Acer Chromebook 14 WiFi reception capability in and around A101

Acer Chromebook 14 WiFi reception on campus test. Google Chrome operating system with 802.11ac WLAN, no WWAN.

Location: Middle of room A101

No connectivity at 38% signal strength

Signal strength: 38%

Moving outside on the north side, direct line of sight to antenna location

Connected at 46% signal strength


The Terminalia catappa tree...

... direct line of sight....

48% signal strength

South side outside of A101 

Connected at 42%


Back in A101 at room center

No connection at 38%


Offline


Over on a table along the north wall this "RCA" Android tablet is connected



The location is the key 

Note the view out the windows from this location: antenna is line of sight from here

The Chromebook is aligned with the RCA and the Chromebook is connected too. The location is in alignment with a direct view through the window of the antenna peeking out between the roof of the generator and the roof of the B building, move east on the table and the building pillar blocks the signal. A small cone of signal strength. An iPhone to my immediate right could not connect, the student then moved to my left, out from behind the pillar and the iPhone connected. A Samsung slightly further to the west was able to connect: a line of sight through the open door. 

40% signal strength: apparently the minimum for Chromebook to deem the connection to be good enough for connectivity. There may be "avoid bad connection" settings operating at under 40%. Either the RCA Android tablet has a better antenna or does not avoid a signal strength under 40%. 


Connectivity in A101 is just below the threshold for an Acer Chromebook 14 at present.


The television in A101 has HDMI input but is presently in the cone of silence, ruling out using the Chromebook to show on line science videos.

Additional note:

Although I have achieved connectivity from the front (east side) of A204, that too appears to be dependent on direct line of sight back to the B building antenna. Watching student presentations I attempted to connect from the southwest corner of A204. The signal was at the margin of reception.

The location is based on being on the same side of the room as the SMART board

At 38% the signal strength is just below the 40% the Chromebook appears to require for connectivity

At 9:17, however, signal strength climbed to 42% and connectivity became possible.

The signal strength was sufficient to complete a log on.

Logged onto the network

At 10:17, however, signal strength waned and the network was lost for the remainder of the period. 

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