OT: Improving laptop wifi reception

[Marko Vojinovic]

On Thursday 25 August 2011 13:24:00 Bob Goodwin wrote:
> I suspect that receiver quality is a bigger factor that transmitter
> power output. I am presently using a Linksys E3000 running DD-WRT which
> displays some receiving data [SNR, signal to noise ratio]. I have no way
> of verifying these numbers but have no reason to doubt them either. I
> have also noticed that signal quality affects the data rates. Good
> signal, faster transfers ...
> 
> >             Wireless Nodes
> >         
> >         Clients
> >         MAC Address 	Interface 	Uptime 	TX Rate 	RX Rate 	Signal
> >         Noise 	SNR 	Signal Quality
> >         00:1E:52:86:4B:C3 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-42 	-88 	46
> >         64%
> >         B8:FF:61:35:AC:CC 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-52 	-88 	36
> >         52%
> >         00:1F:1F:A5:D6:84 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-62 	-88 	26
> >         39%
> >         00:AA:BB:CC:DD:10 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-67 	-88 	21
> >         33%
> >         0C:EE:E6:84:F3:A9 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-55 	-88 	33
> >         48%
> >         00:11:85:8C:CC:25 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-61 	-88 	27
> >         40%
> >         00:02:6F:9B:BA:C4 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-42 	-88 	46
> >         64%
> >         00:1D:73:C9:11:94 	eth1 	N/A 	N/A 	N/A 	-57 	-88 	31
> >         45%

I'm confused --- there is the "Signal" column, the "Noise" column, and the 
"SNR" column which apparently has nothing to do with the ratio between signal 
and noise. In addition, how is the "Signal Quality" estimated?

Little help, please? :-)

Best, :-)
Marko