Source: Tom's Guide | Keywords: wifi, wireless, detector | Themes: Networking
1. Introduction
It’s happened to all of us at one time or another: you’re in a public space (hotel, airport, restaurant and so forth) and you’re not sure if there is public Wi-Fi or not. Sure, you could whip out your trusty notebook, but that takes time to boot up, and do you really want to bother, just to find out if there is a Wi-Fi hotspot around?
That’s where Wi-Fi detection devices come in handy. Instead of using your notebook to figure out if there a signal, you just use the detection device.
There are a few different types of Wi-Fi detection devices in the market. For this review, we took a look at two of the most common form factors: the keychain type (in the form of the Kensington WiFi Finder Plus) and the USB stick type (the StarTech Wi-Fi Detector WIFIDETG).
- Next page StarTech Wi-Fi Detector
Great review and very helpful. Thanks!
Would have been nice to see how they stack up to the internal catcher you have integrated in notebooks.
That's it? Only 2 devices tested? I am disappointed.
Yeah, I'm with Droseph on this. Surely there are more than 2 of these devices on the market.
And I owned the Kensington detector. It was a useless piece of junk.
Yeah, I'm with Droseph on this. Surely there are more than 2 of these devices on the market.
And I owned the Kensington detector. It was a useless piece of junk.
There's really little point in Carrying one of these devices nowadays anyway. Many Nokia N & E series mobile phones have WiFi built in and come with an app on the main screen that constantly scans for access points, lists their names & allows you to dive in to find out what encryption & signal strength is available. Even older Nokia (WiFi enabled) mobiles that didn't have this as a main screen app allowed you to do the same by loading the "connection manager" app. Far more convenient than carrying an extra device.
Save yourself the money and hassle and buy a Nokia N95
...or you could just open Safari or Mail on your iPhone and it will tell you for certain not only what Wi-Fi is available, but which are locked for security which the other devices won't do. Keychain devices have a bad habbit of picking up WiFi that has no SSID broadcast so even if it claims there's a clear signal, dragging out the notebook usually results in finding out you can't log on anyway.
Most people with a notebook and a need to use WiFi in multiple places typically have PDAs or smartphones anyway, so who do these keychain devices really target anyway? They're just an accessory for retailers to push on people buying a new laptop, or on a kid starting college...
...or you could just open Safari or Mail on your iPhone and it will tell you for certain not only what Wi-Fi is available, but which are locked for security which the other devices won't do. Keychain devices have a bad habbit of picking up WiFi that has no SSID broadcast so even if it claims there's a clear signal, dragging out the notebook usually results in finding out you can't log on anyway.
Most people with a notebook and a need to use WiFi in multiple places typically have PDAs or smartphones anyway, so who do these keychain devices really target anyway? They're just an accessory for retailers to push on people buying a new laptop, or on a kid starting college...
If you have set your router to not broadcast it's SSID, will they show up on either of these units?
If you have set your router to not broadcast it's SSID, will they show up on either of these units?
I personally how this device
http://trendnet.com/langen/product [...] 9UB&cat=84
And it works great
I also own this cheapo D-Link hotspot detector
http://www.dlink.ca/products/?pid=618
One thing, the more expensive TrendNET base itself on the SSID, so the SSID-off access point won't show up. The D-Link will show the presence of an access point even if the SSID broadcast is disabled, but will indeed not show the access point SSID name, only the signal strengh.
try it first