WiFi Analyzer – Improving WiFi Performance

What Is WiFi Analysis?

Any modern home isn’t modern without a wireless router. But with at least one wireless router in nearly every home, the WiFi radio spectrum can get cluttered pretty easily.

Most wireless routers use the 2.4 GHz radio band to transmit data. This radio band is divided into multiple channels, which are like the lines on the highway. In North America, the 2.4 GHz radio band is divided into exactly 11 channels, with channels 1, 6, and 11 being the only channels that don’t overlap with other channels.

In theory, 11 channels should be more than enough even for densely populated urban areas, but, in reality, people seldom change the default configuration of their wireless router, which results in a situation where too many wireless routers transmit data on the same channel.

WiFi analysis performed using a wireless network analyzer can reveal which WiFi channels are used the least and provide plenty other information necessary for comprehensive WiFi optimization. WiFi analysis isn’t hard to do, provided you use a good WiFi analyzer app, and its benefits are plentiful.

What Does High-Performing WiFi Look Like?

Many people who learn how to use a WiFi analyzer are interested in setting up a high-performing WiFi network, but how does such a network look like? Here are a few important characteristics of a high-performing WiFi network:

• Flawless coverage: A high-performing network should cover the intended area without leaving any signal weak spots where common online activities, such as streaming movies, browsing the web, or video chatting, are impossible to perform. A wireless analyzer can be used to create a coverage heatmap that clearly highlights all areas of signal weakness, making it easy to adjust the placement of the router, the position of its antennas, or the arrangement of interference-emitting appliances.
• Sufficient capacity: Sometimes referred to as bandwidth, capacity determines how many people can use the WiFi network at the same time without experiencing a significant degradation in performance. Modern routers that support the latest WiFi standards have far greater capacity than old 802.11g routers, whose capacity is limited to about 22 Mbit/s. In high-usage scenarios, it’s often necessary to deploy multiple access points to provide sufficient capacity, which is where mesh networks come in, making it possible to cover a very large area with a single WiFi network broadcasted by a large number of access points.
• Great speeds: Ideally, you want your WiFi network to deliver the same download and upload speeds as a wired Ethernet connection. If you’re paying for a 100 Mbit/s internet connection, you should be able to reach the maximum speed from any part of your apartment, house, or office. Modern routers use technologies such as MU-MIMO (multi-user multiple-input multiple-output) and beamforming to enhance signal strength and ensure a speedy wireless connection to the internet.
• Uninterrupted connectivity: High-performing WiFi networks should also offer an excellent user experience, and uninterrupted connectivity is an essential part of it. When going from room to room, the last thing you want is for your WiFi connection to drop for a few seconds because you left the range of one WiFi network and entered within the range of another one. Mesh networks solve this problem by wirelessly connecting together multiple routers (called nodes), arranging them in a mesh topology. Modern mesh WiFi systems are so easy to set up that even complete beginners can get them up and running in just a few minutes.
• State-of-the-art security: No WiFi network will maintain its performance unless it’s secured with a strong password and robust encryption. Unsecured networks are a very common target of hackers, who don’t hesitate to take advantage of any opportunity to steal sensitive information and use it for their own personal gain. A WiFi signal analyzer can tell you if your WiFi network is using the latest security standard (WPA3), and you can also use it to determine how secure are other networks in your location.

What Is the Best WiFi Analyzer App?

A WiFi analyzer can be an invaluable tool for diagnosing problems and optimizing your wireless network. You can use a WiFi analyzer app to improve the speed and reliability of your network. There are many apps from which to choose, so what features should you look for? A good wireless analyzer app should be able to do several things.

To start with, it should quickly detect all nearby wireless networks and gather enough information about them. At the very least, the app should be able to retrieve network names, also known as Service Set Identifiers (SSIDs), security settings, and signal strength data.

Some of the more feature-packed WiFi analyzers also come with heatmapping functionality, which allows you to capture signal strength data on a map to reveal areas of signal weakness and possible high interference.

Best WiFi analyzer apps are not just packed with useful features, but they are also exceptionally easy to use even by people who have little to no previous experience with WiFi analysis.

Features of a WiFi Channel Analyzer

Here are some attributes you will find important in a WiFi analyzer.

Quality data collection — There are many statistics that an analyzer can provide about your network and those located nearby. At a minimum you want your app to display:

• Network name: WiFi networks typically broadcast their names, also known as service set IDs (SSIDs) to identify themselves to wireless devices. SSIDs can be zero to 32 bytes long, and they can contain any non-ISO basic Latin characters. An SSID that is zero bytes long is called a “hidden SSID,” and it’s sometimes used to steers clients to other networks. A good WiFi network analyzer must be able to discover and analyze even hidden SSIDs.
• Band and channel in use: WiFi networks are broadcasted in the unlicensed spectrum, and the IEEE 802.11 standard provides several distinct radio frequency ranges, called bands, in the unlicensed spectrum. The main bands used in WiFi communications are the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band. Both of these bands are divided into multiple channels, which are like lanes on the highway, allowing multiple WiFi networks to broadcast their signals without interfering with one another. A WiFi analyzer can reveal when multiple WiFi networks broadcast on the same channel and suggest an alternative channel.
• Security settings: To prevent unauthorized access, WiFi networks can be protected with Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA), or WPA2 wireless security technologies. Out of these, only the last type of WiFi security provides a sufficient level of security to ensure that no one can connect to your WiFi network without permission and access your personal data during transmit. A WiFi analyzer can tell you useful information about the security settings of your WiFi, helping you determine whether you should change them or not.
• WiFi standard: Technology keeps evolving at a rapid pace, and WiFi standards are no exception. There have been multiple amendments to the original IEEE 802.11 standard, which was released in 1997. Today, the most common WiFi standards currently in use include 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac. In the near future, the 802.11ax WiFi standard will offer around a 30-40 percent improvement over the ac standard, but only a very few devices support it at the moment. To analyze as many WiFi networks as possible, it’s important to select a WiFi analyzer that supports older and new WiFi standards alike.
• Signal strength: Everyone knows how painful it can be to use the internet with a WiFi signal strength of just one or two bars. The problem with WiFi strength bars is that they are far from accurate and can even be misleading. A WiFi analyzer displays WiFi signal strength in dBm, which are decibels in relation to a milliwatt (usually -30 to -100), giving you a highly accurate estimate of your signal strength.
• Noise level: Just like it’s difficult to hear another person in a loud room, it’s difficult to receive a strong WiFi signal in an environment with too much wireless noise, which is measured in -dBm format (0 to -100). The closer the measured noise level is to zero, the greater the level of noise is and the more difficult it is to receive a strong WiFi signal.

User interface — The manner in which the network data is presented can impact your ability to use it efficiently. You should be able to quickly find the information you are interested in viewing.

Portability — In order to use a WiFi analyzer effectively you need to take multiple readings of your network from various locations within the coverage area. You need to consider the available platforms you have available from which to run the app. Selecting a WiFi analyzer that runs on a laptop or mobile device will lead to the most productive use of the tool.

Reporting — You may find that you want to keep records of your WiFi scans and network statistics. Some apps give you the ability to export data to files for later analysis.