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WiFi Seeker, Finder, Detector Roundup
captainJam points to this review at handtops.com of five reasonably priced hardware WiFi finders. A snippet: "If you're not using a WiFi enabled PDA, you either have to turn on your handtop or laptop, or wake it from standby just to check if there's a network in the area. While a WiFi Finder / Seeker won't make a connection out of thin air, it will conveniently tell you whether there is a WiFi network in the area."
i used this device to find a wireless hotspot to get a first post from!
In Soviet Russia, finder WIFIS YOU!!!
My girlfriend's dad once asked me what I was doing with my curious little LED encrusted black box... "It's a WiFi detector" I said.
"A wife detector?" He replied.
"Erm, no. Would be a good hack, though".
What ever happend to licking your finger and feeling for which way the wifi is blowing?
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
These could be a great idea if you live in an area that has some WiFi, but only sometimes. Also great for when you are out and about, or in another city/state/whatever.
If you are somewhere that you know has WiFi (office, known hotspot, Starbucks etc), it is not much use.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, however, there is.
You know WiFe technology has really been commoditized and has hit the mainstream when Home Depot is selling the stuff. I wouldn't be surprised now to see them stock these WiFi detectors, a great tool for the homeowner who wants to optimize his/her home network. They sell meters for just about every other wired products (RJ11, RJ45, etc.)
Linux at home
Its takes less than 7 seconds from the time I open the lid on my powerbook untill I can browse available networks. The wifi dector doesn't even tell you if you will be able to connect to the network or not. I don't really see the use for these devices
sorry 'bout the mess...
There's a free wifi service at the mall down thar. *points*
My point is: Not all wireless networks are private, so I suppose that's where these come in.
Accessing a network you don't have permission to access is illegal (and, frankly, immoral). I never once did that, even though I very well could have.
I got it from ThinkGeek... it was reasonably priced (Only $25). It's very well designed, and it's pretty compact.
While it wasn't the #1 in the comparison, i'd recommend it to anyone.
At about 2X the cost of the cheapest one (50 vs. 25 bucks), it's easily worth the expense.
I dunno about you, but the amount of time it would take me to get my laptop out of my bag, fire it up, and try to connect isn't minor.
The ability to show if I'm wasting my time or not is worth the extra 25 bucks.
2. "I wonder if someone else has a WiFi connection in my appartment block that is causing problems with my laptop connection to my home network" (do they interfere? Or can you just choose which to connect to?)
3. "Does this library have WiFi?" (Yeah, I know. Ask at the desk. But what kind of self-respecting geek asks, when he/she can find out for him/herself?)
Laugh. It's funny.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, however, there is.
I think our generation is gonna be walking around the city with these things when we're old like the old people at beaches with metal detectors..
--- We need more Ron Paul!
half the /. posts so far are people bad mouthing these things, claiming their bsd/linux laptop does so much more! well of course it does, it is a frickin' laptop! these are nice little devices to have when you don't want or need a laptop with, but still would like to know there is a network there for 'future use'...
Nice karma whoring.
That sort of thing would probably be pretty useless here in NYC.
The problem is, that a lot of networks -seem- open, but require a login once you are connected, and around here, you are never far from a signal, so I just never found it worthwhile to plunk down the $30 or so they ask for them.
The only one of them that I find interesting is the Canary one, which actualy has an LCD that shows you the SSID of the network. But I am not sure it's worth the $50 to me, but it's a much better value then any of the "if the light blinks, you got WiFi" ones.
The only downside to these devices, encription and B or b only networks show up as any other. They are existant or not and signal strength.
You found a AP in the area. Great, but it is an encrypted airport commercial network for say e-ticket kiosks. You wouldn't know unless you powered up you laptop, draining you battery further and have to wait for windows to start up and shut down. Even hibernation saves login time but not time for windows to load and dump ram.
And you can tell its YOUR network how?
2. "I wonder if someone else has a WiFi connection in my appartment block that is causing problems with my laptop connection to my home network" (do they interfere? Or can you just choose which to connect to?)
And you can tell its not your network how?
3. "Does this library have WiFi?" (Yeah, I know. Ask at the desk. But what kind of self-respecting geek asks, when he/she can find out for him/herself?)
And you can tell its the library network and not the people nextdoor how?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
... if the HWL1 had an antenna connector: then it could be simply connected to your laptop's wifi card for a much better signal.
Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
The best solution by far that I've found is my Palm Tungsten C running NetChaser. Not only does it detect the networks, it will let you know their SSIDs, the last time you saw them, their MAC address, and a pile of other information. It can alert you by a tone or by using the Tungsten C's vibration function, and can operate with the screen off. It can even initiate a WiFi connection to a selected network.
I've had mine set-up to operate with the screen off, and vibrate when an unencrypted network is encountered. I can walk around with it in my pocket and can silently know when I'm within range of an unencrypted wireless signal (it just logs the encrypted ones without vibrating). At that point, I can either connect from the T|C, or whip out my PowerBook.
It's been fun walking around the neighbourhood with it in my pocket looking for open networks. I seem to hit upon one ever 2 or 3 houses. It's nice to know that if I'm really hard up for cash I can probably print up a bunch of fliers and distribute them around the neighbourhood where there are open access points offering to secure their access points for cash :).
Yaz.
you should learn to stand by...boots up in a second, and you can config it in such way that only hiber/reboot required password.
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
What if the signal is too weak for the small detector to detect? What if your real laptop can see it and your gadget will not?
This is my sig. There are thousands more, but this one is mine.
Duhh.. antenna (cheap), plastic box (cents), couple of LED's/switches (cents), batteries (included?), small PCB (cheap), some dedicated IC's (???, anyone got some info here?), design/packaging/retail etc. (large portion of street price?)
Easy to build yourself as hobby project? Estimated price a couple of years from now?
And you can tell its YOUR network how?
Well, it lets me log in with my username/password, so I should see my home direc... Nuts. I just gave my work username/password to the identity theif that runs this network next to ours.
2. "I wonder if someone else has a WiFi connection in my appartment block that is causing problems with my laptop connection to my home network" (do they interfere? Or can you just choose which to connect to?)
And you can tell its not your network how?
"Hmm, what does this switch on the back of my WiFi hub do?"
3. "Does this library have WiFi?" (Yeah, I know. Ask at the desk. But what kind of self-respecting geek asks, when he/she can find out for him/herself?)
And you can tell its the library network and not the people nextdoor how?
Fire up laptop. Attempt to connect. "Well, it says 'pulic library WiFi hotspot' in the connection name. Must be them guys at the coffee store next door.
Seriously, though - in this case it doesn't really matter who owns it if it is a public hotspot - but if you are next to Starbucks (or someone who is known to have hotspots), ask at the desk anyway. They might not like it if you use their connection without buying a coffee.
I never said that they were good uses, or that these uses will work, they are just examples.
NOTE TO MODs: This is humour (yes, I'm Australian. We spell it like that). Not flame/troll.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, however, there is.
Thankfully poor planning, lack of funds, etc will cause there to be many upon many of blind spots in the buildings, these would be much more useful than carrying around a laptop and watching the indicator on the screen.
Especially useful when the AP's are "hidden" to be more asthetically pleasing.
Ignore the "p2p is theft" trolls, they're just uninformed
This seems to me to be an incredible waste of money. Is it really that difficult to just turn on your laptop and check? I mean, is the 10-30 second effort worth $30? I really don't think so. Also, if you think about it, what about all the times when you do find a Wi-Fi signal? You're gonna have to pull out your laptop anyways. Guess what, I would have already beat you to it by just turning it on in the first place.(yay) You also have to figure that most people travel the same route over and over again and once you find out where signal is, why would you ever use it again?
Quickly looking for WiFi where it should NOT be seems like a good application. With access points at a nearly trivial cost, even a well intentioned but clueless employee can potentially compromise a private LAN. Even the best thought out policies could fail due to $25 in equipment from Best Buy in a lunch sack.
... buy a working Sub-Etha Sens-O-Matic!
Will the next generation combine the WiFi-detector keyfob with the TV-B-Gone? Press the button and within a minute all WiFi in the area goes down...
GAME OVER!
I have seen these around. If only they were a bit more powerful and useful. Such as if they decoded a ESSID and displayed it on an LCD screen with the signal strength and if it was encrypted. Maybe thats the next project for me...
_
Free 27" Sony WEGA TV
Yeah they do.
1. "Hmmm, I wonder how far I can get from the office, and still be connected to the network..."
And you can tell its YOUR network how?
If you set your SSID to linksys you can go rather far. I was doing some consulting work for a company last week who had their ssid set to linksys... Wide open. Sometimes they could connect to the internet but not their Exchange server on the local network... wonder why. Anyway, I set my laptop to connect to "linksys" and was running netstumbeler. I left the laptop on for the ride home. getting back to the Jabali, I discovered that not only was I still connected, but netstumbeler showed a good connection for the entire drive back.
Use a service like Plazes. And yes, they offer web services, are friendly developers, and will be probably adding some Semantic Web output in too.
For instance, I'm sitting right here.
My company makes a product that detects exactly this scenario: http://www.lockdownnetworks.com/products/wireless. php
but if you are next to Starbucks (or someone who is known to have hotspots), ask at the desk anyway. They might not like it if you use their connection without buying a coffee.
/costanza >
I've just learned that my ISP has city-wide wifi coverage, and it is accessible from a certain cafe I frequent. I'm tempted to go there off-hours with a full laptop battery charge (thus not using their electricity) and not necessarily consume coffee while accessing my ISP.
< costanza > should I not have done that? Did I do something wrong? <
So there we were in New Orleans, staying in an older hotel in the French Quarter with absolutely no broadband (It was being installed for our meeting the following day).
Were we interested in partying - no way. One of the meeting participants from Germany needed his daily shot of freshmeat while another needed his daily shot of slashdot. So we pulled out our Smart Id WiFi detector, purchased at ThinkGeek and proceeded to walk the streets, laptops in backpacks, Wifi detector in hand.
Lo and behold, a few blocks from the hotel we found our first wifi hotspot, only to find it was secure. We walked on only to find another secure hotspot. After walking the French Quarter for the next 2 hours we had found several hotspots, but none that we could tap into. Now we realized that we really should have been partying.
Why can't someone build a WiFi detector that finds the hotspot, flashes if its open and blinks if it can be subscribed to?
Actually, the parent doesn't seem to have a clue about the true origins of "In Soviet Russia..." stuff. The originator of these was Yakov Smirnoff, more information than anyone should care about (as well as a collection of "In Soviet Russia" jokes, the vast majority of which suck) can be found here.
also except for Staten Island, large swaths of Queens and Brooklyn, and almost all of the Bronx.
+++ATH0
Lo and behold, a few blocks from the hotel we found our first wifi hotspot, only to find it was secure. We walked on only to find another secure hotspot. After walking the French Quarter for the next 2 hours we had found several hotspots, but none that we could tap into. Now we realized that we really should have been partying.
Why can't someone build a WiFi detector that finds the hotspot, flashes if its open and blinks if it can be subscribed to?
From the article:
The only thing that seems to be missing is detection of whether the network is locked down by MAC address. Isn't the device described above approximately what you are looking for?
just asking: "hey, is there a wireless internet connection available here?"...
Most areas these days are covered by the gratis "linksys" network, so just set your essid and join the ranks of people who use "linksys" as our ISP. My apartment had access to two strong "linksys" signals, left completely unsecured by generous donors, and the same network is available at my girlfriend's place a 2.5 hour drive away. These WiFi finders seem pretty useless to me.
501 Not Implemented
The standard incarnation is a generic rf detector/level meter with an antenna that is tuned to 2.4ghz.
The Basic Circuit
(Back the url up one dir for datasheets and pics of one hobbyists's implementation)
And another version using a pic instead of a dedicated display driver chip.
"While a WiFi Finder / Seeker won't make a connection out of thin air.."
Isn't that what wireless is supposed to do?
More devices could be made WiFi-ready and they don't have to use all the physical space of a laptop computer.
Digital Citizen
Why? Upholding a family tradition of being a moronic jerk?
I mean, if you hate it so much there are alternatives; have you considered taking out all that agression on yourself?
The article says that it couldn't test the original Kensington finder, but that they only heard bad news about it. This is true according to my experiences.
:-) This is the grey-metallic creditcard-sized one with 3 lights. Unfortunately it sucks, the lights are way too dim to be seen in any sunlight and the button is so weak it gets pressed in your pocket and wastes battery power. Besides that it detects any bluetooth phone as well and doesn't mention the difference (so it seems WiFi is detected).
:-)
I've got one myself, bought it about a year ago in a typical airport impulse purchase
I've also seen situations where I was able to get a WiFi connection on my laptop and the finder showed none, and the other way around (probably because it detected a bluetooth signal). I can't recommend it at all!
Just my 2 cents
Here's our UK legislation :
------------------
Computer Misuse Act 1990
An Act to make provision for securing computer material against unauthorised access or modification; and for connected purposes.
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:--
Computer misuse offences
Unauthorised access to computer material.
1.--
(1) A person is guilty of an offence if--
(a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer;
(b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorised; and
(c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that that is the case.
(2) The intent a person has to have to commit an offence under this section need not be directed at--
(a) any particular program or data;
(b) a program or data of any particular kind; or
(c) a program or data held in any particular computer.
(3) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale or to both.
------------------
So it could be argued that authorisation is required *before* attempting to access. Leaving the gates unlocked is not an invitaion to enter.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Those few wi-fi finders look a bit ungainly. Usually, people have enough to carry around alone, not including extra stuff like that. Someone should make one with a lighted LCD display that could function as a keyring. Or maybe a combo flashdrive/wi-fi signal strength finder.
The Kensington WiFi Finder, which you can get for around $10 used (and $29.99 new, I think) can also be hacked easily into a low-cost development platform for the TI MSP430 processor.
I personally didn't find the WiFi Finder that useful, but having an easy way to experiment with the MSP430 (with free tools from TI and a standard JTAG interface) was well worth the cost of the unit. Simply open it up, attach a double-row header, and get down to business.
Ponder some pictures and slightly more detail here.
Joe
I think for people with cars, it would be more practical and less expensive to use the money for a cigarette-lighter adapter to power the laptop. Using a laptop to find the hot spots may be a distraction from driving but so is stopping every five minutes to see if a hot spot has encryption.
And you can tell all that from a little LED lighting up? Wow. Or have you just forgoten the context of the discussion?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
The most logical inside would be a stripped-down Wifi card, with the T/R switch, power amp and maybe other stuff removed. When you need some demodulator/decoder anyway (to distinguish from microwave oven etc), why not install the entire chipset, and just underuse that...
Z
After a near-all-nighter, I found myself dropping off to sleep around 4AM (EST) and listening to Coast to Coast AM for a little brain drain. The guest last night was talking about the health effects of 2.4GHz signals and made fun of a caller for using a cheap $50 "wireless camera finder" because his "professional" conspiracy theorist equipment ran him $32,000. One caller believed that his neighbors were using wi-fi to give him electrical shocks durning the night. Then, Miss Schizophrenia U.S.A. mentioned called in to note that the government had been using 2.4GHz devices to track her since the 60's. Needless to say, my brain was completely drained after just three phone calls to Coast to Coast AM. If you've never listened to Art Bell, you've got to. It's the best comedic art in America ... and around the world. George Noory, the new "weekday" host kind of ruins the comedic part because he doesn't seem to believe every damn thing he hears.
n/t
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
You could also use our AvantGo channel for WiFiMaps.com -- even on your PDA, or your cell phone. Slightly more portable than opening up your laptop.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
You could also wardrive, and populate databases like WiFiMaps.com, a site used for collecting locations of hotspots. This enables anyone to find out where these hotspots are, look at coverage, pricing, etc -- all on a graphical map!
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
If you don't ask the librarian about wifi, they won't know there is a demand for it.
It is a pain in the ass to stop, get out your laptop, open it, and scan for networks. But, there is a better way, in the form of WiFiMaps.com.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
I did an interview with the FBI about wireless security, and they also agree that wardriving is not illegal.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
In business, approch is everything -- especially when you're dealing with the home consumer.
The problem here is that they went door to door and told people they had detected their access point was open. You might as well just say "I was driving through your neighbourhood trying to hack whatever machines I could, and decided I could make a few bucks by extorting it ouf of you" -- because this is what the people who answered the door will have heard in their minds.
The better way of going about this is to do your war driving to detect areas for a targeted flier campaign that alerts people to the risks of having unprotected wireless access points, and then give them a phone number where they can reach you. As well, you should have a registered business name behind you (as a lot of people will trust a business with a phone number rather than some guy coming in off the street). Then show up in your least geek (or slob) like clothes, with a good haircut.
Image is everything ;).
Yaz.
Darn you, that was my joke! Now I'll have to think of another joke for when I go to hardware stores. Of course that joke never did actually work for picking up girls so maybe I'm better off without it. I'll just go back to my "So you like wood?" pickup line for those cute cashier girls.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
Surely the real use for these devices is to tell you when there isn't any WiFi, if there is WiFi you have to get out the laptop to find out if you can connect.
If there is no WiFi, you can keep moving.
These devices have a very sort useful life as a technoogy, as WiFi and the like becomes more ubiquitous, these devices will be useless.
Look at their website www.canarywireless.com for product images. This thing is really small, about the same width as a PCMCIA card, but about 3/4 to 1 inch shorter. It is about 1 inch thick though. It came well packaged, but after ordering on Sunday night, it took them until Wednesday evening to get it out the door with expedited shipping.
Press the one button, and it says "Wifi Detect" on the dot-matrix LCD screen and begins scanning. When it finds an AP, it scrolls the SSID, signal strength in bars, Secure or Open for WEP status, and Ch:__ (showing 1-11 or 1-13 depending on country I think).
It is reasonably sensitive... it picks up my roof mounted D-Link DWL-2700AP with WEP, shows three bars and "Secure". This is from the below-grade basement of a wood-framed house; the AP is on the top of the one-story peak roof on the other end of my house. The Hotspotter picks up the signal better than my laptops (or at least according to the ultra-subjective comparitive # of bars).
After you read the first result, press the button again and it says "Scanning". It will display the info for the next AP it can hear. And so on.
The "instruction" cardlet in the blister pack says it powers off in about 30 seconds, but it seems shorter than that... didn't time it though. When it powers itself down, it starts from the beginning again with the apparently strongest signal, you have to click back through again for more scans.
This device also picks up my neighbor's Apple Airport Extreme, while I am inside my front living room (wood frame construction) and his AE is inside his brick home. We are about 100 feet apart. Not bad through those materials. The device reads "Cloaked" because he has SSID turned off and WEP on, but it does show good sig strength and the correct channel (I know because I set it up). He gets his internet from my roof AP, into a stock (indoor) WET11 that feeds the WAN port on the AE.
Curiously it won't pick up my Linksys befw11s4 while scanning it from within the same room. It's open with SSID broadcast on. I've gone elsewhere in the house in case I am swamping the front end of this thing but no dice. Will test it another day on other Linksys devices I have elsewhere.
Anyways, it seems the feature set and signal sensitivity make it the choice of devices in this roundup.
IMHO.