When anyone from MetaGeek travels we try to get a good Wi-Spy recording from the airport. Yesterday I was sitting in the San Jose Airport waiting for a flight back to Boise and decided to plug in my Wi-Spy to see what was happening. Wow! Talk about a noisy microwave! I tracked the microwave down to a bagel shop between gates C10 and C8 in Terminal C (I was waiting at C10). The bagel shop had a steady line of customers and many of them apparently asked for a hot bagel, as the microwave showed up a few times in my brief recording.

Here’s another screenshot from the same location, but without the microwave wiping out the Wi-Fi networks. Notice that there are Wi-Fi networks on channels 6, 9, and 11. So, even without the microwave wreaking havoc, these networks are stomping on each other. The network on channel 9 should be moved to channel 1 or even just over to channel 6, which is less active than channel 11.

So if you are ever in Terminal C of the San Jose Airport I’d check the line at Noah’s New York Bagels before purchasing Wi-Fi access from T-Mobile or Wayport.