Check this out. Watch the video.

http://web.mac.com/barrywoods/iWeb/S...nna%20Mod.html

Just made a test in the kitchen near the running microwave oven and couldn't see a difference.

But I didn't place the N800 inside the oven...

Some microwaves are leakier than others. If it's bad enough to make your devices drop of the network, you might want to replace it.

Wow, THAT is noisy.

I'm gonna stick to firewood and lighter fluid...

That's a new microwave, it doesn't do anything to the network. You should see one that actually leaks! My cordless phones look pretty neat too.

One more thing: Those famous 2.4GHz cordless phones are often very good WiFi signal killers! I have one that I can not use at all... if it is connected and someone calls it both my N800 and desktop lose connection right away...

I assume most newer 2.4GHz phones are more "WiFi friendly". Or use 5.xGHz phones? Currently I use older 900MHz phones at home and they do not interfere at all...

Then, I suspect some of my neighbors have bad 2.4GHz cordless phones since sometimes I experience times when my WiFi keeps dropping connection all the time... the signal strength is good when I check that in my desktop WiFi applet. After some time (Guessing how long the phone call lasts...) the connection restores and is rock solid after that!

I would stick to the 900mhz phones if you can. They go farther and aren't stopped by the dame materials as 2.4 or 5Ghz.

A few other things about 2.4 GHz.

Indeed reflections are a problem, called multipath in the litterature. But normally relocating the router or computer 10cm away should solve things. And indeed some routers have multiple antennas to address that problem.

Armed concrete stops radio signals. Bricks and stones attenuates them. In the US, most houses are built out of wood, but old houses in Europe are different. The 20cm thick brick walls at my place eat 20dB per wall. The 40 cm stone walls at my grand parents place eat at least 40dB...

Interference is a problem in most cities. Bluetooth is relatively well behaved, modern microwave ovens should not be a problem (and if they are exchange them!), 2.4 GHz phones are uncommon in Europe (which mostly uses DECT at 900 MHz). OTOH, the 13 "channels " of wifi arent really independent, theyre is a frequency overlap between adjacent channels.


Last but not least, if you know where the clients will be, a directive antenna on the router may be a good solution (if you know what you are doing). The idea is to "light" only the space where the clients will be (say: your house). Advantage: the router will only "see" in the direction it sends signals, so it will not be disturbed by interfering signals coming from the other direction (and it will interfere less with them as well).

You can't use a directional antenna on the N800, unfortunately...

This thread turned out more interesting than I'd imagined.

I see a possibility here: Nokia should gather this info and provide a robust wifi educational pamphlet with the tablets.

This did give me a idea. I had ´metal´ Iron Maiden CD box next to my Wifi router and its antenna.. Could big metallic object cause problems?

I dont know.. But I did remove it to elsewere. Anyway wifi signal strength that N800 did show was max even before.