on the titanium powerbooks there have been a story about the antennas
(which are perfectly visible on the sides) being inadvertently pushed
inside the casing (they are just glued in place from inside) thus
loosing a lot of efficiency, which could be regained instantly by
unmounting the powerbook's back (or even just the battery) and just
pushing the antennas in place with one's finger. Maybe there is a
similar issue with ibooks?

--
Frédérique & Hervé Sainct, h.sainct[at]laposte.net
Frédérique's initial is missing in front of the above address
l'initiale de Frédérique manque devant l'adresse email ci-dessus

In article <1fx1272.17rtl1o13oaogcN%h.sainct[at]laposte.net>,
h.sainct[at]laposte.net (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fr=E9d=E9rique_=26_Herv=E9_?=
=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Sainct?=) wrote:

> on the titanium powerbooks there have been a story about the antennas
> (which are perfectly visible on the sides) being inadvertently pushed
> inside the casing (they are just glued in place from inside) thus
> loosing a lot of efficiency, which could be regained instantly by
> unmounting the powerbook's back (or even just the battery) and just
> pushing the antennas in place with one's finger. Maybe there is a
> similar issue with ibooks?

I don't think so. There's nothing visible on the sides of the iBook and
I'm pretty sure all parts of the Airport card are securely tucked inside.
FWIW, today I'm getting a pretty consistent three dots on the iBook.
Maybe it was atmospheric conditions?

--
dotlyc[at]yahoo.com

On 26 Jun 2003, Anno Siegel wrote:

> <dotlyc[at]yahoo.com> wrote in comp.sys.mac.system:
>
> [snip]
>
> > FWIW, today I'm getting a pretty consistent three dots on the iBook.
> > Maybe it was atmospheric conditions?
>
> No. Athmospheric conditions don't influence short-range radio transmission.
>
> Anno
>
more likely to be interference from another device operating in the same
frequency range (cordless telephones, microwaves etc...). If you are close
enough, it may be your neighbours.

Fred

In article
<Pine.LNX.4.44.0306261208370.17685-100000[at]kern.srcf.societies.cam.ac.uk>,
Frederick Cheung <fglc2[at]srcf.DUH.ucam.org> wrote:

> On 26 Jun 2003, Anno Siegel wrote:
>
> > <dotlyc[at]yahoo.com> wrote in comp.sys.mac.system:
> >
> > [snip]
> >
> > > FWIW, today I'm getting a pretty consistent three dots on the iBook.
> > > Maybe it was atmospheric conditions?
> >
> > No. Athmospheric conditions don't influence short-range radio transmission.
> >
> > Anno
> >
> more likely to be interference from another device operating in the same
> frequency range (cordless telephones, microwaves etc...). If you are close
> enough, it may be your neighbours.
>
> Fred

But nothing has changed with the setup since this started happening.
The ABS is in the same location where I installed it when I first got it
over a year ago. It is near a cordless phone, but it was there from the
day one. Nothing has been changed in the iBook either.
I first noticed the drop to two dots this past winter. It usually
happened on very cold nights and I wondered if it might have something to
do with low temperatures. But this latest episode has occurred during a
major heat wave, so I guess that's not it either -- unless the ABS doesn't
like temperature spikes of either variety.
I think it would probably be a good idea to move the ABS to the second
floor to level out the reception on the first and the third. Ironically,
that will give the second floor the best reception and I almost never use
the computer there.

--
dotlyc[at]yahoo.com

In article <9W4Ma.69370$R73.9548[at]sccrnsc04>, sam grey <sgrey[at]invalid.com> wrote:

> In article <dotlyc-2606031146510001[at]10.0.1.2>, dotlyc[at]yahoo.com wrote:
>
> > I first noticed the drop to two dots this past winter. It usually
> > happened on very cold nights and I wondered if it might have something to
> > do with low temperatures. But this latest episode has occurred during a
> > major heat wave, so I guess that's not it either -- unless the ABS doesn't
> > like temperature spikes of either variety.
>
>
> Do you actually detect a loss of signal through actual use in some way, or
> are you just going by the "dots" of your indicator(s)? because those little
> dots and/or Airport reception signal meter thingies are notoriously flakey.
> In the past, a software upgrade would change the apparent signal strength
> that these things denoted, although in actuality the source transmitter was
> still transmitting at the same level. I.e., it's a calibration thing.

That's the key question, of course. It's hard to tell because there are
times when my ISP service is grindingly slow, no matter how many dots are
green. It's my sense that things do seem to be slower when the dots are
down to two -- that's why I got concerned about it in the first place. But
there are times when I have three or four dots and the service is still
quite slow.
However, when I'm downstairs and get five dots, things do seem to be
much snappier.
I'm going to move the base station to the second floor, which should
give me at least four dots upstairs and I'll see whether that generally
improves the speed.
For the past several days, I've been getting three dots consistently,
and sometimes four, so whatever was causing the problem has gone away for
now. I also have an eMac on the desk upstairs and it has exhibited similar
behaviour at times, but it rarely goes down to two dots and is usually up
to four.

--
dotlyc[at]sympatico.ca

In article <dotlyc-3006032338570001[at]10.0.1.3>, dotlyc[at]sympatico.ca wrote:

> That's the key question, of course. It's hard to tell because there are
> times when my ISP service is grindingly slow, no matter how many dots are
> green. It's my sense that things do seem to be slower when the dots are
> down to two -- that's why I got concerned about it in the first place. But
> there are times when I have three or four dots and the service is still
> quite slow.


You might download a freeware/shareware wardriving application like
MacStumbler or KisMAC or something (from versiontracker.com), which should
give you a better gauge as to the strength of your signal over time. The
signal level indicators in those programs are better than the things that
Airport software gives you, and I think they can keep a log over time so
you can get a more "scientific" picture of what's going on. I prefer KisMAC
myself.

In article <tJgMa.7494$926.788[at]sccrnsc03>, sam grey <sgrey[at]invalid.com>
wrote:

> In article <dotlyc-3006032338570001[at]10.0.1.3>, dotlyc[at]sympatico.ca wrote:
>
> > That's the key question, of course. It's hard to tell because there are
> > times when my ISP service is grindingly slow, no matter how many dots are
> > green. It's my sense that things do seem to be slower when the dots are
> > down to two -- that's why I got concerned about it in the first place. But
> > there are times when I have three or four dots and the service is still
> > quite slow.
>
>
> You might download a freeware/shareware wardriving application like
> MacStumbler or KisMAC or something (from versiontracker.com), which should
> give you a better gauge as to the strength of your signal over time. The
> signal level indicators in those programs are better than the things that
> Airport software gives you, and I think they can keep a log over time so
> you can get a more "scientific" picture of what's going on. I prefer KisMAC
> myself.

My signal strength doubled when I moved the ABS from the vertical Apple
bracket on the wall to a horizontal position on a bookcase shelf. MB