Better at WiFi than any laptop?

[RogerS]

On the one occasion when I got to meet Ari Jaaksi (http://jaaksi.blogspot.com/), he told me the goal of the Internet Tablet (http://www.internettablettalk.com/2007/02/15/flash-you-can-watch/) team was to make the internet experience as good or better on the NIT as on a PC.

We usually talk about the aspects where the Nokia N800 needs to improve.

But what about WiFi reception? The N800 with the most recent OS is way better at locating and connecting to WiFi than the four laptops I currently have or have had recent access to.

The new Dell Latitude D820 I've been given at work doesn't even see our home network (based upstairs) from the dining room. And something going on with the Comcast broadband or our inexpensive Netgear wireless router will break the connection to the family computer downstairs that can't be resurrected unless the router is reset. But the N800 (and the 770 I have too) connect just fine after such singularities (which take place probably three or four times a week).

Is the Nokia N800 the best device there is for locating and connecting to a wireless network?

I don't have the experience to say. What can others report?Read the full article. (http://www.internettablettalk.com/2007/06/19/better-at-wifi-than-any-laptop/)

[TA-t3]

My N800 is the most sensitive device I've tried, by far. It's incredible what it can lock on to. For those occasions where it can't lock on to a weak access point the problem seems to be that the AP itself isn't good at reception (The N800 can see the AP, but the AP can't see the N800). I've used networks more than 150 meters from the AP.

[Tricky]

Yep, that's true. I have an old netgear 802.11b upstairs, and my Powerbook doesn't manage to lock on it while downstairs. N800 does, and to my astonishment also reports 4 WLANs belonging to neighbours of mine, from inside my house (which has a copper roof), and which are 150-200 mt far. Impressive. Kudos to the little beast :-)

[anidel]

If it wasn't for the N800 I wouldn't know that I had an open WiFi close to my house and I wouldn't have arranged my WiFi routers in such a way to properly steal that WiFi signal :)

It can see and often connect to APs no one else (I mean WiFi equipped devices) could even see.

[Milhouse]

Wireless reception is one thing, but being able to connect is another matter entirely and this is where the N800 (and 770) is lacking.

Check bugzilla for all the EAP/PEAP WiFi related bug/enhancement requests. Without EAP/PEAP support it's pretty difficult to connect to free campus based WiFi so yes great reception, less than great connectivity.

[sdrman]

Has anybody found any test results of the n800/770 reception? I'd love to see some measurements.

I installed DD-WRT on my WRT54GS to use the site survey feature. I thought that the router with its large antennas would outperform my nokia tablets. It may have found 1 network (I forget) whereas my nokias usually see about 4 other networks. Now I know why I often see networks that I can't connect to.

[zerojay]

The N800 easily surpasses every other piece of wifi hardware I have. I can see a ton more connection points than with anything else.

[somby]

My N800 certainly sees a lot of networks, but connecting is not easy.
For example at work, we have a hidden network to be used by customers. My N800 connects, gets an ip-adr, but it is impossible to browse to any url.
My notebook connects without problems.

[Texrat]

As I've related before, my N800 surpasses my IBM T43 (itself a reliable beast) in locating wifi nodes.

[TA-t3]

This morning I was waiting in my car for a shop to open, and fiddled a bit with the N800 in the meantime. I could see the airport hotspot.. the airport must be something like a kilometer (0.6-0.7 miles) away (direct view though). I didn't even think of trying to connect, I can't imagine their antenna would be able to receive the signal from the N800.

[Frankowitz]

While the N800 has beter reception than one of my laptops with a Belkin 56G Wifi card, it's not better than another (same type) laptop with an Asus WL-100G Wifi card. But that a fully tweaked card with external antenna and full power.

Ergo: N800 has very good reception.

[spice3d]

It's great at connecting, but sux at auto-reconnecting...basically, it doesn't or at least mine doesn't.

[chrisoz]

My N800 has a decidedly flaky wi-fi catching capability. It drops the signal the whole time when my Sony Vaio laptop shows a stong wi-fi signal. And my E61i is also way better than my N800 as far as wi-fi signal catching is concerned. All-in-all I love my N800, but it's wi-fi signal catching capabilities is about the most disappointing thing about it (along with the weaknesses in the browser, lack of Skype capability (although I understand this is being sorted), and the poor multi-media support). And as much as I love my N800, it does feel like its a product that was slightly rushed to market before actually being ready.

[romx]

It has good sensitivity (more networks visible, than from my laptop, mostly in one red bar state), but much worse connection, sometime it can connect only with 3-4 bars networks. And usualy can't connect to visible networks with low signal (but my laptop usualy do). So I think in laptop list of availiable networks are filtered for "available for connection" networks, but in N800 don't.

[Jerome]

This morning I was waiting in my car for a shop to open, and fiddled a bit with the N800 in the meantime. I could see the airport hotspot.. the airport must be something like a kilometer (0.6-0.7 miles) away (direct view though).

You can do better than that. Some time ago I was on a mountain summit above Queenstown. I could pick up signals from the city down in the valley, including an hotspot cafe which I used a few hours before. Line of sight was over 2 Km. :eek: This was with the 770, BTW.

I could not get a connection, of course.

[daihard]

It's great at connecting, but sux at auto-reconnecting...basically, it doesn't or at least mine doesn't.

My experiences differ. I have two WiFi points saved on my N800 (work and home). Every time I hit either location, the network connection will resume automatically. :)

[Texrat]

You can do better than that. Some time ago I was on a mountain summit above Queenstown. I could pick up signals from the city down in the valley, including an hotspot cafe which I used a few hours before. Line of sight was over 2 Km. :eek: This was with the 770, BTW.

I could not get a connection, of course.

Now, if there was only built-in GPS that could triangulate on the hotspots...

[iball]

I've been able to pickup and use hotspots with my N800 that my Macbook Pro can NEVER see - even with the latest wi-fi fixes from Apple.
Usually I quick-scan with my N95, then if I KNOW something HAS to be out there that my N95 isn't picking up (yes, it's wi-fi strength is kinda weak-sauce) then I whip out the N800 where it usually picks something up.