Can the wireless signal strength be weakened we use more than one computer?

Question

If we are using more than one computer to surf the internet at the same time in the household, and if all computers are receiving internet from the same wirless modem would that weaken the signal strength each person gets?

Answer 1

Any antenna will absorb the signal that it gets, thus reducing ambient signal propagation. Many people really don't understand how a signal is propagated. To better understand how one access point antenna affects the signal for the others, do a wave test in water.



For that you can half fill the sink with water, put a glass in it to represent the access point, and drop a small object where the signal is supposed to be broadcasted. (Of course keep in mind the electromagnetic signal does not displace any particle, unlike water waves.)



You'll see that if you align your access points together, the last one will be seriously affected because the wave is absorbed by the access point. It is best to make a star arrangement with the router in the middle.



Of course that's completely different than the Internet connection bandwidth sharing which is more likely to be your bottleneck.



Most residential routers don't give load balancing options so if computer A does a high speed download and computer B tries to open a page, it will be slow! There is unfortunately not any simple solution for that other than maybe slap the other user so he stops his download and the such.

Answer 2

Not at all! The wireless router provides an RF field which is of equal signal strength in all directions regardless of how many are using it. Consider it to be the radio one transmitter. If one person or 1000000 people tune into radio one, they still all receive the same signal strength as usual, regardless. The only reason that the connection may seem slower or more intermittent is that when more than one channel is being accessed through the router it provides connection in a time sharing system so the data is sent in individual packets to each user in turn.

Answer 3

No, your wireless signal strength is not impacted by the number of systems using the technology. Of course the amount of bandwidth available to the units is impacted by the amount of data transfer happening. So the more devices in use at the same time, the slower the connection.

Answer 4

No - the wireless signal strength is not effected.



However, there is a defined amount of bandwidth available (usually 54Mbps), and all computers connected wirelessly share this bandwidth.

Answer 5

Yes, but that slight - it doesn't make any difference - putting a bit of metal in the way of the signal like a knife and fork would weaken the signal more!

Answer 6

No it wont effect ur signal strength, as its nothing to do with bandwidth.( bandwidth b/w computer is plenty to share Internet) .

Ur Internet speed will off course be effected as it depends on ur ISP and phone line, as u will be sharing ur ISP bandwidth ( which could be anything from 2Mbps - 16 Mbps), most of the routers support speed up to 54Mbps which is plenty to share the Internet as from ur ISP ur only getting less than that. ,



i hope that explains.

Answer 7

yes we run 4 comps from one router but its not the amount of comps that reduce the signal strength its the placing of the router and wheather its near any other electrical source as they can weakin signal strength by being to close , ie speakers tvs , lamps even ,

Answer 8

So you don't lose too much speed... close running programs that you are not using. On all the computers that are on at the time. That should help a little. I always lose a bit of speed but not very much.

Answer 9

No it will not weaken the signal strength

Answer 10

No. It could possibly affect throughput (depending on the router type), but it wouldn't affect the signal strength.. Signal strength is related to distance fom the router, architectual layout of the structure of the building, etc., etc.

Answer 11

That does make sense to me. At my house I live with three younger children and we have 3 laptops and 1 desktop all running from wireless DSL. I always thought that it was just a normal speed I was running at but they are all three gone this weekend and my laptop's wireless internet is BOOMING! So yeah, I believe it does.

Answer 12

The siganl isn't weakened, but you reduce the bandwith, as two are sharing i.e 1mb shares as 512k each etc :)

Answer 13

Your speed is limited by your modem and your Internet Service Provider. If you have more computers using that connection, regardless of if it is wired or wireless, you will have a slower connection per computer.

Answer 14

Yes, it certainly does. For example, do you have harder time picking up 50 pounds than 25 pounds? it's the same thing!

Answer 15

yes...you need a larger bandwidth modem or you could get a router/hub.

Answer 16

of course