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One of the first things to do to Check Wi-Fi Signal Strength in Mac is to check the strength of the network’s signal. On a Mac, Apple makes it easy to do this. In general, the farther away the transmitter (router) is from the receiver (computer, tablet, or smartphone), the weaker the signal will be.
If there is a thick wall between the router and the device receiving the signal, the signal quality also goes down. In a concrete house, they should ideally be in the same room or on the same floor. Set up a Wi-Fi mesh system in large buildings to make it easier for people to connect.
It’s pretty easy to measure the strength of a Wi-Fi signal on both desktops and mobile devices, but it’s easiest on Macs. Mac users can find out the RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) of their Wi-Fi connection with just one click, while Windows users have to download third-party apps to find out the exact signal strength. RSSI is the most accurate way to measure signal strength. It is measured in dBm, which stands for decibels per milliwatt.
How To Check Wi-Fi Signal Strength in Mac
Wi-Fi Menu Bar Icon
You probably already know that you can check which WiFi network you’re connected to by clicking the WiFi icon in the menu bar. What you may not know is that the humble WiFi icon can display a lot more information than it may seem at first, including detailed WiFi strength data. Here’s what you need to do:
- Hold the Option key on your keyboard.
- Click the WiFi icon in the menu bar.
- Look at the RSSI value
Test Wi-Fi Strength Using Mac Terminal
In some situations, it’s useful to know how to test WiFi straight using Mac Terminal. Why? Because then you troubleshoot WiFi performance issues even without a graphical user interface, such as when connected to a remote machine over SSH. To measure WiFi signal strength in Mac Terminal, you need a command-line tool like AirPort.
- Install Homebrew on your Mac.
- Add the repository where AirPort is available by entering the following command in Terminal: brew tap xwmx/taps.
- Install AirPort using Homebrew: brew install airport.
- Use AirPort to check WiFi signal strength Mac: airport info -l .
Wi-Fi Signal Strength Test Mac Apps
In addition to fairly featureless native system features and clunky command-line tools, there are also third-party WiFi signal strength test Mac apps like NetSpot, which enables even regular home users to gain a deep understanding of their WiFi environment. To check Mac WiFi signal strength using NetSpot:
- Download and install NetSpot on your Mac.
- Launch NetSpot.
- Give it a short while to collect information about available WiFi networks.
FAQs
To check your frequency, click on the Wi-Fi icon in the top nav bar while holding down the Option/Alt key. This will give you a bunch of information on your Wi-Fi including the channel your Wi-Fi is using right now. If you are currently on 2.4GHz and would like to switch to 5GHz, this change must be made on the router.
To speed up the internet connection on your Mac, close all background applications and browser tabs you’re not using and disable auto-update for apps. iCloud’s automatic syncing feature can contribute to a slow internet connection as well, as it uses a lot of internet bandwidth.
If your Apple device shows a privacy warning or weak-security warning about a Wi-Fi network, that network could expose information about your device. If you administer the Wi-Fi network, we recommend that that you update the settings of your Wi-Fi router to meet or exceed the security standards in this article.