WiFi Signal Strength
 

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

FiWi wrote:

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

I just use my cell phone or laptop for that.
Both have wifi signal strength bars.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

Thanks for the reply.

Looking for signal strength NOT bars.

I need better resolution.


FiWi wrote:

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

On Mon, 13 May 2019 09:39:19 -0700, FiWi wrote:

Some app on a cell phone ?

Try this one for Android:

WiFiAnalyzer (open-source)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vrem.wifianalyzer&hl=en

(no ads)

--
s|b

WiFi Signal Strength
 

On Mon, 13 May 2019 21:38:36 +0200, "s|b" wrote:

On Mon, 13 May 2019 09:39:19 -0700, FiWi wrote:

Some app on a cell phone ?

Try this one for Android:

WiFiAnalyzer (open-source)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vrem.wifianalyzer&hl=en

(no ads)

+1

That's what I use. One of its screens is a representation of an analog
needle that seems to update in near real time, with optional audible
feedback. You can pick which SSID you want to monitor.

The only thing that might not be intuitive about the app is that to
switch from 2.4GHz to 5GHz, and vice versa, you go to the screen where
all of the various parabolas are displayed, then tap on the upper left
corner of the display, where it says 5G or 2.4G. It's a toggle.

--

Char Jackson

WiFi Signal Strength
 

FiWi wrote:

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.


There are likely copy-cats of this program.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6862-inssider4.html

http://www.inssider.com/index.html

inSSIDer 4 (the free one)
Pick the Best Channel y
Track signal strength y
Min/Max Datarate y

And "bars" is just quantized signal strength, good enough for
"it sucks in this room", "it's OK in that room". The number
would only mean something, if you knew the receiver sensitivity
of each receiving device. It's likely the receivers have AGC,
to reduce amplification if a Wifi signal is so strong that it
is overloading the receiver.

Receivers work on two things. They need an absolute level of
signal. At some point, too little signal will not trip any
threshold or be process-able. But "Noise" is the other factor,
signal to noise ratio. You could have "all bars lit up" for
signal strength, and still not extract any packets, if the
signal is overwhelmed by external noise (leaky microwave oven,
2.4GHz wireless telephone signal, *USB3 leaky cable*).

HTH,
Paul

WiFi Signal Strength
 

In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Mon, 13 May 2019 21:38:36 +0200, "s|b" wrote:

On Mon, 13 May 2019 09:39:19 -0700, FiWi wrote:

Some app on a cell phone ?

Try this one for Android:

WiFiAnalyzer (open-source)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vrem.wifianalyzer&hl=en

(no ads)

+1

+1 here too.

That's what I use. One of its screens is a representation of an analog
needle that seems to update in near real time, with optional audible
feedback. You can pick which SSID you want to monitor.

I didn't know about the audio feedback! It may be useful to use the
screen that displays all SSIDs it can see (like this
B
A /\ C
/\/ \/\ [except they're rounded - I CBA to draw it like that]. It
labels the peaks with the SSID names), as absolute strength may be less
important than relative: if there's somewhere where one of your
neighbour's SSID is stronger than yours, that may be more important than
absolute strength. I think that's the default display, anyway.

The only thing that might not be intuitive about the app is that to
switch from 2.4GHz to 5GHz, and vice versa, you go to the screen where
all of the various parabolas are displayed, then tap on the upper left
corner of the display, where it says 5G or 2.4G. It's a toggle.

Ah, I didn't know that either! Thanks.

Though I've just tried it on my old DooGee, and it doesn't say 5G or
2.4G in the top left - I suspect it doesn't have 5 GHz.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

he was eventually struck off by the BMA in 1968 for not knowing his gluteus
maximus from his humerus.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

On 13/05/2019 18:39, FiWi wrote:

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.


inSSIDer is the best option, for Windows en Android.

Fokke

WiFi Signal Strength
 

"FiWi" wrote in message
...

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

There are various apps on Android phones (and no doubt on iPhone too).
InSSIDer or Network Cell Info Lite are the two I use: the latter also shows
strength of mobile internet signals.

InSSIDer has the advantage over Network Cell Info that it shows other
networks so you can see whether there's anything else that overlaps with the
network that you are connected to and could therefore cause poor
performance. Signal strength (in dBm) is important, but more important is
signal to noise ratio: a weak signal with nothing interfering is probably
faster than a stronger one which has other networks that overlap and that
are almost as strong.

You can also run InSSIDer on a Windows laptop - it's what I used ages ago
until I upgraded my ancient Nokia to an Android smartphone.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

In message , Fokke Nauta
writes:
On 13/05/2019 18:39, FiWi wrote:
What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?
I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.
Some tool ?
Some app on a laptop ?
Some app on a cell phone ?
Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?
Thank you in advance for your help.


inSSIDer is the best option, for Windows en Android.

Fokke

For Windows, yes. If you want to walk about, a 'phone is better, and for
that Wifi Analyser (Android - don't know what for iOS) is probably the
best. (Both inSSIDer and Wifi Analyser are free.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Never raise your hand to your children. It leaves your mid-section unprotected

WiFi Signal Strength
 

"Paul" wrote in message
...
FiWi wrote:

What are different ways of seeing your home WiFi signal strength ?

I want to walk around and find hot and cold spots.

Some tool ?

Some app on a laptop ?

Some app on a cell phone ?

Is there a way that will update quickly so as to be able to walk it
around easily ?

Thank you in advance for your help.


There are likely copy-cats of this program.

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/6862-inssider4.html

http://www.inssider.com/index.html

inSSIDer 4 (the free one)
Pick the Best Channel y
Track signal strength y
Min/Max Datarate y

And "bars" is just quantized signal strength, good enough for
"it sucks in this room", "it's OK in that room". The number
would only mean something, if you knew the receiver sensitivity
of each receiving device. It's likely the receivers have AGC,
to reduce amplification if a Wifi signal is so strong that it
is overloading the receiver.

Receivers work on two things. They need an absolute level of
signal. At some point, too little signal will not trip any
threshold or be process-able. But "Noise" is the other factor,
signal to noise ratio. You could have "all bars lit up" for
signal strength, and still not extract any packets, if the
signal is overwhelmed by external noise (leaky microwave oven,
2.4GHz wireless telephone signal, *USB3 leaky cable*).

HTH,
Paul

I believe v3.1.2.1 is the last free version:
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5936-inssider.html

V4.2.4.1 tells me it's $19.95US for the home version.

Another tool that'll give most anyone more info than they'll ever need is
WifiInfoView from Nir Sofer (it also comes as part of the NirLauncher
Suite):
https://www.techspot.com/downloads/5476-wifiinfoview.html
It only works on Windows devices though.
--

SC Tom

WiFi Signal Strength
 

On Tue, 14 May 2019 09:38:28 +0100, "NY" wrote:

There are various apps on Android phones (and no doubt on iPhone too).
InSSIDer or Network Cell Info Lite are the two I use: the latter also shows
strength of mobile internet signals.

InSSIDer has the advantage over Network Cell Info that it shows other
networks so you can see whether there's anything else that overlaps with the
network that you are connected to and could therefore cause poor
performance. Signal strength (in dBm) is important, but more important is
signal to noise ratio: a weak signal with nothing interfering is probably
faster than a stronger one which has other networks that overlap and that
are almost as strong.

Another consideration is how active the other signal-producing sources
are. If I'm asking myself which 2.4GHz channel I should choose, and I
see that channel 1 has 10 SSIDs on it and channel 6 has only 1 SSID on
it, should I automatically pick channel 6? No, because if the single
SSID on channel 6 is extremely active while the 10 SSIDs on channel 1
are mostly dormant, then channel 1 is the better choice. In short, it's
pretty hard to tell, which is why in some/many/most cases it's becoming
easier to just let the router (access point) use its own algorithm to
pick a channel.

You can also run InSSIDer on a Windows laptop - it's what I used ages ago
until I upgraded my ancient Nokia to an Android smartphone.

Same here, but somewhere along the way I upgraded to the version where
they wanted money, so I dumped it. I suppose I could have gone back to
the previous version.

--

Char Jackson

WiFi Signal Strength
 

In alt.windows7.general, on Mon, 13 May 2019 11:14:23 -0700, FiWi
wrote:


Thanks for the reply.

Looking for signal strength NOT bars.

What are the five bars closest to the Pentagon called?

The chief joints of Staff.

I need better resolution.

WiFi Signal Strength
 

"Char Jackson" wrote in message
...
Another consideration is how active the other signal-producing sources
are. If I'm asking myself which 2.4GHz channel I should choose, and I
see that channel 1 has 10 SSIDs on it and channel 6 has only 1 SSID on
it, should I automatically pick channel 6? No, because if the single
SSID on channel 6 is extremely active while the 10 SSIDs on channel 1
are mostly dormant, then channel 1 is the better choice. In short, it's
pretty hard to tell, which is why in some/many/most cases it's becoming
easier to just let the router (access point) use its own algorithm to
pick a channel.

Is there a way to tell how much traffic a "foreign" wifi network is
carrying, when you are not actually connected to it to run a Wireshark scan?
Am I about to learn something new...?

WiFi Signal Strength
 

On Tue, 14 May 2019 10:03:01 +0200, Fokke Nauta wrote:

inSSIDer is the best option, for Windows en Android.

Nowhere to be found on Play Store. It should be this link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.metageek.inSSIDer

But it's dead.

And I'm guessing it came/comes with ads.

--
s|b