Sniff Wi-Fi

I recently got into a little tiff on Twitter.  In part it was an argument about blogging and reaching a broad audience, but mostly it was about site surveys.  Site surveys are hot right now, but I find that surveyors often overlook an important aspect of WiFi: different devices act differently. Conventional wisdom for WiFi site surveys is to get some site survey software , upload a floorplan and start a-surveyin'.  First predictive (letting the software estimate where coverage will go), then active (temporarily mounting access points in the locations chosen in the predictive survey and testing connectivity) and finally verification (walking the site after APs have been installed). The problem with all three types of surveys (predictive, active and verification) is that they are done with site survey software.  Site survey software is great for selling APs or pacifying execs, but it usually requires using a specific adapter.  So every time you verify connectivity or see a ce

Some days you wake up and say to yourself, "how can I be more like Buzzfeed ?"  Buzzfeed is popular and beloved and has an office across the street from a great Mexican restaurant.  I have a few friends and wonderful parents, but I can barely cook a taco.   What is it that I'm missing (besides venture money, a flock of ambitious MBAs and universal scorn from the intelligentsia)?  Lists!  That's what I'm missing.  Hit-trawling, crowd-pleasing lists! So here it is: the first in what hopefully will be a series of one.  A list of Three Simple Ways to Boost Your WiFi.  #LOL #cute #OMG #trashy 1) Add an 802.11n/ac USB adapter to old 802.11a/b/g laptops and desktops. Some folks in the WLAN business like to use the term "5G" to refer to 802.11ac, but I refer to 802.11a/b/g as 1st generation WiFi and 802.11n/ac as 2nd generation WiFi.  The reason I do that is because big improvements to power consumption, receive sensitivity and channel bonding are avail