Improving your AirPort reception, MacGeekery How-To

MacGeekry's informations are always very important for me.

Thank you. Clear speak and it helps.

Reasonably helpful article and software - though you could use just about anything to find out what channel others are using - you don't need a fancy graph for that at all. The other software seems pretty cool - haven't tried it out yet though.

Second - what's with that chart with the x-axis labeled "minutes ago" and the indices labeled -5 through 0? Wouldn't -5 minutes ago be 5 minutes from now? I guess it's not a coincidence that the next section has a reference to "Back to the Future"....

Bjorn: Many thanks for the sarcastic and patronising response.

Personally, I wasn't aware of iStumbler, and as such, had no easy means of telling what networks were causing interference near me.

Not knowing about a moderately obscure piece of software and how to use it to diagnose Wi-Fi problems that you may not have even known you had doesn't imply stupidity.

Coming up with snarky comments when helpful advice is posted... well, that implies a certain lack of social grace, to say the least.

Mac users require a needlessly wordy article to tell them that they'll improve their wireless connectivity by using a channel (frequency) that nobody nearby is already using? Oh brother. Perhaps there is something to the stereotype that most Mac users are computer illiterate, hipster doofuses.

Here's another important tip: If your Mac's display is dark and it isn't responding to input you might consider turning it on. Of course, YMMV.

Hmm I changed my Netgear router to a diff channel and the MacBook would see the network, but for whatever reason would not connect to it. When I switched back to the factory default (ch. 11) all worked fine again.

checked it out saw that my wireless was on the sae channel as my neighbors changed it ..noticed a slight speed change buts that it..i guess it helped.

Rockin! I got a substantial improvement in coverage and speed...excellent tips. Thank you.

omw home to try

I've just had a play, and found out that my wi-fi network (Netgear router) was on the same channel as my next-door neighbour's.

I just switched it to the other end of the spectrum (Channel 1 to Channel 13), and as soon as I reconnected, I noticed 2 important things.

Firstly, the "dead spot" in one room of my apartment is gone, and secondly, the network is reacting a little quicker. As I only really use wi-fi for browsing, I haven't tested throughput.

All in all, this is a good tip, so thanks Dan!