WiFi detectors roundup
Handtops.com has roundup of five different WiFi detectors, SmartID's WiFi Detector WFS-1, PCTEL's WiFi Seeker, the new Kensington WiFi Finder Plus, Hawking Technologies' WiFi Locator HWL1, and the supposedly vaporous Digital Hotspotter HS10 from Canary Wireless. They'll definitely save you from having to boot up your lappy just to see whether there's WiFi about, but that's about the only thing these five have in common. Turns out there's a lot of variation in detection strength, range, form-factor, and the ability to filter out non-WiFi signals (the Digital Hotspotter's the only one that can display SSIDs and whether a network is closed or open), and there was no clear winner among the five detectors.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joel McLaughlin @ Dec 19th 2005 12:07AM
Wifi detectors suck. The best WiFi detector is not considered a detector at all, but it excels in finding wifi networks. What is it? A wifi equipped pocket pc. You can whip it out and within moments find out if the AP is open or not. Most of these detectors only detect if there's a network at all and have no ability to actually log on to the network and transfer or ping a website. Even some who indicate they don't use WEP are not easily gotten into unless you already have a password for the gateway. With a PDA, you can do a virtua full up test to see if it's even worth whipping the lappy out.
captain @ Dec 19th 2005 12:07AM
Quite a statement Joel. In my tests I found that these 5 finders hardly "sucked", in fact they were extremely invaluable. You might get more functionality out of a PDA's WiFi finding, but you can't compare the size and *price* to something like the Canary Wireless which is only $49 and has incredible functionality, or the Kensington WiFi Finder Plus which even scans for bluetooth connections (plus wifi) for $29.99. It isn't fair to assume that everyone has a PDA, nor should everyone be getting one just to find a WiFi connection. Hence the market for WiFi detectors.
Erik Lane @ Dec 19th 2005 12:07AM
I'm guessing if I'm looking for a hotspot to connect to with my laptop the chances are that I'll have it with me, no?
Anyway, I agree with Joel in that even if they can "detect" a hotspot it doesn't do much good if they can't give you the full info you need to know if it's usable to you or not.
Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:07AM
There is a nice tool from TRENDnet TEW-1. This is what I think the WiFi detector is most suited for. This detector is used to find trouble spots in a b/g (2.4GHz) network. Most people do not know that most SOHO APs come tuned to chanel 6 or 7. The exact channel that microwaves and cordless phones are on. If you are looking for a tool to find an AP then the only real option is a PDA with a WiFi card. PS most of the PDAs have the ability to detect Bluetooth also(if it is discoverable). Also remember that if you are on my AP your lappy is mine so lets remember to disable AD HOC and have some security sence about WiFi.
Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:07AM
There is a nice tool from TRENDnet TEW-1. This is what I think the WiFi detector is most suited for. This detector is used to find trouble spots in a b/g (2.4GHz) network. Most people do not know that most SOHO APs come tuned to chanel 6 or 7. The exact channel that microwaves and cordless phones are on. If you are looking for a tool to find an AP then the only real option is a PDA with a WiFi card. PS most of the PDAs have the ability to detect Bluetooth also(if it is discoverable). Also remember that if you are on my AP your lappy is mine so lets remember to disable AD HOC and have some security sence about WiFi.