PopSci: “From gaming and online shopping to movie streaming and social media. There are a lot of reasons why you need stable Wi-Fi around your home, and getting stuck with a sluggish or unreliable connection, can become a major problem. We’re sadly not equipped to see the radio waves floating around our homes carrying that precious wireless internet access, but you can easily check how strong the signal from your router is at various locations. This can be helpful when making sure you’re getting the wireless speeds you’re paying for, but also to set up your devices in optimum locations and identify problems, like a badly positioned fish tank. You can check your wireless strength from any device, and we’ve picked the simplest options in each case. Note that Wi-Fi strength is not the same as speed, and it refers instead to how strong the radio signal is between your device and your router. A strong Wi-Fi means better download and upload speeds, but also determines factors like the stability of the signal. When reading stats, connection strength corresponds to RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) which is measured in decibel milliwatts or dBm. There will be a minus sign before the dBm figure, but don’t worry: Anything from -50 dBm or higher represents an excellent Wi-Fi signal, but if you’re down below -80 dBm, you should be experiencing problems.”