inSSIDer Plus or inSSIDer Essential (inSSIDer Office + Wi-Spy DBx)
inSSIDer is a WiFi scanner. It uses your WiFi adapter on your computer for scan for wireless networks to show you their signal strength.
With inSSIDer, you can:
- Pick a better channel for your network
- Make sure you are using strong security
- Measure coverage around your router or access point
inSSIDer Plus adds a host of additional features, the most important being support for Wi-Spy, which is a special device called a spectrum analyzer. You can learn more about what Wi-Spy adds here.
Chanalyzer Essential (Chanalyzer + Wi-Spy DBx + Directional antenna)
Generally regarded as the "cable tester" of WiFi, a spectrum analyzer should be the first serious step that you take when you begin working on a WiFi issue.
Chanalyzer (the software) and Wi-Spy DBx (the hardware) work together to bring you portable spectrum analysis. With a spectrum analyzer, you can look at the raw radio frequency activity around you - not just where the wireless networks like you can with a normal WiFi adapter.
With Chanalyzer + Wi-Spy, you can:
- See non-WiFi interference that are normally invisible
- Identify what type of device is causing the interference
- Physically locate non-WiFi interference
- See how busy each WiFi channel really is by measuring RF activity
- Take recordings, and play them back later
Eye P.A. Essential (Eye P.A. + 802.11ac WiFi adapter)
Ok, so you've looked at the spectrum, and didn't find any non-WiFi interference? Good. Step 2 in most WiFi troubleshooting processes is to check out the actual 802.11 conversations with a packet analyzer.
Eye P.A. can take a packet capture with an AirPcap Nx (a product by Riverbed), a compatible WiFi adapter, or you can bring your own packet capture. It parses the data to visualize which networks and clients talked a lot, and which ones talked a little.
You can use that to find out if a device hogged all of the available airtime, and you can quickly drill down into conversations to see 802.11 conversations.
With Eye P.A., you can:
- Identify devices that are having slow, inefficient conversations
- See which devices are transmitting the most data
- Identify problem devices that are consuming airtime, or repeating themselves often
- Get expert tips on what you can do to improve the performance of your network
- Export to Wireshark to turn Eye P.A. into a powerful filtering tool!