Wi-Fi Detector

If you travel a bit, you can go nuts constantly unpacking your notebook, firing that baby up, then looking like an idiot as you run around checking the display to see if you are in range of a wireless network.

Check out the Smart ID Wi-Fi Detector (then link on left). It's about the size of a deck of bridge cards and runs on 2 AA batteries. It lights up to indicate the presence and strength of a Wi-Fi signal. And only $28 US.

You'll still have to crack open your notebook to see if the network is publicly accessible, but with this little bad boy in hand, you'll know exactly when to bother.

Also, what I do ahead of time sometimes before I travel is search one of the following 3 by city, zip code or airport to find free hot spots instead of being stuck with slow-a** dial-up or some exorbitant rate hook-up:

• wifinder.com
• jiwire.com
• nodedb.com

This enabled the use of a free WAP one morning in Rhode Island outside of a Panera Bread Cafe - before it was even open for breakfast!

Also - this is really more geek chic - if you really want to drill down on a network, grab a copy of NetStumbler. This app is free and will display details on signal strength, security and transfer rate plus the amount of interference in the location you're standing and whether the network requires a password.

 

I used one of these very devices to track down a misconfigured WLAN card at work. The user had set his WLAN card up as an ad-hoc connection (verboten - I mean, forbidden, at work)

The SmartID model is very nice. It will detect any activity on the 2.4 gigahertz frequency, but displays different LED patterns for non-802.11 traffic. So besides finding WLAN traffic, it can tell you if a microwave is active nearby (and therefore possibly causing interference).

Be aware that a different make and model of this type of device, the Kensington WiFi finder, is sold at Circuit City and other stores, and is practically useless. The Kensington is overly discriminatory, and will only detect live 802.11b and g activity when devices are streaming data. So if no one is actively connected to the access point, it won't let you know it's there.