I’ve not bought a Wi-Fi detector yet for one reason, while these devices are great at locating Wi-Fi access, they won’t let you know whether encryption is enabled or not (and so you end up having to boot up anyway, which makes the device somewhat useless). What I was waiting for was a device that would show whether encryption was enabled, and a friend of mine just told me that he found exactly what I want. Canary Wireless has released The Digital Hotspotter HS10, a full-featured Wi-Fi detection and analysis device which provides information on signal availability and strength as well as essential network information, including ID, security status and channel, on an LCD display. And it is priced at a mere $50.
WiFi Detection Done Right
9 responses to “WiFi Detection Done Right”
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For those with a Wi-Fi enabled PDA powered by either Pocket PC or Windows Mobile 2003 I highly recommend Mini Stumbler http://www.stumbler.net
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Awesome find, Ben! Thanks for the post!
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Kevin, I ordered one immediately. They are backordered right now, but as soon as I get it I’ll post a review.
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If you have a PowerBook you are mostly likely to have it in sleep mode and it has pretty much instant "on" and near instant Wi-Fi detection… 🙂
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not very different from my PC laptop’s "hibernation" mode Sean… 😉
I think the problem is that u still have to open your bag, hold or find a place to put your laptop, then open it… and then find out if there is or isn’t wifi available. -
Let me know how this works, Ben. If it works well, I’ll definitely get one. I’m also curious about the size. Hopefully it’s pretty compact.
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Christian, size is very small (as per the specs). And as soon as I get it …
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Found a review on Slashdot:
http://www.tomasbecklin.com/2004/12/wi-fi-detector-update-read-review.html -
FYI, I just posted a review of this device at http://www.forta.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=e&entry=1446.
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