Correlating signal strength with up/down speeds

[dparm]

I am trying to understand if there is a problem with the coverage in my condo, my phone, or perhaps just a misunderstanding of how the OG Droid draws its signal bars. Ran a few "scientific" tests to see if I could make sense of things. Exact results at the bottom.


What it comes down to is that anywhere inside my condo registers around -70dbm (showing 0 or 1 bars, maybe 2) yet I'm struggling to do better than 200kbps down/120kbps up. I live in a high rise on the 16th floor. If I go downstairs to the street, the signal is actually about 3-5dbm worse at -75dbm but the speeds are 4-5 times faster and I see "full signal bars".


This is really frustrating because I'm forced to use wifi indoors and the call quality is only mediocre. I feel like the signal bars are totally worthless...and yes, I understand dbm is logarithmic. What am I missing here?






Background info:
OG Motorola Droid
Stock FRK76 (Android 2.2.3), rooted
C_01.43.01P baseband
Peter Alfonso 1.2GHz SV kernel
52644 PRL
Speedtest.net app v2.0.8, Comcast server @ Chicago, IL
Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS disabled
3x back-to-back tests at each spot, rebooted before moving to the next spot




Couch:
(next to very large windows, 16th floor of 31 total, downtown Chicago, minimal obstruction from adjacent buildings)
-65dbm, 0asu
1 or 0 bars, "3G" icon
125-159ms ping
138-211kbps down
116-165kbps up
Note: I also stepped out onto the patio to see if the windows or blinds were somehow interfering. Signal strength, ping, and up/down speeds were identical.




Bathroom:
(interior-most room, no windows)
-68dbm, 0asu
2 or 1 bar, "3G" icon
128-145ms ping
190-262kbps down
216-325kbps up




Bus stop:
(16 floors directly below my apartment patio)
-73dbm, 0asu
4 or 3 bars, "3G" icon
101-153ms ping
888-1834kbps down
792-807kbps up