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How to Check WiFi Signal Strength on Windows 10

Before you unload your anger on your internet service provider, check your WiFi signal strength first to determine whether your performance issues are not caused by your router.
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There are not many things more frustrating than using a computer with a weak WiFi signal. When websites take ages to load and online video and audio streaming is interrupted every few seconds, then anger and frustration are quick to set in.

The good news is that measuring WiFi signal strength is easy, and you definitely don’t need to be an expert or own specialized equipment. All you need to do is pick one of the methods described in this article and follow our detailed step-by-step instructions.

How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using the Taskbar Icon?

The quickest way to check WiFi signal strength on Windows 10 is to open the action center and look at the WiFi status icon. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Click the action center icon located right on the taskbar.
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using the Taskbar Icon Step 1
  1. Click the WiFi icon at the bottom.
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using the Taskbar Icon Step 2
  1. Count the number of bars.
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using the Taskbar Icon Step 3

If you see three bars (and one small dot), then your WiFi signal strength is excellent. If you see only the dot, then your signal is far too weak to be usable. Anything in between is acceptable for email and other forms of text-only communication, but you should definitely check WiFi signal strength further to get to the bottom of the issue.

How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using Settings?

Windows 10 comes with a new settings menu, called simply Settings. There, you can control all aspects of your operating system and, among other things, see check your WiFi signal strength.

  1. Open the Start menu and type “Settings.”
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using Settings Step 1
  1. Launch the Settings app and go to Network & Internet.
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using Settings Step 2
  1. In the left pane, select Status and count the number of bars to determine the approximate strength of your signal.
How to Check WiFi Signal Strength Using Settings Step 3

Alternatively, you can also go to the Wi-Fi section, where you can also access your Wi-Fi adapter’s hardware properties and other useful settings.

How to Check WiFi Signal Using Control Panel?

This method is for those Windows 10 users who prefer to use the traditional Control Panel instead of the new Settings app. Because the WiFi signal strength meter in the Control Panel is very basic, don’t expect to see detailed information about your WiFi.

  1. Open the Start menu and type “control panel”.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Control Panel Step 1
  1. Launch the Control Panel app and go to Network and Internet.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Control Panel Step 2
  1. Select View network status and tasks.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Control Panel Step 3
  1. Click the name of your WiFi network to see its signal quality, speed, and other information.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Control Panel Step 4

From the Network and Sharing Center, you can also troubleshoot network problems or set up a new connection.

How to Check WiFi Signal Using Command Prompt?

Believe it or not, but you can check the status of your WiFi network using the might Command Prompt, a command line interpreter application available in Windows 10 and older. Learning how to check WiFi signal strength using Command Prompt is surprisingly simple since the whole process involves just one command:

  1. Open the Start menu and type “command prompt”.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Command Prompt Step 1
  1. Launch the Command Prompt app.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Command Prompt Step 2
  1. Enter the following command in the Command Prompt window and hit Enter: netsh wlan show interfaces.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using Command Prompt Step 3

You should see a bunch of information about your WiFi interface, including the current signal strength (displayed as a percentage near the bottom).

How to Check WiFi Signal Using PowerShell?

You can think of PowerShell as a supercharged version of the Command Prompt. It consists of a command-line shell and a powerful scripting language, enabling sophisticated task automation and configuration management. But don’t worry: checking WiFi signal using PowerShell doesn’t require any scripting.

  1. Press Windows + X and select Windows PowerShell.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using PowerShell Step 1
  1. Enter the following command and hit enter: netsh wlan show interfaces.
How to Check WiFi Signal Using PowerShell Step 2

Your signal strength will be displayed near the bottom. Ideally, you want it to be between 80 and 100 percent. Anything less than that and tasks such as web browsing or video chatting are guaranteed to become less than satisfying.

How to Check WiFi Signal Using NetSpot?

All the above-described methods on how to check WiFi signal strength provide only very basic information. That may be fine if all you need is to quickly determine if a weak WiFi signal is the source of your connectivity issues, but real troubleshooting requires a different approach: a comprehensive WiFi signal strength app like NetSpot.

Besides being our go-to Windows WiFi signal strength meter, NetSpot is also one of the best apps to measure WiFi signal strength on Mac, making it incredibly easy to visualize, manage, troubleshoot, audit, plan, and deploy your wireless networks.

There are two ways to check WiFi signal using NetSpot: you can collect every detail about surrounding WiFi networks using Inspector Mode, or you can outline your real-life WiFi data on a map using Survey Mode.

How to check WiFi signal using NetSpot’s Inspector Mode:

  1. Launch NetSpot and switch to Inspector Mode.
  2. Wait a short while for the Wifi signal strength app to gather information about surrounding WiFi networks.
NetSpot Inspector Mode
  1. Double-click the network you’re interested in to see real-time information about its signal strength, channel overlap, and more.

NetSpot’s Inspector Mode is perfect for quickly and easily obtaining a comprehensive view of all wireless activity in your local area, which is essential when troubleshooting issues with WiFi signal interference and other problems.

How to check WiFi signal using NetSpot’s Survey Mode:

  1. Launch NetSpot and switch to Survey Mode.
  2. Click the Create new… survey button.
Start a new survey
  1. Name your project and either load a map of the area you want to survey from a file or create one from scratch.
New Survey
  1. Click on two points on the map, and then input the actual distance between them in the box at the bottom of the window.
  2. Walk to one corner of your space and click the point on the map that corresponds to where you are standing.
  3. Continue moving and scanning until you have covered the whole area of the map that you wish to scan.
NetSpot Scan
  1. Click the Stop Scan button on the bottom-left of the NetSpot window.

You should now have a detailed heatmap of your local area.

WiFi Heatmap

NetSpot offers more than 15 heatmap visualizations to help troubleshoot just about any WiFi-related problem. The app can, for example, visualize signal-to-noise ratio, signal level, noise level, frequency band coverage, wireless transmit rate, and more.

You can download NetSpot for free from its official website and purchase a Home, Pro, or Enterprise license only when you’ve spent enough time evaluating the app to know that it can meet your needs and requirements. Organizations can purchase a discounted company-wide license, and there’s also an Android version of NetSpot that comes in handy whenever you don’t have access to a laptop.

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Read next in All about Wi-Fi

If you want to dive deeper into this Wi-Fi thing, check out the following articles about Wi-Fi security, the best apps for wireless networking, inflight WiFi, etc.
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Wi-Fi Site Surveys, Analysis, Troubleshooting runs on a MacBook (macOS 10.12+) or any laptop (Windows 7/8/10/11) with a standard 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax wireless network adapter.