Starting my toolbox reviews, I picked my latest acquisition in network analysis: inSSIDer, by MetaGeek. Well, SSID stands for Service Set IDentifier, which is a friendly name used by WiFi Access Points so that you can identify which network you are connected to.
Well, I normally use a notebook equipped with a Realtek 8180 WiFi board, which is not a top or even a good standard equipment, but has been working pretty well until now. Happy news is that inSSIDer is compatible with almost all brands, and so I could use it properly.
It is a just a straight-forward software: a nice NNF (next-next-finish :)) installer, push button start and there you go. It tracks all nearby networks, and you may be able to choose to which you would like to log in. Of couse I would take those that have greater RSSI and/or are channel-distant from the bigger crowds. You may expect to find lots of nets on channel 6, as it is the default, but not rarely you will pick others on 1, just because people like the number.
This image is the screen offered by inSSIDer, which is quite simple, and offer most of the information you may need, such as available WiFi networks, their signal strength (RSSI) and channel. It also plots a curve of the RSSI evolution, but the data that are displayed in the table above are not recorded, so that you could use it to computed average RSSI and so on, which is lame (at least for me).
I used it anyway, as its very useful for its powerful purpose, and compatible to most brands of WiFi boards. Sad thing is that I did my computation by pixel comparison in Adobe Fireworks...
Download it here (wait 5 sec or so for auto-start): http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Grade: 7
Why?
Gets the job done, but has a lot of wasted potential.
Enjoy!
Well, I normally use a notebook equipped with a Realtek 8180 WiFi board, which is not a top or even a good standard equipment, but has been working pretty well until now. Happy news is that inSSIDer is compatible with almost all brands, and so I could use it properly.
It is a just a straight-forward software: a nice NNF (next-next-finish :)) installer, push button start and there you go. It tracks all nearby networks, and you may be able to choose to which you would like to log in. Of couse I would take those that have greater RSSI and/or are channel-distant from the bigger crowds. You may expect to find lots of nets on channel 6, as it is the default, but not rarely you will pick others on 1, just because people like the number.
This image is the screen offered by inSSIDer, which is quite simple, and offer most of the information you may need, such as available WiFi networks, their signal strength (RSSI) and channel. It also plots a curve of the RSSI evolution, but the data that are displayed in the table above are not recorded, so that you could use it to computed average RSSI and so on, which is lame (at least for me).I used it anyway, as its very useful for its powerful purpose, and compatible to most brands of WiFi boards. Sad thing is that I did my computation by pixel comparison in Adobe Fireworks...
Download it here (wait 5 sec or so for auto-start): http://www.metageek.net/products/inssider/download
Grade: 7
Why?
Gets the job done, but has a lot of wasted potential.
Enjoy!
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