Our internet has been down at home this week – what a drag. We have Vonage, too, which means no internet, no phone. We're cut off from the modern world! Except for our cell phones, and the TV, and the radio, and the friendly neighbor who (unwittingly) provides us with a shaky wireless signal.

What's so interesting about the neighborhood signal is how variable it is. Some days I can get 4 bars of signal in my office, and some days I have to carry my laptop out onto the back porch to get just 1 bar. Not only that, but sometime 4 bars will support streaming video on ESPN (for example), and other times it'll barely fetch my email headers. I'm so confused about why it's so up and down. Is it weather conditions? Signal interference in the area? Is it physical? I mean, can something like a door, whether it's open or shut, influence the signal that much when you're far away and it's comparatively weak? I know that physical barriers like walls, etc. is a big factor in signal quality, but I would expect that stuff to be largely constant – either it can make it through the walls or not. I wouldn't expect such big swings from day to day. Sometimes from hour to hour. Does anyone know what sorts of things can effect WiFi at distance?

Anyway, the repair tech. comes today. Let's hope we get our own internet back!