Comment 1 Neil MacLeod 2008-01-23 06:58:17 UTC

Agreed, the transmission power setting functions as if it is a Global setting
yet it is located within a Connection-specific dialog which is entirely
inappropriate.

Relocating the "Transmission Power" widget to the "Global" Connectivity dialog
(with General and Idle Times tabs) would be more appropriate, or as Simon
suggests make "Transmission Power" a truly per-connection setting in which case
leave it where it is.

Comment 2 Andre Klapper 2008-11-02 23:10:03 UTC

Confirming - N810, 4.2008.36-5.
WONTFIX for Diablo, let's try to fix this for Fremantle.

STEPS LEADING TO THE PROBLEM:
1. Go to settings > connection manager > tools > connectivity settings >
connections > edit > (click through) > advanced > other.
2. Change value for "WLAN transmission power".

ACTUAL OUTCOME:
Notification popup: "Transmission Power for all WLAN connections changed to x
mW"

Here are more detailed suggestions about this feature. My use case for this
setting is that I leave it at 10mW almost all of the time, to save power, but
then when there are problems with signal quality, usually if I'm outdoors, I
turn it up to 100mW, to increase my chances of getting good signal strength.

If the Tx power can be changed without interrupting a wireless connection, then
I suggest making this setting automatic, and set it dynamically based on signal
quality. In this case, it would be left at 10mW until the software observes a
signal quality problem, at which point it would be turned up to 100mW. 

One could combine the above idea with the option to manually set the transmit
power, in a menu under the connection applet menu called "Transmit Power" with
3 items in it, 10mW, 100mW, and Auto, in whatever order seems best. In the help
documentation, the behavior of the auto setting would be explained, to help
advanced users make the decision of whether to trust it or not.

If the Tx power cannot be changed in a transparent way, then the auto setting
can be omitted, or its behavior can be to change the power to 100mW when a
connection fails at 10mW and the SNR isn't above some threshold. In this case,
since auto would only decide the power at connection time, the connection popup
could say "Connected to ESSID with a transmission power of 100mW", to give the
user feedback about what the automation is doing.

In any case, I think the setting should be easy to access (i.e. somewhere in
the connection applet's menu), because if I want to set the power to 100mW, I'm
probably outside trying to look something up in a hurry. I might be in the
company of other people, in which case I don't want to be rude and spend a lot
of time fiddling with my N800. I also may be about to catch a bus or something,
next to my house or some other building with an access point, in which case I
don't have a lot of time to set the power to 100mW, because my bus might show
up before I finish using the wireless connection.

I'm against making this a per-connection setting now, it has occurred to me
since filing this bug that for most locations where I use 802.11g, I will
sometimes want either setting depending on where I am in relation to the access
point.

Comment 4 Andre Klapper 2008-11-18 16:27:08 UTC

Forwarding internal comment:

"I admit that it's misleading to have device-specific access when the setting
is
global. However, I don't mind having it buried deep, as it's really not a
setting that the typical user would change too often.
Setting as wontfix. This is really not a feature that needs to be prominent and
easily accessible for everybody."

Comment 5 Neil MacLeod 2008-11-18 17:05:54 UTC

(In reply to comment #4)
> Forwarding internal comment:
> "I admit that it's misleading to have device-specific access when the setting
> is
> global. However, I don't mind having it buried deep, as it's really not a
> setting that the typical user would change too often.
> Setting as wontfix. This is really not a feature that needs to be prominent and
> easily accessible for everybody."

If it's not meant to be easily accessible then it should be not very accessible
from a global dialog as it's a global setting.

Leaving a global setting not very accessible from a connection specific dialog
misses the point of this bug completely, and it's this kind of response from
Nokia developers which gives a good clue as to why the UI is such a mess.

Isn't anyone at Nokia overseeing this kind of nonsense and bringing the
developers into line to ensure it doesn't continue with the next UI rewrite? Is
this developer responsible to Roope (I'm cc'ing him).

What this developer is really saying is: "I can't be bothered to change it, I
don't care about UI standards, common sense or software quality and I don't
have to answer to anybody that does, either."

Comment 6 Roope Rainisto 2008-11-18 17:27:26 UTC

For comment #3 first: I might be wrong on this this, but I think that the
setting refers to maximum output, i.e. even when setting to 100mW it won't
consume that always, it will conserve power, and consume up to 100mW when
needed. 

So the users do not really save power by switching manually between 10mW and
100mW...

Comment 7 Roope Rainisto 2008-11-18 17:31:12 UTC

And the only reason the setting is there that certain countries, like France,
limit the maximum legal output  outdoors to 10mW. (Meaning that "Auto" is
essentially on all the time...) Anyway, this is for comment #3.

Comment 8 Roope Rainisto 2008-11-19 12:38:24 UTC

ok, but anyway, Neil and comment #5:

1. Yes, it is a valid bug. A general level setting shouldn't be inside one the
setting of one connection, that's wrong in principle. 
2. On the other hand, burying it deep is good. As I tried to describe, it is
not something that users should be really touching and adjusting, since our
power management will auto-adjust anyway (when having it on), the first value
is only a maximum. So the comment from the UI designer: "This is really not a
feature that needs to be prominent and easily accessible for everybody" is also
true. 

Looking at the current UI, if keeping the behaviour that it applies to all
connections, the "best" place to place it would be the General tab in the
Connectivity dialog. Then it fulfills 1., although not 2. anymore. it's not a
100% ideal place, but the best out of the current alternatives. 

Since it's not a self-obvious setting, people might start to feel like they
need to adjust it all the time. Naturally we could try to explain this, but
then again, to have "unnecessary settings" which would need to separately
explain to not actually touch isn't so good also.

Alternatively implementing it so that it would be connection specific would
also solve the issue. 

-
So, yes it's a bug, and in a perfect situation we would have the resources and
the project schedules would allow making these kinds of additional fixes for
agreeably small issues. I would love us to be able to do that. Then again,
having visibility on the Fremantle implementation status, I would be lying if I
could promise a fix for an issue like this. 

-
Then again - yes for the issue, so I'll reopen and

Comment 9 Roope Rainisto 2008-11-19 12:38:46 UTC

Assigned for Harmattan. Better late than never.

Comment 10 Neil MacLeod 2008-11-19 13:49:07 UTC

(In reply to comment #8)
> ok, but anyway, Neil and comment #5:
> 1. Yes, it is a valid bug. A general level setting shouldn't be inside one the
> setting of one connection, that's wrong in principle. 
> 2. On the other hand, burying it deep is good.
>
> Then again - yes for the issue, so I'll reopen and

Hi Roope - I don't disagree with an obscure and often misunderstood option such
as this being "buried deep", I do however disagree strongly with the apparent
acceptance from the developer that it's "OK" to place an option in entirely the
wrong part of the UI simply because the option shouldn't be accessed very
often! That is a very worrying attitude which suggests that developers should
not be left to make UI-related decisions, but thanks again for picking this up.

Comment 11 Roope Rainisto 2008-11-20 10:17:45 UTC

I contacted the relevant Harmattan UI designer and she commented that Harmattan
will not put this general-level feature on a connection-level UI, so at least
in that release this issue will be fixed.

*** Bug 6969 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Still an issue on the N900, in fremantle 20.2010.36-2. Sorry if this comment is
inappropriate for a bug filed about the N800, but I came here from bug 6969,
which _is_ about the N900, and has been marked as a duplicate of this one.

As a solution, I would suggest a 2-pronged approach:
1. Make the per-connection setting really per-connection. Useful because on
some networks (such as my home network), I _know_ that 10mw is enough, whereas
on others (public HOTCITY network), I know I might need 100mw in most of the
cases.

2. Maybe, in addition, have an easily accessible "set to 100mv temporarily"
widget, which can be quickly accessed when in hurried situations if it turns
out that the default is not enough.

Comment 14 Andre Klapper 2011-01-17 21:36:02 UTC

WONTFIX for Maemo5, FIXED for Harmattan (the version after Maemo5) as per
comment 11. Closing.