Question

Wi-Fi scanner software for mac needed

Asked by: Kaptain1

Hi All,

Does anybody knows of a good Wi-Fi scanner that i can use on my MacBook to identify:

- nearby wireless networks
- their channels
- ssid's
- signal strengths

Basically, i'm looking for a software that will help me with troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks. Either free one or paid one is fine, just need to be worthy and compatible with mac. If it will have any other capabilities or features - it's more than welcome.

Please recommend. Thanks in advance!

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Asked On
2008-11-26 at 18:35:07ID23939351
Tags

Apple

,

Leopard

,

Mac Airport

Topics

Wireless Networking

,

Apple Networking

,

802.11x

Participating Experts
4
Points
500
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-11-26 at 19:22:51ID: 23047513

There are a number, but I like iStumbler:  http://www.istumbler.net/ and it is free.

 

by: strungPosted on 2008-11-26 at 19:24:33ID: 23047518

 

by: mr-gadgetPosted on 2008-11-27 at 00:04:28ID: 23048224

I quite like AP Grapher (www.chimoosoft.com) but will be looking at the others mentioned here too.

 

by: thirdorderharmonicPosted on 2008-12-07 at 23:44:21ID: 23119088

I use AP Grapher as well, and also Kismax, which is an OS X port of the popular linux wireless tool  "Kismet"

http://trac.kismac-ng.org/

AP Grapher has a great interface and is easy to use.  Kismac will give you some more advanced features.

Cheers,
Neil

 

by: mr-gadgetPosted on 2008-12-09 at 03:16:27ID: 23128265

Hi Neil, You're right, Kismac has quite a bit more to offer. Thanks!

 

by: ericjarviesPosted on 2009-01-28 at 23:07:29ID: 23494811

Alternatively, if you want to record GPS coordinates for each AP, then you can use hand held software for the iPhone(StumblerPlus), Windows Mobile(WiFiFoFum, Airomap, etc.), and Palm(assuming it has WiFi and BlueTooth for connecting a GPS device).  Nokia and Blackberry do not have any viable software apps for this purpose(imho).

In any event, what is nice with these, is that the strongest signal strength is associated with the GPS' coordinates.  Each time you sniff that same signal, if the signal strength is stronger, the GPS coordinates will be re-written.  The resulting csv, xml, kml, etc. file can be copied onto your Apple computer and opened in Google Earth, or any desktop GIS application like uDig, QGIS, etc., allowing you to see where you are picking up the strongest signal for any given WiFi AP.  Of course, this does not work indoors due to the GPS, otherwise it's effective.

You can do this with Kismac of course, but it's a tad bit more involved.

I am working on a plug-in for uDig that will allow this to be done on the desktop(OS X), and I have thus far got the GPS portion of it working, and am now concentrating on the WiFi aspects of the plug-in.  I expect to finish it within the next couple of months, and will be sure to post it's d/l link here in case your interested.

Regards,

Eric Jarvies

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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