Measuring RF and presenting it in a way a normal person can understand is difficult. I've had first hand experience trying to explain to customers that a 0dB signal is not a problem -- in fact it's ideal in our system, or that there's such thing as too much signal, or that signal quality alone isn't a very good indication of reliability/speed without taking into account other important factors such as SNR or real bit error rates, or that a ~4dB signal range swing due to thermal conditions alone is completely normal. In the wireless world you have to represent all this in a little 20 or 30 pixel wide meter.
A better method than the traditional 5 bar icon meter would be a status icon that could show signal strength, signal quality, and also take into account other experience factors like latency and speed. To you could have 5 orange bars showing strong signal while also acknowledging there was some other factor causing less reliability such as SNR problems or channel congestion. You could have 3 green bars showing good RF and network conditions. More accurate but we'd have to ween people off the old system. Ideally you could the choice in your settings for a basic or advanced meter icon.
A better method than the traditional 5 bar icon meter would be a status icon that could show signal strength, signal quality, and also take into account other experience factors like latency and speed. To you could have 5 orange bars showing strong signal while also acknowledging there was some other factor causing less reliability such as SNR problems or channel congestion. You could have 3 green bars showing good RF and network conditions. More accurate but we'd have to ween people off the old system. Ideally you could the choice in your settings for a basic or advanced meter icon.