I saw an interesting question recently that I thought I would offer up an answer to:
In Windows ‘netsh wlan show interfaces’, what does the signal % mean?
Here is an example (I have two wireless interfaces on my system – Wi-Fi is the built in wireless adapter, and Wi-Fi4 is an external adapter – cheap – literally $8 from Amazon):
Windows (for some obscure reason) reports the signal level as a percent, not as actual dBm. We have found various resources on the Internet that report there is a rough formula for this % to convert it to dBm. The formula is:
(% number / 2) – 100 = dBm
Here is a resulting chart:
| 100% | -50dBm or better |
| 90% | -55dBm |
| 80% | -60dBm |
| 70% | -65dBm |
| 60% | -70dBm |
| 50% | -75dBm |
| 40% | -80dBm |
| 30% | -85dBm |
| 20% | -90dBm |
| 10% | -95dBm or worse |
Hope this helps. You can find other interesting Windows and Wi-Fi articles and tips by selecting the tags below.
I hope you find this article and its content helpful. Comments are welcomed below. If you would like to see more articles like this, please support us by clicking the patron link where you will receive free bonus access to courses and more, or simply buying us a cup of coffee!, and all comments are welcome!