Communication is a chain - if one link is broken, the whole chain is broken. Therefore it doesn't matter which end you jam, you always take the highest noise penalty on either end as your total noise.
To figure out how noise is affecting you, start with
the noise level from real-world distance to your target
and add the noise level from any other applicable situations,
then subtract any noise reduction you are using.
Hrm. It appears that you could also argue that you add up all noise affecting both ends based on the actual rule, although I'm sure I've seen clarifications that you're not supposed to. I'd have to agree that in light of how the rule is actually worded, it makes just as much/little sense to interpret it at take the highest between the two rather than ignore the Noise in the environment at the distant end. If I'm in a Rating 4 Noise zone, hacking a target in another sprawl located within a rating 6 Noise zone, I'd add distance plus 6 rather than distance plus 4? Even though the rule "appears" to say distance plus 6 plus 4?
If wireless capability is lost is determined after you apply noise reduction. And a rigger can get a really high amount with the right combination of gear and Electronic Warfare skill.
I'd love for you to be right, but I don't think the rules agree?
If there is a Noise Rating from a situation that is greater
than the item’s Device Rating, not including distance,
the item temporarily loses its wireless functionality (see
Noise, p. 230).
So if there's a Noise Rating > Device Rating, Device loses wireless functionality. Very explicit; it literally could not be clearer. Doesn't say "uncompensated noise".. it's saying if the raw Noise exceeds DR, the device is done (wirelessly). Which makes sense from a jamming standpoint, but less so from a spam standpoint. Unfortunately the rules don't differentiate between
types of noise, necessitating house rules I suppose. I suppose one could say the definitive rules on Noise (pg 23) trump the badly worded rules on 421. And the "specific trumps general" argument for rules on page 421
only applies to wireless bonuses, and so one could say communication is not a "wireless bonus" but a basic function. But then that puts jamming back into an odd place. What's the point of jamming a commlink if you can't stop it from making calls.
Jamming mainly works against non-specialist characters and to protect your own gear (wireless on jammer can exempt your own devices from its effect and is therefore ideally suited to stop remote hackers from getting good dice pools against you)
Yeah with the Jammer being a point-and-click device with no skill use involved and capping out at rating 6 there does seem to be a hole. A Transys Avalon (or any DR6 commlink) is immune to jamming, which doesn't feel right. Would you expect that one should be able to use the Jam Signals matrix action to enhance the NR kicked out by a Jammer? How about just getting cute and directing
two jamming devices at the target to double the NR?