Hello,
Quality=12/70 Signal level=-83 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:wme_ie=dd180050f2020101840002a3400027a4000042435e0062322f00
Extra:ath_ie=dd0900037f01010024ff7f
Above, you can find a cutout of an output generated by “iwlist s” command for a cell.
Does anybody know what Quality, Signal level and Noise level mean? What is the definition of them? I searched for it and could not find good information on it.
What do these Extra:*** fields for? What does it show in the example above?
How were those values computed?
bcn_int=100
wme_ie=dd180050f2020101840002a3400027a400004
ath_ie=dd0900037f01010024ff7f
Any kind of response is appreciated.
Thanks a million!
I like the following explanation of Signal and Noise. Imagine you want to talk to your friend and you’re in a quiet room. Then, there is little Noise and he only needs to whisper (small Signal) in order for you to hear him. But if you’re at a party (large amount of Noise), then he must yell (large Signal) for you to hear him. So, independently, the Signal and the Noise don’t matter. It’s only the ratio of the two that does matter (ie, the Signal must be larger than the Noise). This is usually called the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) and is presented as the Quality.
The larger the Quality, the better and in my experience, you need a Quality of 15 or higher in order to successfully connect to a network. Signal and Noise are both measured in negative dB, which means that the one that is closer to zero is the stronger one. In your case, -83 is closer to zero than -95 is, so the Signal is more powerful than the Noise.
I don’t know what the other terms are.