Hello, I have a 54M wireless router from D-Link. This router is placed in another room where it connects to network wires directly. There is a desktop computer and some people are using that. I am in another room and between my laptop and the router there are two walls. Vista's connection indicator shows Only two bars, in day time At most four bars, in evening My first question is why there is the difference? Is there interference between other WLAN and other signals (TV, mobile phone)? I assume they should no be in the same frequency range so there should be very little interference, then how can I explain the difference in signal strength? Another question is that does the signal strength, shown as the number of bars in the visual indicator, affect connection speed? How is this bar measurement defined? Although I do experience slow connection in browsing, I could however get 300K/s speed when downloading. These seem not to be consistent. How to explain this? My last question is on the health effect of wireless routers. I read some material: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_electronic_devices_and_health http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070715030515AAnukt1 and the opinion seems to be that products complaint to standards does not cause adverse effects to health. Therefore, can I buy a wireless router with stronger signal in that room? But there people are using a desktop PC with the wireless router placed on desktop, just in front of them. If the energy drops off following the inverse-square law, then at their vicinity the energy should be the very strongest. Will a stronger wireless router then harm their health? I am concerning these problems seriously. Hope someone could help. Bob

Sorry this is coming late first, the disparity in signal strength at day and night times could be explained by changes in environmental humidity,presence/absence of dust(remember wireless signals use the air as a transmission media.also interferences from phones,and other devices that may emit EMIs(Electromagnetic interferences) secondly, yes the signal strength affects connection speed, wireless routers transmit signals in cells that get weaker as it passes through interferences,also parts of the signals can be refracted,defracted,... ultimately, most wireless routers begin to drop speed within intervals e.g within 10meters,speed=54mbps 40meters- speed=32mbps 100m-24mbps ...and on ..and on(the figures used here are completely hypothetical) thirdly,there are standard sizes /bandwidth usages for different internet functions.this might be restrictions placed by your ISP in allocating bandwidth.put simply,u attain that spped in downloading simply bcos u might b the only one uing the allocated bandwidh 4 download at that time,meanwhile you'r sharing the allocated webpage browsing bandwidth with many other people,hence its not as fast as the download speed. Lastly,Wireless signals are harmful when in close proximity to humans for long periods of time. Tunde Abagun MCP,MCSA,MCTS,MCITP en p "for the love of Computers"

Dear drtunababa, The answer is helpful. Thanks very much. Bob

ur welcome Bob..anytimeTunde Abagun MCP,MCSA,MCTS,MCITP en p "for the love of Computers"