Wireless tests using Thomson TG585v7

[#1]

Following a few discussions on the performance of the TG585v7 wireless router - I have done some tests - albeit rather crude and not very scientific.
It works very well in my fairly large bungalow with plaster dividing walls - giving a "Excellent" signal strength in MS Windows "Network and Sharing centre"
I decided to test it in a rather more demanding environment; so have brought it along to our church - which is a substantial 19th century stone building.
The router in located in a side office - at a height of about 1.3 meter - with antenna vertical and divided from the main body of the church only by a series of glass windows.
Results again using MS Windows "Network and Sharing centre"
In the same room "Excellent"
In the main body of church about 20 meters aways "Very Good"
Now for the surprising bit.
Halfway up and inside a stairway to the balcony - surrounded by stone about 300mm thick and thick oak doors - with just a couple of small windows - signal strength varied between "good" and "poor" - but still usable.
Sorry no further quantitative information - but these tests at least demonstrate that the wifi performs very well, and in fact just as well as our normal Netgear DG834PN

[#2]

would use a wireless scanner program that gives you signal strength in db instead of the limited windows bar graph.
nice idea to give it a test and shows the router pumps out enough signal but wonder how much of a diffrence diffrent wireless cards and usb adapters would make.

[#3]

This is what I use http://www.airmagnet.com/products/survey/ but you may find it a bit pricey !!!  there is normally a 30 day trail available. And you can still access the results with an unlicensed copy.
Don't assume that glass windows are transparent to 2.4GHz, depending on the materials that the glass is made of they are not, with older glass often having a lead content.
Another way of measuring is to use `ping` to check the throughput;

ping -c 100 -s 65507 -i 0 access_point

[#4]

Thanks guys - as I said just quick and dirty test, and as I'm not involved in doing this professionally - have no budget for paid for tools - - but'll look at the trial version.
I need a longer telephone line to move the router to a better position - at least the TG585v7 has slots on the botton so it can be hooked onto a screw / nail on the wall.
Yes the glass I referred to is fairly new so maybe not too high a lead content.

[#5]

Quote from: mal0z

I'm not involved in doing this professionally - have no budget for paid for tools

I am doing it professionally, but also don't have the budget, so we share one license between two engineers!! (Legitimately as we license the wireless card.)