC.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

I found it pretty hard to use, if you have a smartphone, try the wi-fi finder app it's a real doddle to use.

And yes, unless the item you're using it on has a wifi adaptor on it, it won't work

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Changing channels will have no effect on signal strength. Also, signal "percentage" is meaningless. Two android phones receiving the exact same signal can display three times as many "bars" or "percent" as each other. Get a real measurement of absolute signal and then make a decision.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Will changing channels help, when the router next door (other side of the wall) is on the same channel as yours? (like mine was) now at least I know I'm using a channel no one else is anywhere close by.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

can anyone advise on a suitable app for iphone/ipad or mac for checking wifi channels nearby? The applications mentioned in this thread are windows or android only as far as I can tell. would like to select the best band for my superhub

Re: Wi-Fi Strength
 

Help site - http://help.virginmedia.com/system/s...ice.controller - suggests setting the Superhub to modem mode allows use of one's own wireless router.

Can anyone advise if this can be an ADSL router (I have a spare Belkin N router which I used on Sky from before I moved house) or must it be another cable router or is there another option ?

I guess it's not Virgin's fault, but (this) one does wonder why when a wireless router gives better wireless performance when it is placed in an open, unobstructed position the Super Hub has an extremely irritating, and possibly dangerous, blue (data ?) light which seems to flash almost all the time - even when I am in the house myself watching TV !!!

:confused:

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

It'd be interesting to see if anyone who had a smartphone and a spare router, if there was a benefit in signal strength when using the standalone router over the SH or if the problem is in fact on the phone's wi-fi receiver. I wonder just how good the miniaturised to the nth degree wi-fi antennas are on a phone.

Re: Wi-Fi Strength
 

It depends on the ADSL router. I've used spare O2 routers in the past by hooking them up to an ADSL modem and using that as a bridge. But it was a lot of faffing around with gateway settings and configs.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

What is the best method to take a real measurement of absolute signal ?

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

Yes and yes the wifi on the SuperHub is pathetic. I get full signal for a day or two then I get serious WiFi problems - slow speed, intermittent connections, etc. Reboot then required but to be honest I've given up on the excremental device.

I've got a Wireless G router plugged in to it for streaming TV to my PSP and it works flawlessly so I just set everything to use that. I really don't understand how VM can keep providing such a flawed router and not expect it to damage their reputation, they really are shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: & Wi-Fi Strength on Smartphones
 

If you have the wi-fi analyser app on Android, one of its screens measures by dBm from -100 to -40 which should be a bit more accurate than 5 bars or so in your status bar.