[WollyDriver]

Generally I don't login until I'm in the car, but recently I've done a few sit at home. For you, I'd suggest you login as soon as you are "ready" to leave home, but perhaps continue to do whatever other things you might like to do. That could be having something to eat, or whatever, as long as you can walk out the door in under 60 seconds (standard variables for a red light stop or similar). I wouldn't suggest sitting and waiting for a ping that might never come, when you are ready to leave, then jump in the car and head for a "core" area. See how it goes, test and measure are great, though to be honest uber is very much "random". Some days you will get stacked trips in the middle of nowhere, and other days you don't get any trips even in the core areas.
I did once spend almost an hour sitting on William st near Darlinghurst on a Saturday night, I thought I'd be sure to get something from there, but no such luck (I was a newbie then)...

 

[WollyDriver]

Remember the phone might "see" your wifi, but not actually be able to talk to the Uber servers over it. When you are "close" it is best to disable wifi totally, and just use your mobile reception (unless your mobile reception is crappy, then you should stay inside and online until after you got a ping...)