I ran into the situation recently where I had to run a wi-fi scan due to the fact some other routers near me were using a channel that was getting too choked up with traffic. On attempt to use NetStumbler with my Dell mini 10v, the software simply wouldn’t detect my wi-fi card at all.
At this point I was forced to seek out an alternative. It had to be free and had to be at least at good as NetStumbler. I found one: inSSIDer. Free? Yes. Just as good? Yes, and in fact it’s better in some instances (it will scan both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz.) Did it detect my wi-fi card? Yes, and did on first try.
For those wondering, yes it also does have GPS capability like NetStumbler does (for those that like to pinpoint exactly where the best spots for sources are.)
Those graphs you see aren’t just fluff. You get some good useful information out of this concerning signal strength. The interface is also much more agreeable to work with compared to NetStumbler.
The best feature about inSSIDer is that it’s stupidly easy to use. Just double-click and go. There’s nothing to configure other than selecting the wi-fi card you have. And being that most of us only have one of these in our laptop or desktop, you usually don’t have to bother with that setting either.
If you were looking for a really good wi-fi scanner tool, inSSIDer is definitely it. I give it two huge thumbs up.
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