Download a map of the range you are about to scan, or use NetSpot's tools to draw a map (macOS version only), then click Continue.
Step 2
Next, don't forget to include your network in the scanned list if it has a hidden SSID (if it doesn't broadcast its name). You will need to do this even if you are currently connected to your network but it is still hidden. This feature is only available in NetSpot PRO and Enterprise editions. If you have launched the free version of NetSpot, you can temporarily make the Wi-Fi network you want to monitor visible to other users. In any case, a hidden SSID is not a very reliable method of protection. Then click "Continue".
Step 3
To analyze the actual Internet connection speed of your network, you can optionally turn on Active Scan on the screen. Do this or continue by clicking "Continue".
Step 4You are now ready to monitor your wireless network. Go to all corners of the area you want to monitor. Mark points on the map that correspond to where you are now standing. NetSpot will now capture the first metrics (or data sample). Hold the point until the end of the scan.
Step 5Walk to the next point and click on the map again to record the next indicators. Once you have scanned at least three points, the Stop Scan option is enabled because you have collected the required minimum data samples to build the report.
Step 6
Continue moving and scanning until the entire area of the map is covered, then click the "Stop Scanning" button.
Step 7Find your WLAN in the list of networks on the left side of the window. Uncheck other wireless networks, leaving only your tested network.
Step 8
Examine the heat maps shown for your wireless network. Use the dropdown menu on the bottom toolbar to select the Wi-Fi monitoring visualization: Signal Strength, Signal to Noise Ratio (macOS version only), and more. You can export and save heatmaps.
A modern router is able to perform a scan, check if the channel is free, or fix an excess signal. You can easily find a free window. Often the router firmware needs to be updated. Be careful! Loss of power will interrupt the update process - instead of a Wi-Fi channel scanner, you will get a pile of scrap metal. A wireless access point will be restored only by an official service center, or by a technically enlightened Kulibin.
External interference reduces the speed of information passing. The bitrate drops noticeably. Try to place the router next to a working microwave oven - miracles will begin immediately. Interference is created by telephones, the Sun, industrial, military facilities. Even the USB 3 interface is a little phony.
The channel scanner shows a list of available SSIDs, ignoring extraneous factors. Therefore, even a visually free niche sometimes works poorly. Consider software features when building a home network.
If you notice a significant decrease in speed, use shielding, install directional antennas. Avoid crossing the beam line with your body. Microwave radiation is extremely harmful, it is perfectly absorbed by the body's aquatic environments. Memory, intelligence, blood counts worsen, sleep is disturbed. Immunity drops.
Even the 300th TP-Link series is able to recognize network congestion. The updated firmware works wonders. Iron itself begins to look for free channels, choosing (even automatically) free bands. The screen will show amazing things: the neighbors literally occupied the same rooms. The smart device will monitor, show the status of the networks for user to check.
The screenshot clearly demonstrates the above. If the neighbors bothered to update the firmware regularly, a check with the analyzer would show a fundamentally different picture.
The TP-Link firmware update option is the best. You immediately get a ready-made tool for monitoring frequencies. Of course, the router is able to check only its own operating range (2.4; 5; 60 GHz).
The range of information is very different. Choose a file by carefully examining the label. If the latter is missing, wait a little to despair. Versions of hardware, firmware are often indicated by the admin panel. Avoid arbitrariness: an experimental test can kill equipment.
The software refresh procedure will require access. We believe that setting up the router itself is as simple as possible. As a last resort, perform a hardware reset by pressing the appropriate button.
Software that can determine the load density of Wi-Fi channels is widely known. The strange name inSSIDer implies the ability of the device to catch SSIDs surfing the air. Replacing the aging NetStumbler will please mostly Windows users.
The utility will get the user:
Attention! The utility is powerless to track the interference of household appliances, broadcasting, mobile phones, Bluetooth.
Considering what has been said, Android users breathed a sigh of relief: they will have to unambiguously sort through the channel numbers with handles. However, there is another option. Yes! Acrylic WiFi (acrylicwifi.com/). The novelty is still free, have time to download.
The utility collects:
Download the right software:
Note! In December 2017, Kaspersky unveiled a number of applications (official stores) that carry a threat. Therefore, it is better to use router firmware.
Use Fing - Network Scanner. iOS owners just need to visit the AppStore.
To work with large wireless networks, there are a sufficient number of good multifunctional software solutions on the market that allow for comprehensive testing of WiFi networks. Often, however, for a quick look at the airwaves during design, deployment, or troubleshooting, you'll find it easier to use a simpler, free toolkit. We present to your attention an overview of the most interesting free programs for diagnosing WiFi networks.
In this article, we will introduce you to nine free software tools - most of them based on Windows operating systems, others on macOS or Android - that will provide you with basic information about existing WiFi signals in the area: SSIDs, signal strength , channels used, MAC addresses and types of protection of a particular network. Some of them can detect hidden SSIDs, detect noise levels, or provide statistics on the success and failure of packets sent and received on your wireless connection. One of the solutions includes a WiFi password cracking toolkit, which will be extremely useful for finding vulnerabilities and security assessments when testing your wireless network's hackability.
We also note that most of the tools described below are free versions of commercial solutions distributed by the same vendor, but with reduced functionality.
The Acrylic WiFi Home Wireless LAN Scanner is a stripped-down version of Tarlogic Security's commercial solution. Version 3.1, considered in the framework of this review article, attracts attention, primarily due to the detailing of the wireless environment and advanced graphical capabilities for displaying the collected information. The functionality of this solution includes: an overview of the found WiFi networks supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standards; detection of unauthorized access points and display of connected clients; scanning and analysis of WiFi channels used by wireless networks at frequencies of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz; plotting the level of the received signal and its power for WiFi access points.
WiFi Scanner for Windows Acrylic WiFi Home will allow you to scan and view available wireless networks in real time, provide information about detected WiFi networks (SSID and BSSID), their security type and wireless devices connected to the network at the moment, and also allows you to get a list of WiFi passwords (set by default by manufacturers) thanks to the built-in plugin system.
As a free product, Acrylic WiFi Home 3.1 has a simple yet attractive GUI. A detailed list of SSIDs is located at the top of the application. Here, in particular, you can find: negative values in dBm for the received signal strength indicator (Received Signal Strength Indicator, RSSI), 802.11 standard supported by access points or WiFi routers (including 802.11ac), manufacturer name, model and MAC addresses network devices. The solution recognizes the bandwidth used and displays all the channels used for this. It does not look for hidden SSIDs, but it can show them if it finds network data indicating the presence of hidden networks. The application also has a functionality for inventorying the work of WiFi networks, allowing you to assign and save the names of detected SSIDs and / or clients (for the free version, this feature has quantitative restrictions on use).
At the bottom of the application screen, by default, visual rating information is displayed on the network characteristics of the selected SSID. Also here is a graph of the signal strength and power of all detected access points. When switching to the advanced mode of displaying the status of wireless networks, you will receive two additional graphs - for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands - which simultaneously displays both information about the channels used, including those combined into one "wide" channel, and signal strength data.
Exporting or saving the captured data is extremely inconvenient, as the software company has decided to cut down on this functionality in a free solution: you can copy no more than one line of data to the clipboard and then paste the text into a text document or spreadsheet. There is also a feature for posting a screenshot to Twitter.
All in all, Acrylic WiFi Home is a good WLAN software scanner, especially since it costs nothing. It collects all the basic information about your wireless space and visually displays the data in both text and graphical form, which is great for simple WiFi network diagnostic tasks. The main disadvantage of this solution can be considered big problems with data export, or rather, the actual absence of such an opportunity in view of the functionality cut down by the manufacturer in the free solution.
The AirScout Live app from Greenlee turns your Android smartphone into a handy and portable WiFi network analyzer. AirScout Live has seven modes of operation, four of which can be used completely free of charge without any restrictions for Android devices. The commercial version, unlike the free version, is compatible with most desktop computers (Windows) and mobile devices (Android and iOS). With the help of basic functionality, you can quickly, mobilely and, importantly, free of charge solve problems related to insufficient WiFi signal level in some places of your office or home.
AirScout live will show you all the characteristics of the access points found within range, from signal strength and security protocols to hardware capabilities. It will allow you to determine the least loaded channel, measure the signal strength at each point of the WiFi network and identify places with insufficient signal strength. Help identify sources of interference by analyzing channel usage parameters in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Using the program, you can choose the optimal location for the location of access points in order to provide the highest quality coverage of the premises with a WiFi network and configure it for maximum performance without buying additional equipment. In addition, the AirScout app allows you to take a picture of your WiFi network and save it locally or upload it to the cloud.
AirScout Live is a very easy to use application that does not require any additional training. The user interface looks attractive and intuitive. The first two menu items - "AP Schedule" and "AP Table" - will provide you with clear and comprehensive information about all the characteristics of access points that are in the visibility zone. Access point coverage graphs will visually show you the dependence of the signal level of each of them and the load on the channels in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Extended tabular information about each access point (SSID, Mac address, equipment vendor, channel used, channel width, received signal level in dBm and security settings) are available in the second menu item.
The "Time Graph" item will allow you to see all the access points that your Android device has detected in the monitored location, and their signal level change graph in dBm with reference to time. So, for example, if you are investigating a network that consists of several access points, this information will help you understand what the signal strength of each of them will be in a given location, and how the client device will switch between them. In addition, selecting a specific access point highlights its signal strength, which helps visual perception of information.
The “Signal Strength” item will allow you to visually test the signal strength for each access point over time. You can select a specific SSID and see the current, as well as the minimum and maximum signal strength recorded by the device for this access point. The original interpretation of the results obtained in the form of a red-yellow-green speedometer will allow you to visually verify whether this or that function will work in this particular place or not. For example, a stable signal strength in the green zone will tell you that here you will not have problems with resource-intensive technologies such as Voice over IP or Full HD video streaming. Being in the yellow zone will indicate the availability of only web surfing. Well, the red zone will mean big problems with receiving a signal from this access point in this place.
To use additional functions that are not available in the free version of the software without additional hardware (detection of the most common problems: suboptimal signal coverage or incorrect channel selection; identification of sources of interference, including from "non-WiFi" devices; optimization of WiFi network configurations 802.15.4 networks, tuning WiFi performance by comparing signal strength and usage, Ookla speed test, and more), you will need an AirScout controller or a kit that includes a controller and remote clients.
AirScout Live is a great application that, above all, attracts with its mobility. Agree, having a tool that will always be at hand is worth a lot. The free version of the product gives you all the information you need to quickly analyze the health of small office or home WiFi networks and identify underlying performance issues. Intuitive interface and competent graphic design of the obtained measurement results not only leave a good impression, but also help to speed up the work with the application.
Cain & Abel is a multi-purpose password recovery and cracking application for Windows operating systems, which is also equipped with tools for intercepting and analyzing network traffic, including WiFi networks. Like the previous solution (Acrylic WiFi Home), Cain & Abel is a powerful network analyzer capable of capturing and processing the majority of wireless network traffic.
Its GUI has a relatively ancient, simplified look. The toolbar (the old style with icons at the top of the screen) is used to launch various utilities. Access to the main functional parts of the application is carried out through window tabs.
Through the “Wireless” tab, we get access to functional tools for analyzing the network traffic of WiFi networks. In addition to the usual information about SSIDs and various signal information, you can also find a list and detailed information about connected clients here. For access points and clients, Cain & Abel provides information on the number of detected packets: all packets, WEP Initialization Vector (WEP IV), and ARP requests. Any hidden SSIDs found from the captured packets will be displayed in the GUI. Most of the captured statuses and data can be exported to a plain text file.
Despite the huge functional potential of this solution, disadvantages such as the lack of visual graphs, as well as the inability to recognize 802.11ac access points and determine wider channels, do not allow Cain & Abel to be called the best choice for monitoring and analyzing WiFi networks. This solution is worth paying attention to if your tasks go far beyond simple traffic analysis. With it, you can recover passwords for Windows OS, perform attacks to obtain lost credentials, study VoIP data on the network, analyze packet routing, and much more. This is a really powerful toolkit for a system administrator with wide powers.
Ekahau HeatMapper is a mapping software tool for deploying small home-level wireless networks and determining the best location for installing an access point. This is a simplified free version of professional solutions from Ekahau. This software product provides the same network information as the WiFi scanner of wireless networks, but it also generates a WiFi heat map so that you can clearly visualize the signal levels. As part of this review, we will focus on version 1.1.4.
The software offers the possibility of creating a plan or layout of the object being investigated, as well as designing a wireless network topology on a grid for approximate orientation.
The left side of the main UI screen displays a list of wireless networks and their details sorted by signal, channel, SSID, MAC address, and security type. This list includes basic information, but does not include dBm and percentage values. In addition, the application does not recognize networks that support the 802.11ac standard, identifying them as 802.11n.
Using Ekahau HeatMapper, as with other mapping tools, you plot your current location on a map as you walk around a building to generate a heatmap of WiFi coverage. Ekahau HeatMapper will automatically calculate the location of hotspots and place them on the map. Once all the data has been collected, an interactive heat map of WiFi coverage will be generated. So, for example, when you hover over the access point icon, its coverage will be highlighted separately; and hovering over an area of the heatmap will pop up a tooltip for the received signal strength indicator with a negative dBm value for that point.
According to reviews, the Ekahau HeatMapper software solution is an overly simplified WiFi mapping scanner: manufacturers have removed almost all additional functionality from the free version, making this solution a truly home version. Also, the only option available to export or save is to simply take a screenshot of the map.
However, the Ekahau HeatMapper solution can be used for smaller networks or to get a basic idea of how more professional map-based tools work.
The Homedale Software Utility is a relatively simple and portable (no installation required) wireless network scanner for Windows (version 1.75 currently available) and macOS (version 1.03 currently available) with an optional command line interface. In addition to displaying basic information about wireless networks and signals, this utility also supports positioning using GPS and other positioning technologies.
This utility has a simple graphical interface that looks more like a multi-tabbed dialog box than a full-fledged application. The first tab, Adapters, displays a list of all network adapters along with their IP gateways and MAC addresses.
The Access Points tab contains a lot of important information. It does not contain information about the 802.11 standard of each SSID, but here you will find all supported data rates, as well as the numbers of all channels used by each SSID at a given time, including those with a larger channel width. It also does not list hidden networks, but shows other network data that indicates the presence of hidden SSIDs. Also a very useful feature is the ability to save notes for individual SSIDs, which can then be included in any data export.
In the Access Point Signal Graph tab, you will find the change in negative dBm values for the received signal strength over time for all selected SSIDs. The implementation of access to this functionality cannot be called very convenient and intuitive - the choice of wireless networks for monitoring and comparison is done by double-clicking on the desired SSID from the list of the previous "Access Points" tab.
The "Frequency of use" tab illustrates in real time a graphical dependence of the frequencies used by each SSID (for convenience, divided into channels) and signal strength values. The channel usage visualization is displayed for the 2.4 GHz band and each subset of the 5 GHz band. The utility performs its task - it visually demonstrates the busyness of each channel - but it would be more convenient if we could have a single idea of the 5 GHz frequency, instead of dividing it into four separate graphs.
In addition, Homedale offers great features as a free app for exporting collected data. For example, it supports saving a network list in tabular form in CSV format, logging the results of each scan (it will be useful if you are moving during a scan), as well as saving an image of each graph.
Despite a very simple graphical user interface, the Homedale utility provides more advanced functionality than you might expect from it. In addition, I would like to note the rather impressive, as for a free program, the ability to record and export data, as well as determine the location.
LizardSystems offers a free, non-commercial version of their WiFi Scanner software that has the same features and functionality as their paid product. Version 3.4 of the solution is currently available. In addition to the WiFi scanner, this solution also offers great functionality for analysis and reporting.
The application has a modern graphical interface that is intuitive and easy to use. The Scanner tab provides a list of detected SSIDs. In addition to the standard detailed information, here you will also find signal level values both in negative dBm values and in percentages. It even shows the number of clients that are connected to each SSID. Also, along with the 802.11 standards specification, the solution can detect and report multiple channels used by any SSIDs with a larger channel width.
You can use the list of visible SSIDs to filter input by the following parameters: signal strength, supported 802.11 standard, security types, and used frequency bands. At the bottom of the Scanner tab are graphs that you can switch between. In addition to typical graphs showing signal strength and channels used, visualizations of data rates, channel occupancy and number of clients are also available. The bottom of the screen displays information about the current connection. In the "Advanced Information" tab, you will find various data about network activity, up to the number of unprocessed packets.
The Current Connection tab displays more detailed information about the current wireless connection. This is where you will access and manage the list of wireless network profiles saved in Windows 10, which can be useful as this latest version of the Windows operating system no longer provides native access and management of this list. The Wireless Statistics tab provides graphs and statistics for various packet types, both for the physical (PHY) layer and the data link (MAC) layer, which will be useful for advanced network analysis.
The LizardSystems WiFi Scanner software solution offers advanced export and reporting capabilities. The basic functionality allows you to save the list of networks in a text file. In addition, you can generate reports summarizing the types of networks found by the scan, with all SSIDs logged, any comments you add, and graph snapshots. These are pretty impressive features for a free WiFi scanner.
Thus, LizardSystems WiFi Scanner really impresses with its functionality, including data output filtering and reporting capabilities, as well as advanced data packet information. It can be an important part of your WiFi maintenance and testing toolkit, but keep in mind that the free license is for personal use only.
NetSpot App is a software solution for researching, analyzing and improving WiFi networks. The commercial version uses a mapping tool for thermal imaging of coverage areas, but this is not available in the free home version. However, this solution is offered for both Windows and macOS operating networks. As part of this review article, we will look at NetSpot Free version 2.8, a free, significantly stripped-down version of the company's paid products for home and corporate use.
The NetSpot Discover tab is a WiFi scanner. Despite the simple graphical interface, it has a modern look and feel, and the network details of each SSID are displayed in bold and clearly visible. Signal levels are shown in negative dBm values (current, minimum and maximum), as well as in percentage. Hidden networks are not displayed in the free version, and the ability to export data is not supported (although there is such a button, but it is not active).
When you click on the "Details" button at the bottom of the application window, combined graphs of signals and used channels for each WiFi band are displayed, generated for the SSIDs selected from the list of networks. In addition, the signal information of each SSID is displayed in a table view, so you can see the exact values received by the application during each scan.
In general, the free version of NetSpot does a good job of discovering WiFi networks (although it does not support hidden networks). And yet, the free solution has very limited functionality, as we are eloquently told by broken links to a large number of additional features - this is the inaccessibility of visualizations, the inability to use a heat map, and the lack of export.
WirelessNetView is a small utility from the NirSoft web resource that runs in the background and monitors the activity of the wireless networks around you. It is offered free of charge for personal and commercial purposes. This is a fairly simple WiFi scanner, available in both portable and installable forms. Within the framework of this article, version 1.75 is considered.
The graphical user interface of the WirelessNetView solution is not very fancy - it's just a window with a list of wireless networks. For each detected network, the following information is available: SSID, signal quality at the current time, average signal quality over the entire observation time, detection counter, authentication algorithm, information encryption algorithm, MAC address, RSSI, channel frequency, channel number, etc. .
Thus, this utility provides signal level indicators in negative dBm values, as well as in percentage terms for the last received signal and the average indicator for the entire observation time. But it would be even better if we also had access to the average values for the RSSI of a particular access point over the entire observation period. Another unique piece of available analytics that WirelessNetView offers is how often each SSID is discovered, which can be useful in certain situations.
Double-clicking on any of the detected wireless networks will open a dialog box with all the details about a specific network, which can be very convenient, since your screen is clearly not wide enough to view all the details in the main list. Right-clicking on any network from the list allows you to save the data for that specific wireless network or all detected networks to text or HTML files. The Options toolbar menu displays some options and additional functionality such as filtering, MAC address format, and other information display preferences.
Please note that this utility lacks a number of advanced features that we expect to see in modern WiFi scanners. First of all, we are talking about the graphical presentation of information, full support for the 802.11ac standard and, accordingly, the recognition of all channels occupied by an access point that can use a large channel width. However, WirelessNetView can still be useful for simple monitoring of wireless networks or a small WiFi area, especially if you find some of the utility's unique features valuable.
Beginning with OS X Mountain Lion v10.8.4 and later operating systems, Apple provides the Wireless Diagnostics tool. It is more than just a WiFi scanner; it can help detect and fix WiFi connection problems. But best of all, it's a native toolkit included with the operating system. As part of this review, we will look at the Wireless Diagnostics software solution included in macOS High Sierra (version 10.13).
To get started, press the Option key and then click the Airport/WiFi icon at the top of MacOS. You will have more detailed information about your current WiFi connection, as well as access to the "Wireless Diagnostics" shortcut.
Opening Wireless Diagnostics will launch a wizard called "Assistant" that may ask for additional information such as the make and model of the router and its location. Tests will then run to detect problems. Once validated, a summary of the results will be shown, and clicking on the icon for each result will show expanded details and suggestions.
While not entirely obvious, there are also more tools available to you than just the aforementioned wizard. While the Wizard dialog box is open, clicking the Window button at the top of the toolbar will provide access to additional utilities.
The "Scan" utility is a simple WiFi scanner that shows the usual data about the detected wireless networks, as well as a brief description of the types of networks and the best channels. One of its main advantages is that it shows noise levels in WiFi channels, which most of the scanners for Windows OS presented in this article do not show. However, it would be more convenient if all the channels that use specific SSIDs with a larger channel width were listed, and not just the channel width and the center channel were shown.
The "Info" utility displays the current network connection and detailed information about signal characteristics. The "Logs" utility allows you to configure the WiFi, EAPOL and Bluetooth diagnostic protocols. The Performance utility shows line graphs of the signal and noise, signal quality, and data rate of the current connection. The "Sniffer" utility allows you to capture raw wireless packets, which can then be exported to a third-party packet sniffer.
Thus, the utilities included in the Wireless Diagnostics toolkit for the macOS operating system family are truly impressive, especially when compared to the native wireless diagnostics toolkit for Windows operating systems. You always have a WiFi scanner at hand (which even shows noise levels) and a packet capture option (followed by the ability to export), and their troubleshooting "Assistant" seems really smart. However, for the visualization of WiFi channels, in our opinion, there is not enough channel usage graph.
In addition, Apple offers an excellent tour and guide to using Wireless Diagnostics for more information.
Each of the programs we have reviewed for diagnosing WiFi networks has its own advantages and disadvantages. At the same time, all these solutions, judging by user reviews, are worthy of being downloaded and evaluated in action. The choice of the optimal program for each specific case will be different. So try it!
See also:
Often there is a need to quickly check the WiFi signal strength in order to select the most free channel with good reception quality. For this task, the simple android application Wifi Analyzer is the best fit.
With it, you can easily not only identify free channels, but also check the quality of Wi-Fi reception in various places in an apartment or cafe, or view signal changes over time. After launching, a graph will be visible in the main window of the program, which will display visible wireless networks, the reception level and the channels on which they work. If they intersect on the chart, this will be clearly displayed.
You can also see the "rating" of the channels, by the type of any star ratings, which clearly shows how expedient the choice of one or another of them is at the moment. Another feature of the application is the analysis of Wi-Fi signal strength. First you need to select which wireless network is being checked, and then look at the reception level, while nothing prevents you from moving around the area or checking the change in reception quality depending on the location of the router.
Also, it would not be out of place to add that our interest in WiFi networks can be not only in passive analysis. Using a mobile phone, you can also try to guess the password for a wireless access point. To do this, you need an application called WIBR.
WIBR is a unique application with which you can hack your neighbor's Wi-Fi and use his Internet for free. This is not a joke, WIBR works on the principle of automatic selection of passwords (brute) for Wi Fi, and if the password is simple, then the probability of guessing the password is close to 100 percent.
Vibr supports hacking several Wi-Fi networks at once, and shows information on one screen, when you click on one of the networks, you can see detailed statistics on the progress of work: the number of passwords per minute, how many password options have already been checked and how many are left.
The application supports uploading your own dictionaries, for this you need to download them (or write all the possible passwords in notepad yourself and save them in txt format), specify the path in the program itself. Especially for our users, we have added more than 10 dictionaries with the most common passwords.
A router today is in almost every home. But such an abundance of Wi-Fi routers could not but affect the quality of the signal.
Very often, networks overlap one another and there are interruptions in the Internet signal.. And this despite the fact that he is strong and nothing visible should interfere with him.
The reason just may be the imposition of several access points on one channel. For apartment buildings, this problem is especially relevant. Only the user needs to distinguish between signal and router problems. So very often they confuse the complete freezing of a smartphone on the Android platform at the stage of downloading torrent files. Here the reason is different.
Wi-Fi breaks can proceed as follows:
The reason for all these troubles is precisely the use of the same communication channel by many points of wireless routers. In the future, the congestion of this channel leads to low speed and disconnections.
To quickly solve the problem means to change the channel. Most users do not even know how to analyze such a situation and how to change the “Auto” setting on their router.
You can read about how to change the communication channel on different types of routers at this link.
Free programs that can be downloaded on the Internet without problems for:
There are thirteen channels in total for signal transmission in Russia. So, of these 13 channels, the first, sixth and eleventh do not intersect. But not all countries use 13, in the USA, for example, only 12 are allowed. Different versions of the operating system have their own characteristics for using certain channels.
So Windows 10 does not see channel 13, and in the router settings it is impossible to change the region to Europe in order to fix access to this channel.
OS version 7 also does not see channels greater than 12. Therefore, when choosing another unloaded channel, this must be taken into account.
Just programs - analyzers are needed in order to identify free channels, configure the router for them and work calmly.
If the user has a problem connecting to a channel or lags a signal due to channel congestion, then you can ask the technical support of the official Windows website for answers to your questions.
The most convenient and simple programs analyzers of occupancy of communication channels are the following:
These programs will help you learn other useful information about networks. You can recognize the type of security, signal speed. Convenient graphs help analyze the signal. The figure below shows how different users overlap on the channels and which access point has the highest frequency signal.
When downloading the program from the official site, the user should pay attention to the terms of use. Very often today they offer only demo versions of programs with a period of use of no more than a month. After that, the program must be purchased.
As you can see from the picture, after the analysis it is clearly seen that the most crowded channel is 6. That is, you should disconnect from it and select free 2, 3, or 4, or any other except the first and eleventh, which are also already occupied.
Best for smartphone on the Android platform, use the Wi-Fi Analyzer program. No problems with searching and downloading. The user through his phone enters the Google Play service and through the search finds this application and downloads it. When the smartphone is turned on, you can also download the application via a PC.
After installation, you can go into the program and analyze the communication channels. You will immediately see at what frequency the router is operating, and on what channel. All this will be indicated on the available charts. It is enough to select in the settings - channels and properties.
That is, in an illustrative example, nothing needs to be changed, because the signal does not intersect with almost anyone. In the same program, you can select the “channels” tab in the properties and see which channel has the highest and best signal. The rating is indicated by asterisks.
The example shows that the best signal without interference is on channels 12, 13 and 14. The program is quickly installed and quickly erased. Therefore, users should not be afraid that the application will take up a lot of memory on the device.
There is another handy tab in the same application that will show the frequency of the signal. With such a pointer, you can move around the apartment and choose exactly the place where the signal will be the strongest.
There are a lot of routers on the market today. But according to statistics, the D-Link model is the most frequently purchased. How can I remove the auto-selection of the channel on it?
To do this, we type in the address bar of the Internet address 192.168.0.1. In the window that opens, type admin in both login and password. Unless the user himself changed them. The standard login and password are always written on the back cover of the box from under the router.
A window appears, "advanced settings" are selected in it, and then the main ones, as in the figure above. After selecting the basic properties of the wireless network, you should find the “channel” line in the window that appears and select the free channel in it that any program for analyzing communication channels has shown.
After that, the connection may be interrupted for a short time and restarted again. If this does not happen, you need to check the router settings again and if a dialog box appears in the upper right corner asking you to save the changes, you need to click and save it. After that, the data transfer and download speed should increase.
With the help of such simple manipulations, any user can today correct small errors in the operation of the wireless network in his apartment without calling the masters and without paying for their services.
So, how to choose this very high-speed and high-frequency wireless communication channel?
Thus, fixing problems with a lost signal and lost speed turned out to be very simple, you just need to clearly follow the above steps.
