Bugzilla – Bug 6358
Need an improved "Wireless Signal Strength" reading in bridged mode
Last modified: 2009-10-05 14:27:21 UTC
Currently Jive offers very technical data on the wireless connection it has. We need a single number, unified representation expressed as a strength percentage. Like the Squeezebox.
The current signal strength icon uses the SNR reading to determine the level: < 0 - one bar 0-25 - two bars 25-30 - three bars 30+ - four bars This doesn't make sense to me, as in practice one bar is never seen. I suggest: not connected - zero bars 0-10 - one bar 11-18 - two bars 19-25 - two bars >25 - four bars I think that this will solve the basic problem for user feedback. On the details screen, I also propose that we remove NF and include transmit rate which is more commonly used. For support's purposes, they can use this screen and the SNR to diagnose problems. A high SNR is better. Anything below 10 is problematic, anything above 25 is strong. Caleb & Richard: Please comment.
Fixed in r1539, branch 7.0: Tuned the wireless strengh as requested in the bug report. Removed the NF and RSSI, just left SNR as an indication of wireless strength. Fixed in r1541, trunk: Added a transmit rate. It did not seem to be that useful during testing just now, will need review.
Where is the new/changed Wireless Signal Strength found in the menu structure?
Two things were changed: 1. The wireless indicator graphic has better resolution. zero bars - no connection, 1-4 bars approximately proportional to signal strength. Before we only had 0,2,3,4 and the strength wasn't very well tuned. 2. The misleading numbers on the Network Status screen (Settings -> Advanced -> Wireless Network -> (current network) were omitted, leaving only SNR, which is the most accurate measure we have and is technically correct. And it's updated frequently. As I said: For support's purposes, they can use this screen and the SNR to diagnose problems. A high SNR is better. Anything below 10 is problematic, anything above 25 is strong.
This bug has recently been fixed in the latest release of SqueezeCenter 7.0.1 Please try that version, if you still see the error, then reopen this bug. To download this version, please navigate to: http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html
I missed Dean's last comment. And then this got closed. Unfortunately while these changes are definitely improvements, they do not address what we need in Support. We need two things: 1. We need a number, and I'm not sure the SNR reading is the way to go. Maybe it is... I'll explain what we're using this number for. 2. We need this reading easily accessible. On an SB3 we frequently use the signal strength % number to gauge both signal strength and its stability. The strength is easy, we just read the number. But we also watch the number to look for evidence of wireless interference. If that number is fluctuating wildly, that's our clue. With our current reading system I don't think we can do that. Or we may not know how. Perhaps what I'm *really* seeking is a way to measure wireless interference, which is one of our top 10 killers in Support. For item #2, we just need this information higher up in the menus. I'd recommend the "About" page for now. Or ultimately maybe we need a Status menu on Jive too, for the variety of readings and tests Support needs.
Re-Targeting bug for review
I am not sure that we can get a "fluctuating wildly" number from the wlan card in jive. Do you use triode's network test applet in support? Maybe we should look at making that more accessible, and combine it with other tests, as in bug 6334. Dan comments?
We do not use Triode's network test. Is that the set of tests included in SqueezeCenter > Help? Is any documentation available on those tests? What is suggested in bug 6334 would be an enormous help. Just as Sean speculates, we get calls where Controller connectivity is an issue, but we have very few remedies and few diagnostics. Maybe this bug should be closed and/or rolled into bug 6334. The trick will be to have some diagnostic set of tests that can analyze what's going on even if the Controller has not connected yet. That's a big one.
So we are looking for some kind of indicator on Jive before connection to a Squeezecenter that has a very fast response, or otherwise indicates interference. Is that a fair summary?
Yes, that's a fair summary. We need some measurement of the wireless connection's health, and a test to detect if interference is in play. I would also like to add: we need this measurement when we're connected via Bridged Mode as well. Currently there is no numeric measurement available in this mode.
Richard suggests that we take a broad system-level view and implement a good network diagnostic solution. This is significant effort, therefore targetting for 7.2.
punting to 7.3. Dependent on bug #5582
this isn't going to be fixed by 7.3. retarget for 7.3.1 this bug is very closely related to bug 6334. my guess is that a fix for 6334 will provide the solution necessary, but that too won't make it until at least 7.3.1.
Changing target to next release
with only these exceptions, my bug list is being retargetted for 8.0 for 7.3.2 (very soon): https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7186 Browse albums/artists/genres/ years should remember previous state for 7.3.3 (later, but before 8.0): https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7139 Add editable "Network Settings" page https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7502 Add setup mode to set Static IPs (even if DHCP is present) https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=7829 Jive menu broken if BLOCK_SIZE == list count + 1 and "Pla... https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8878 Party Mode https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10064 SqueezeCenter doesn't always auto-generate playerstatus w... (which will fix 8300) https://bugs-archive.lyrion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6334 add applet for network diagnostics (currently assigned to Tom)
Is it possible this will be addressed by bug 6334, rending this a duplicate?
Yes, I believe that's probably the case Dan My hope is that the fix for 6334 will be the "go to" for wireless debugging, and the applet will be built in an extensible manner so that needed enhancements (e.g., bridged mode) can be covered there.
Moving to the product SqueezePlay because this bug appears to apply to any player based on that application code. Feel free to move it back if it's specific to the single original product.
Reset priority before triage.
this is an administrative shuffle on priority fields to help make better judgment on the top end of the priority list. P4->P5, P3->P4, and P2->P3.
The new Diagnostics screen contains a wireless signal strength in %.
This bug has been marked as fixed in the 7.4.0 release version of SqueezeBox Server! * SqueezeCenter: 28672 * Squeezebox 2 and 3: 130 * Transporter: 80 * Receiver: 65 * Boom: 50 * Controller: 7790 * Radio: 7790 Please see the Release Notes for all the details: http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Release_Notes If you haven't already, please download and install the new version from http://www.logitechsqueezebox.com/support/download-squeezebox-server.html If you are still experiencing this problem, feel free to reopen the bug with your new comments and we'll have another look.