Diminished WLAN Reception on 5455

[piperpilot]

I recently had to replace the wireless router that I use to access the Internet from my iPAQ 5455. I was using a Siemens Speedstream 802.11b router and replaced it with a $300 Linksys A+G router. My problem is this: The maximum signal that I'm getting from the router on my iPAQ is only 64% even when I'm right on top of it. I spent a couple of hours on the phone with Linksys technical support but could not increase the signal. They advised me to return the router to CompUSA and exchange it for another. I did this but could get no better signal from the new router. I then purchased a $70 Net Gear 802.11b router. It did a little better--my iPAQ had a 67% signal--but again, that was the best I could get standing right in front of the router and there was a significant drop off (worse than the Linksys) as I got farther away from the router. I have now concluded that the problem is not the router but rather my iPAQ. I have performed all of the WLAN firmware updates and have not yet received my WM2003 update yet, so I'm still running PPC 2002.

Any ideas? Anybody else notice a similar problem?

[CoreyJF]

There a few few threads about it, but the signal strength on the 5455 is not accruate. It became even less accruate after the wlan firm update. Mine never says 100 percent even putting it ontom of my router. Yet I can connect from my parking lot...

[Bob Anderson]

Same issue here... I don't think my 5455 ever gets above 42%!

Interestingly enough, if I power off the WLAN, and then restart it, the meter will read 100% for a second or two, then drop off to 42% or less.

Although I never really received 100% strength with the 5455, this condition is certainly worse now that I've applied the latest WLAN fixes for the device.

I guess it doesn't really matter... I am still able to do what I need/want to do on the wireless front. (Although I used to like having an accurate meter to do site "studies" to find good/bad reception at hotspots I encountered.)

[J. Gale]

This is a fairly well-kept secret among the public, but is generally well-known by those who follow trends with Cisco (aka Linksys) routers. Seems the FCC had a problem with Linksys' "Signal Booster" product, which was orginally intended just to be used to boost the signals on Linksys routers, but which had antenna connectors which allowed them to be used on virtually any model router. Without going into all of the technical aspects of why the FCC would/should care about signal strength for unlicensed private radios, let's just say they care greatly, and this summer, Linksys was required to pull the product off the shelves completely.

The FCC and Linksys reached a compromise which has allowed Linksys to resume marketing the Signal Booster product (they are still selling old inventory now, but with a warning that the device is only designed to work with Linksys products....it will still work with other products in the real world). But the newly manufactured items will indeed only work with Linksys products, which are supposed to feature different and proprietary antenna connectors.

So what does this have to do with signal strength on a Linksys router? Well, it seems that Linksys has been rumored to be quietly have lowered the effective power of their router radios as well (perhaps as a means of boosting the sales of their own proprietary Signal Booster products....nah, you think they'd do that????).

Anyway, I have little doubt that the lack of reception noticed upon the switch of the routers from Siemens to a newer model Linksys may in fact be the culprit, rather than something inexplicably causing the IPAQ to suddenly lose reception....Not that the IPAQ radio is the best, but it's not bad....

[piperpilot]

Wow! If it's true, that really ticks me off :evil: I've seen the signal booster in the stores and didn't feel like shelling out an additional $100 for something to enhance what I already shelled out $300 for in the first place. Besides the booster didn't seem to be compatible with the model router that I bought. That is just so LAME!!!!