GigaOM » Collaboration

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector: A Good, Free Troubleshooting Tool

Samuel Dean — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:00:48 +0000

I’ve written before about optimizations for home and office Wi-Fi networks and how to keep public Wi-Fi sessions secure. Xirrus has long provided free tools for monitoring Wi-Fi performance, finding hotspots and more. Now, the company is out with Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector, and after giving it a try, I recommend it, especially if you suspect you’re not getting ideal performance from your wireless networking.

Here’s what’s under the hood, and a tool you can use to complement Wi-Fi Inspector.

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector is basically a free, improved version of Xirrus’ long-standing Wi-Fi gadet application. It’s designed for managing and troubleshooting a laptop’s Wi-Fi connection in addition to scanning and monitoring the Wi-Fi environment. There is a complete inventory of its capabilities here. (PDF)

You can use Wi-Fi Inspector for searching for and locating Wi-Fi networks, such as hotspots; managing laptop Wi-Fi connections; troubleshooting connectivity issues; verifying the Wi-Fi range you’re getting; and locating rogue access points. I used its four-step process for IP address information that let me know I was communicating with my Wi-Fi network correctly, and ran a series of ping tests to see how my performance was faring. The results of the tests are displayed on a radar-like graphic (showing available Wi-Fi networks, for example) and in table format. You can get at your signal level, security level, and more.

It’s very easy to end up with less than ideal Wi-Fi performance. If Wi-Fi tests let you know that performance is sub-optimal, that’s a good time to experiment with the location and orientation of your router and your access points, among other things.

Wi-Fi Inspector also sends packets to an external Internet server and reports on the actual throughput you’re getting. For these types of tests, I also strongly recommend QCheck, a free, similar tool that tests network throughput and wireless performance from several angles. To really keep your finger on the pulse of your Wi-Fi network, use both of these applications.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Status Check: How is Your Home Wi-Fi Network Performing?

Samuel Dean — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:50 +0000

Have you taken a look at the speeds you’re getting with your home Wi-Fi network lately? Many web workers work out of their homes, and if that’s you and you work wirelessly, it makes a lot of sense to do a checkup. There are some free tools you can turn to for doing this easily and quickly. In this post, I’ll cover some of the best choices.

Wi-Fi is radio technology, and radio technology is weird in its behavior. Many users don’t experiment with the physical setup of their wireless equipment, which is a mistake.

In response to a previous post I did here, I learned that many readers use only a router, and no access points, for their home Wi-Fi networks. This can be fine, depending on your home layout. However, if you have a multi-level house, or many obstructions between where you receive your wireless signal and where your router is, it can be a mistake.

Access points are very inexpensive, especially if you are still using 802.11g technology. You can find them for about $30, and they can greatly extend your wireless roaming range. I have a router upstairs in my house, in a central location, and an access point centrally placed downstairs. The access point definitely makes a difference when I’m downstairs, especially if I want to work out on the back porch.

Experiment with the placement of your router and access points. Sometimes the strangest locations can work the best in terms of range and performance. Also, don’t put your router adjacent to prominent obstructions or metal.

I’ve mentioned two free software tools that I’ve used to precisely measure your wireless signal and throughput in this post. Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor is a good tool for both finding available networks, and checking the status of your signal. You can get it free as a Windows Vista gadget, a Mac OS X widget, an XP widget, or a desklet for Linux. For more serious throughput and signal tests, try QCheck.

PC World has a very interesting item up on DSLReports tools for Wi-Fi testing. These look highly interesting, and I’m going to try some of them this weekend. You can do quite targeted things with these tools, including packet-by-packet line quality testing.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Keeping Tabs on Your Wi-Fi

Samuel Dean — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:00:26 +0000

If you find yourself using Wi-Fi more and more frequently, you’re not alone. As the numbers here show, business use of hotspots is growing very rapidly, and home Wi-Fi networks are key tools for many web workers. Do you monitor the Wi-Fi performance you’re getting, though?

If you tend to “set it and forget it,” it’s worth checking in on your actual Wi-Fi performance whether you’re in public or using your own network. Here are a couple of free tools that make this easy.

Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor does the footwork that many of the “look for network availability” tools do, and then some. It will display a list of available networks and also deliver lots of information about default encryption on networks you can connect to, what type of networks they are, and more.

On top of this, though, Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor delivers lots of detailed information about the signal you’re getting, and the signals available on other nearby networks. For the user of public Wi-Fi hotspots, it’s a great tool. It’s downloadable as a Windows Vista gadget, a Mac OS X widget, an XP widget, or a desklet for Linux.

When you’re using your Wi-Fi network at home, take a few minutes out to run through the battery of tests found in Qcheck. This tool will tell you what kinds of streaming throughput and signals you’re getting. You can also use it iteratively to test the kind of performance you might get if you move your router and access points around. (Wi-Fi is radio technology, and radio is weird, so this can make a big difference.)

Both of these tools are free, and if you’re increasingly using Wi-Fi, they’re both good to get.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.