Understanding your e-Wi-Fi Signal Strength using Network APP

“Understanding your e-Wi-Fi Signal Strength using Network APP” Workshop was conducted to the community on 23 March 2022 from 4 to 6pm, organised by the Information Technology Department. The objective of the workshop was to help home Wi-Fi users understand the basic security settings on their wireless router and how to improve their Wi-Fi connection signal strength and performance using a network analyser application.

The online presentation was conducted in two parts. The first part of the discussion was about the basic of Wi-Fi, types of transmission mode, Wi-Fi signal interference, and discussions about Wi-Fi Channels. The second part was the real device demonstration using Wi-Fi and a network application. 

The speaker (Mr Isabelo D. Paat, Jr.) started by discussing how wireless routers communicate with devices, what the factors are that affect their performance, and the various types of interference that make Wi-Fi signal weaker such as co-channel, adjacent channel, and non-Wi-Fi.

A demonstration on how to access the wireless router’s GUI using a browser, then select WPA2-PSK and set the password. During the demonstration, the speaker used a TP-link wireless router and interfaced it with the free installed software called “inSSIDer Network APP”, a Wi-Fi network analyser which gathers and shows information about Wi-Fi access points and even scans connected wireless devices.

The link of the software was shared in MS Teams for the participants of different agencies to try out. Moreover, a discussion of the features of the app was explained briefly and attendees were shown how to monitor the signal strength and quality of their connection.

Selecting a quiet channel for the Wi-Fi will improve the performance of the network, especially in terms of the signal strength and internet speed. The app shows how to manage wireless network devices and the user-friendly app also displays detailed information such as SSID, MAC address, vendor, data rate, signal strength, and security and graphs signal strength over time.

The presentation ended with a question-and-answer session, after successfully demonstrating the Insider app using the wireless TP-Link router. 

The feedback was collected from the participants on a scale of 5, the result of the feedback was 4.31.