wireless network tester

ebkrantz

I am looking for a wireless network tester Do i need a notebook with airsnort and the such or a standalone tester? which is best?

JDMurray

Well, "the best" solution for you would depend on where and how you are going to perform WLAN site surveys. An old laptop with free software is the cheapest way to go, but it can be a pain to lug around on long surveys. Smaller, hand-held testing units are much easier to use, but they are also very expensive.

What's your need look like?

ebkrantz

WLAN site surveys won't be that long, We are doing them in school buildings, If i carried a laptop, what software would you recommand? I already have access to a laptop.

crap I forgot my old pwd

Are you talking about a spectrum analyzer? I heard those are really expensive but I would totally want one.

JDMurray

What exactly will your be surveying? The coverage areas of access point signals or attempting to identify sources of interference?

If you are using a laptop, I would suggest loading it with with several of the better apps and trying them all out. Netstumbler and CommView are two that I use. I also find that the configuration utility for my Cisco 802.11b/g/a PCCard is good signal strength tool as well. Have a look at this article for more tools: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/wireless/2004/05/27/wirelessonPocketPC.html

If you are running a Windows laptop, you can run Linux wireless utilities by booting and running them from a pre-configured Knoppix CD with no hard disk installation needed. The Knoppix security tools distribution has quite a few free wireless utilities, including kismet. Just download the CD image, burn it on to a CD, and boot: http://www.knoppix-std.org/tools.html