How to Measure the Quality of Signal Strength on a Wireless Modem

Navigate to the computer's network connections manager by opening the "Start" menu, clicking "Control Panel" and then on either "Network Connections" or "Network and Sharing Center," depending on what version of Windows you use. You should see a listing of all available wireless and wired networks, though on newer versions of Windows you may first need to click on "Manage Network Connections" or "Change Adapter Settings" before you see the connection icons.

Connect to the wireless network by right-clicking on its connection icon and choosing "Connect." Your computer's wireless card will now being to obtain all IP information from the wireless network and a subsequent pop-up window should indicate whether or not the computer was able to successfully connect.

Check the wireless signal strength. Assuming the computer was able to connect to the wireless network, you should see a signal strength rating just underneath the icon of "good," "excellent," "fair" or "limited or no connectivity." This is the computer's approximation of the current signal strength of the wireless network and it will continue to show the estimated signal strength for as long as the wireless network is connected.