Are some types of computers more sensitive to a router signal than others?
I was in the back of the camper, which seems to be on the go edge of the WiFi range, streaming a Netflix movie. Got to the last five minutes and lost the WiFi connection on the laptop. Picked the fairly new Kindle Fire tablet and watched the rest of the movie with the tablet setting on the laptop.
The laptop showed no signal while the tablet showed one bar. Am I right in thinking the tablet is more sensitive to a weak WiFi signal than the laptop?

Maybe a better WiFi antenna?

#1

Welcome to the vagaries of wireless networking. I don't know anyone who is in the networking field who doesn't hate it with a passion for business use.

Of many

Wifi antennas are in the realm of black magic. The one company that had a little bit of a clue (Motorola) went out of business and Google now owns their best patents and the rest of the company went to Lenovo.

The short answer is that yes there is a difference between devices.

Problem is that there is no clear documentation on which devices are better than others. You will find big differences within the same manufacturer, not just between manufacturers. Sometimes even with the same model device.

This gets even worse when you start factoring in power saving algorithm software that controls how much power the device uses to keep it's connection alive. It IS a radio after all and how far it will reach is proportional to the power output. Then things change when they get hot from using higher power which sometimes causes them to suddenly stop functioning or start reducing the power.

As I said. Black magic. That is just the beginning intro 101 to the layman level explanation.

I tell our Signal Integrity guy to grab his bag o' bones and conjure up some numbers and geometries.

Voodoo.

Buy a couple of USB external WIFI cards and try them in the laptop, and return the one that does poorly. Normally you can buy one for about 10-12 bucks on Amazon. Also you might want to pick up a USB cable and use it to get the adapter higher in the air.

It gets even more interesting when you notice that other objects are messing with your numbers. Like cars in the parking lot or people in the room. Something as simple as an empty coke can close to your laptop can make a big difference in the signal. Good or bad.

edit: Oh, don't forget to factor in the time of day! Where the sun is can make a huge difference.

Or when connecting, is the right foot doing the hokey pokey. That's vital.

+1, I'd rather spend the day crawling around the attic and fishing wire down walls than trying to troubleshoot wifi issues. And I have. Running wire to my entertainment center - although a royal pain - was a good decision in the long run.