Wifi signal reception when car is dirty

invisik · Feb 19, 2015

Hi all,

Ok, this is kinda weird, but I've been noticing that when my car's exterior is clean, the wifi has better signal strength. At my office, my indoor parking spot is on the fringe of a wifi signal. On days when the car is dirty, it won't connect. When it's clean, it will connect.

Could dirt (with a coating of road salt too) interfere enough with the wifi signal that it could make a difference?

-m

mibaro2 · Feb 19, 2015

My car has been covered in salt and dirt for the past week. No problem with the wifi connection to the car. Either at home or at work.
Be interesting to see the other responses.

strider · Feb 19, 2015

In theory, yes. However in practice (I worked for a WiFi hardware company for the last 10 years) I've never seen it make a material difference in signal strength. But if your signal is really that marginal it's definitely possible. Do you park in the same spot all the time? Do you park differently when the car is dirty vs clean?

And what do you mean by "connect?" If the car is clean you'll get the WiFi icon instead of the 3G and if it's dirty it only displays the 3G icon?

invisik · Feb 19, 2015

Hi,

I've experimented with parking different ways (head in, back in, pulling up different distances, etc). My best success so far has been head in and stopping when the parking sensor distance indicator lines move in twice.

I think the icon may change to the wireless icon, but will only have 1 dot and essentially can't get out on that little signal. 3G doesn't work in the garage at all.

-m

Search

Wifi signal reception when car is dirty

invisik

Member

mibaro2

Member

strider

Active Member

invisik

Member

Similar threads