Signal Quality A radio frequency (RF) signal can be assessed by two components:
● signal strength (quantity)
● signal quality
The quality of the signal is determined by a combination of factors. Primarily it is composed of
signal strength and the ratio of the RF noise present. RF noise occurs both naturally and
artificially by electrical equipment. If the amount of the RF noise is high, or the signal strength
is low, it results in a lower signal to noise ratio which causes poorer signal quality. With a low
signal to noise ratio, it is difficult for the radio receiver to discern the data information
contained in the signal from the noise itself.
Signal Strength The signal strength for all received packets. The more green bars displayed, the stronger the
signal.
Adapter MAC
Address Media Access Control (MAC) address for the wireless adapter.
Band Indicates the wireless band of the current connection.
● 802.11a
● 802.11b
● 802.11g
Supported Data
Rates Rates at which the wireless adapter can send and receive data. Displays the speed in Mbps for
the frequency being used.
● 802.11g: 1, 2, 5.5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54
● 802.11b: 1, 2, 5.5, and 11
● 802.11a: 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, and 54
Radio Frequency Displays the frequency of the current wireless connection.
● 802.11a: 5.15 GHz to 5.85 GHz
● 802.11b/g: 2.400 GHz to 2.4835 GHz (dependent on country)
Channel Number Displays the transmit and receive channel.
Network
Authentication Displays Open, Shared, WPA-Personal and WPA2-Personal modes, WPA-Enterprise, and WPA2-
Enterprise. Displays the 802.11 authentication used by the currently used profile. Refer to
Security Overview for more information.
Data Encryption Displays None, WEP, TKIP or AES-CCMP. Refer to Security Overview for more information.
802.1x
Authentication Type Displays None, MD5, EAP-SIM, TLS, TTLS, PEAP, LEAP, or EAP-FAST. Refer to Security
Ovewrview for more information.
802.1x
Authentication
Protocol
Displays None, PAP, MD5, GTC, CHAP, MS-CHAP, MS-CHAP-V2 or TLS. Refer to Security
Overview for more information.
CCX Version Version of the Cisco Compatible Extensions on this wireless connection.
Current TX Power Cisco Compatible Extensions Power Levels.
Supported Power
Levels 1.0, 5.0, 20.0, 31.6, 50.1 mW
Access Point MAC
Address The Media Access Control (MAC) address for the associated access point.
Mandatory Access
Point Displays None, if not enabled. If enabled, from the Mandatory Access Point setting, the access
point MAC address is displayed. This option directs the wireless adapter to connect to an
access point that uses a specific MAC address (48-bit 12 hexadecimal digits, for example,
00:06:25:0E:9D:84).