WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Networking, connecting to the internet, wi-fi and home entertainment
User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Curious is all:
I receive WiFi access on both my smartphone and on my laptop.
Recently I have noticed that there is near to where I live a WiFi source which, I suspect is part of an unprotected domestic installation.
I am unashamedly stealing time from this network, more as an experiment than anything. The connection is too far away, too weak etc for really useful work such as uploading a file.

Nonetheless I have noticed that
(1) My laptop picks up a signal more often than does my smartphone
(2) My laptop picks up a stronger signal, in the sense that web page downloads seem faster
I have both devices to hand, both on my little desk in the living room
Questions:
(1) Are these differences most likely due in part to different hardware in the devices? (The laptop has a better wireless adaptor)?
(2) Are these differences most likely due in part to different software in the devices? (The laptop wireless adaptor has a better driver)?
(3) Does the orientation of my smartphone affect the reception of a WiFi signal, as, I think, early AM portable radios were affected
(4) Does the orientation of my laptop affect the reception of a WiFi signal, as, I think, early AM portable radios were affected
(5) Given that I live on a lot that is roughly sixty feet wide and ninety feet deep, am I likely to see improvement/degradation by navigating my lot (pretending to be photographing the lawn, of course)
I know that if I walk from here to the café, or to the library, this local signal will weaken and disappear, and by the inevitable corollary, the café/library signal will appear and grow stronger.

Like I said, I’m just curious. I don’t have any money riding on this. Indeed, it is my belief that several Loungers are grateful that I no longer have 24/7 access ...

Cheers
Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
Argus
GoldLounger
Posts: 3081
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 19:07

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by Argus »

ChrisGreaves wrote:(3) Does the orientation of my smartphone affect the reception of a WiFi signal, as, I think, early AM portable radios were affected
Yes. It would be easy to say "you're holding it wrong".
ChrisGreaves wrote:(5) Given that I live on a lot that is roughly sixty feet wide and ninety feet deep, am I likely to see improvement/degradation by navigating my lot (pretending to be photographing the lawn, of course)
Why not try (to pretend photographing the lawn), or is it raining?

If using Android on your phone there is a simple tool called Wifi Analyzer that can give you some extra info while surveying your neighbours' wifi pretending to be photographing the surroundings.
Byelingual    When you speak two languages but start losing vocabulary in both of them.

User avatar
StuartR
Administrator
Posts: 12577
Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 15:49
Location: London, Europe

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by StuartR »

This is likely to be due to a difference in the hardware between the two devices.
Moving around may well make a difference.
StuartR


User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Argus wrote:If using Android on your phone there is a simple tool called Wifi Analyzer that can give you some extra info while surveying your neighbours' wifi pretending to be photographing the surroundings.
Thanks Argus. I downloaded and installed this but ran into the usual problems - it doesn't show up on my screen; I guess that it will show up in a few days time, like the other aps.
Cheers
Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

StuartR wrote:This is likely to be due to a difference in the hardware between the two devices.
Moving around may well make a difference.
OK.
Once the freezing rain/sleet/snow/gusts are ended I'll try walking around my back yard.
Cheers
Chris
P.S. Although I'm going to look kinda weird hunched over my laptop on the little blonde bureau underneath the pine tree by the back fence ...
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
Argus
GoldLounger
Posts: 3081
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 19:07

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by Argus »

If that's your Motorola, I would expect to find it under the icon for Apps at the centre of the lower part of the screen.

https://support.motorola.com/ca/en/prod ... =solutions" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Byelingual    When you speak two languages but start losing vocabulary in both of them.

PJ_in_FL
5StarLounger
Posts: 1090
Joined: 21 Jan 2011, 16:51
Location: Florida

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by PJ_in_FL »

Chris,

You state "I have both devices to hand, both on my little desk in the living room"

The laptop is a good noise source and could be more likely interfering with the cell phone's reception. The cell phone isn't likely doing the same to the laptop. Testing one at a time with the other off is a better way to comparatively test their reception.

Also, the laptop, when plugged in, runs it's processor at full speed, which draws a lot of power. The cell phone's processor is designed to be very low power, so it will presumably also render web pages slower.

So do you plan to inform your neighbor of their unsecured WiFi once your walks in the rain help determine the source? Or are you going to continue "testing"?
PJ in (usually sunny) FL

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Argus wrote:If using Android on your phone there is a simple tool called Wifi Analyzer that can give you some extra info while surveying your neighbours' wifi pretending to be photographing the surroundings.
Hi Argus.
Screenshot_20190427-084009.png
The WiFi meter has appeared. I have no idea why it was hiding. Yesterday I went online to find out why the phone no longer pops up when a call arrives; I have been opening the Phone and responding to “return to call in progress” which as often as not has ended before I can get to it. The solution was said to be “navigate through settings to ... Clear Data/Cache”, which I did, and the phone now responds as it should. I consider this kind of fix to be a flaw in the design or development of the Android system – Operating or Aps. The phone is now two or three years old.

Well, anyway, WiFi meter now appears on my aps screen, as do several other aps I never use and thought that I had hidden (“Play Moves”, “Play Music”). These icons really were hidden, because the YouTube ap/icon was always visible.

Cheers
Chris
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Argus wrote:[Why not try (to pretend photographing the lawn), or is it raining?
Screenshot_20190427-083947.png
Here WiFi Analyser reports my Pirate Source as just below some threshold, which to my mind explains why it is a hit-or-miss most of the time. Summer is gone, and my backyard is now coated with a 5cm solidified layer of frozen rain and ice-pellets, so a survey of the lawn will have to wait, but I can see now that I’ll be walking around with the phone screen facing me as if I were photographing the dead grass.

(signed) "lawn surveyor" of Bonavista
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
HansV
Administrator
Posts: 78236
Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 00:14
Status: Microsoft MVP
Location: Wageningen, The Netherlands

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by HansV »

Your screenshot shows the so-called Apps Drawer. What happens if you click the Home button (the circle in the middle at the bottom of the screen)?
You can (usually) switch from Home Screen to Apps Drawer by swiping upwards and from Apps Drawer to Home Screen by swiping downwards.
Best wishes,
Hans

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:Your screenshot shows the so-called Apps Drawer. What happens if you click the Home button (the circle in the middle at the bottom of the screen)? You can (usually) switch from Home Screen to Apps Drawer by swiping upwards and from Apps Drawer to Home Screen by swiping downwards.
Hi Hans.
Screenshot_20190430-120700 [640x480].png
Right at the foot of the screen are three symbols, (left-dart, circle, square) and these generally appear whenever I am in any kind of ap and tap the foot of the screen.
I tap the circle and the six-dot button appears.
I tap the six-dot button and the (I always thought complete set of ap icons appear - I then load GMail, Chrome etc.

I have just tried swiping-up and -down, but the screen does not appear to change.

I had a similiar problem six months ago when I d/l some podcast players. A week went by and then they appeared.

I daily+ swipe down from the top of the screen to bring up a long list of what has been downloaded, who has phoned and wotnot, looking for the menu that allows me to Connect to Transfer files. That is, swiping downwards is something that I have been doing for three? years, but I can't say I've ever seen an "alternate" screen layouyt of ap icons.

Just now I noticed a box "search for aps" so next time ...

Cheers
Chris
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
HansV
Administrator
Posts: 78236
Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 00:14
Status: Microsoft MVP
Location: Wageningen, The Netherlands

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by HansV »

OK, in your setup the six-dot button switches from Home Screen to Apps Drawer and the Home button (the circle) activates the Home Screen.

The Apps Drawer should indeed show ALL installed (but not deactivated) apps.
Best wishes,
Hans

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: WiFi access Smartphone versus Laptop.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:OK, in your setup the six-dot button switches from Home Screen to Apps Drawer and the Home button (the circle) activates the Home Screen. The Apps Drawer should indeed show ALL installed (but not deactivated) apps.
Thanks Hans. I've been using the six-dot all along.
During my first six months I thought I was just stupid (or search Eileen's Lounge for "Not intuitive to ME") but then I started to search Moto-X forums and found many people complaininjg about rust in the drinking water, car breaking down in Poland etc etc and now I think that some combination of Moto-X and Android is shaky.

Of course, I realise too that each third-party ap may have problems where the writer has not conformed to interface specs.

The recent finding that you have to manually clear data/cache just to make the phone work was a bit of a shock to me.
But then I realised that I am probably one of the remaining hundred or so people on this planet to want to use my phone to talk with people. :laugh:

Cheers
Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace