Sniff Wi-Fi

Mice in beer bottles , cold hands and supporting VoIP applications. These are a few of a wireless admin's least favorite things. And while this blog is the wrong place to look for solutions to two of those problems, here are some things to look for when evaluating software that lets you talk. Voice over WiFi is a topic that yours truly has written about before , but never in any real detail on this blog. Part of the reason is that the previously linked whitepaper was something less than a performance for the ages, and part of the reason is that VoFi is still a ways away from being a pervasive technology. Over the last few weeks the need to use VoFi software has arisen, and now is as good a time as any to describe how WiFi analysis software can be used to sniff out (pun not intended. Seriously. That word that is also in the name of this blog WAS TOTALLY ACCIDENTAL AND WITHOUT ANY INTENT AT  SELF-PROMOTION AT ALL.) which VoIP application is best. The two applicatio...

The darned computer (or phone, or tablet) won't connect. We've all been there, and we've all wondered what the heck the problem is. Here's a quick way (using an OS X 10.7 [Lion] Macbook Air with Wireshark) to start yourself on the road to figuring out why. Last week I put out a call for blog topic suggestions and my man Keith Parsons made the fine suggestion of going through some tips for troubleshooting using Mac OS X. I think that is a good idea, so here is a little bit on troubleshooting connection problems on my (and the unemployed screenwriter industry's) favorite operating system. If you understand 802.11 protocols , then troubleshooting connection problems can be done at an extremely low level. When your (or the people you support's) WiFi connection seems to be unavailable for no reason, you can look at the frames being sent to see if things are going the way they're supposed to. When working with a Mac, I use Wi-Fi Diagnostics (an OS X Lion-on...