Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Steel, notfred
curtisb wrote:Acrylic WiFi Home is free and fairly comparable to InSSIDer.
churin wrote:curtisb wrote:Acrylic WiFi Home is free and fairly comparable to InSSIDer.
I forgot to mention but Acrylic WiFi Home is another one I tried and did not work on my Windows 10 Pro x64. Did you use the utility on Windows 10? If so I will try again.
ludi wrote:Is it essential to use a Windows 10 machine? There are a few iOS apps and a lot of Android apps that can do this, and if you're trying to, e.g., wander around an office or warehouse space to check for signal availability or conflicts, a mobile device is quite convenient.
Usacomp2k3 wrote:How about use using the wlan function from the command prompt. No extra programs needed
start->run cmd
nesth
wlan
show all
jihadjoe wrote:I use WiFi Analyzer on Android. Shows the list of available networks plus their channels and signal strength.
churin wrote:One question about Acrylic WiFi Home: Channel # for 5GHz of my hotspot is supposed to be 149 but is shown as "149+153+157+161". I wonder why.
curtisb wrote:churin wrote:One question about Acrylic WiFi Home: Channel # for 5GHz of my hotspot is supposed to be 149 but is shown as "149+153+157+161". I wonder why.
It uses multiple channels to get more throughput. My 2.4GHz channel is on 3w (w for wide), which is 3+6, to get 300Mbps 802.11n. My 5GHz Channel is on 60w, which is 60+64, to get 300Mbps 802.11n. My AP is only dual radio, which is why it'll only use 2 channels per frequency. This is where MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) comes in. Newer AP's support MU-MIMO (Multiple User-MIMO), which uses more antennas and more radios to help with multiple devices.
When I carried an iPhone (last I carried was a 3GS) I used WiFiFoFum. It had a radar layout that would show you how close the AP was to you. It got removed from iOS, but I think it's still available for Android.
jihadjoe wrote:I use WiFi Analyzer on Android. Shows the list of available networks plus their channels and signal strength. It's pretty awesome.
Edit: Added link and screenshots
curtisb wrote:There's nothing wrong with forcing it, so long as you're forcing it to a channel that isn't saturated in your area (which these analyzer tools should show you). If you leave it on Auto it should let the AP automatically assign an unsaturated channel.
churin wrote:What does setting the channel number mean? There appears to be word "Primary channel" or "Control channel". I am confused.