With all of the wireless traffic in our neighboring airways these days it can be difficult to get the same quality of signal you were previously receiving. Most average users are unaware that their wireless devices utilize frequency channels, some of which can be adjusted to use a different channel. However, when multiple devices are using the same channel you may experience some wireless interference. For those of you who may be a little lost by this, think about those times when you have gotten a ghost image of a TV channel into another channel. This is similar to the interference going on with your wireless devices.
There are a few different software programs which you can utilize to help identify which channel you should change your device settings to (when applicable), but I am only going to plug one here today.
inSSIDer by MetaGeek
"NetStumbler used to be our tool of choice for profiling a wireless network, but NetStumbler has stumbled. Today we favor inSSIDer."
-InfoWorld
inSSIDer's graphical system makes it a great application for identifying wireless interference. The graphs allow you to understand not only how strong a wireless signal is and what channel it is on, but how much interference it causes across the neighboring channels due to frequency bleeding.
I urge you to download this application and try it out for yourself, the results you get after changing to a better channel situated for your area will give you the satisfaction you deserve.
Thought I'd mention inSSIDer is open source and works on Vista, unlike NetStumbler.
ReplyDeleteHere are some other great tools for the readers...
Wi-Fi Tools by Xirrus
http://www.xirrus.com/library/wifitools.php
Vistumbler
http://vistumbler.sourceforge.net/
and then recently released:
Ekahau Heatmapper:
http://www.ekahau.com/index.php?id=4900
All of them great tools to map out wireless for FREE!