Sniff Wi-Fi

Voice over WiFi is scary.  Retries, packet errors (due to lots of Retries) and high latency (usually due to packet errors that happen because of lots of Retries) will murder a WiFi network's ability to handle Voice and leave your users screaming (not actually screaming) like they were cast in a horror movie (or, at the very least annoyed like a character from Office Space).  But there's one thing that sometimes scares people, but really shouldn't: Voice Arbitration.  It's not going to kill your WiFi voice calls.  In fact, it will almost certainly help. Arbitration is a process defined in the 802.11 standard .  Every device (client/station and AP) goes through it. The simplest way I can describe 802.11 Arbitration is like so: If your AP or station has heard a quiet channel for 37 microseconds (0.000037 seconds), then your AP or station transmits a frame (what most people call a packet, but I call a frame). If your AP or station has been hearing a busy channel fo

In my last (real) post, I detailed how I used WildPackets OmniPeek to solve an iPhone 5 QoS problem.  But what about AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer?  I am a fan of both of those fine WiFi sniffers, so I figure it's a good idea to show you how QoS can be analyzed with Fluke Networks' signature WiFi protocol analyzer. WildPackets OmniPeek is more of a hardcore protocol analyzer than AirMagnet WiFi Analyzer is.  If you're going to be doing the type of sniffing I detailed in the last blog post , you will have an easier go of it with WildPackets' product.  But AirMagnet is popular and both tools are expensive.  So if you happen to be a gal (or guy) who needs to troubleshoot WiFi voice or video and you have AirMagnet, this brief tutorial should help. To begin analyzing QoS, one must first capture on the VoFi devices channel.  In my case I associated my iPhone 5 to a network with the SSID of "R&T".  Then I looked at the Start screen in AirMagnet: The "R&a

My love for WildPackets OmniPeek may be one of the few things in technology that exceeds my love for the iPhone... Now that I've run off 20% of my audience, let's talk about how the former can be used to figure out if the latter is causing a problem. I have a lot of enemies in life, and I'm proud of that.  In my opinion, part of being an adult is recognizing who your enemies are.  UCLA football players are my enemy when they play college football.  Drivers who text while stopped at green lights are my enemy when I am running late.  (No comments from the peanut gallery on that one, GT Hill .)  And deductive reasoning is often my enemy when troubleshooting. Deductive reasoning is oh so tantalizing.  It's simple math; A + B = C.  The WLAN works (C) when VoFi handsets (B) connect to my APs (A).  If I switch out the VoFi handsets for SIP-based iPhones (thus changing the value of B) and the WLAN stops working, then the iPhones must be at fault.  Right?  Wrong.