What Information Can a WiFi Scanner Obtain?
With a capable WiFi scanner, you can learn a lot about surrounding WiFi networks, their performance, and coverage. Here’s a brief overview of some of the most important information that you can obtain with the help of a free WiFi scanner app like NetSpot:
- Service Set Identifier (SSID): In simple terms, an SSID is the name of a WiFi network. It’s what you see when you want to select a WiFi network to log in a new device. The maximum allowed length of an SSID is 32 characters, and SSIDs are case sensitive, which means that "abc" isn’t the same as "aBc".
- Band: Most WiFi networks are broadcasted on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Older WiFi routers typically support only the 2.4 GHz band, but most newer routers support both bands. Since the 2.4 GHz band has been in use for some time, it can be very cluttered.
- Channel: The 2.4 GHz band is divided into 11 channels, three of which are non-overlapping. The 5 GHz band offers far more non-overlapping channels. Selecting a non-overlapping channel is important for avoiding signal interference caused by other WiFi networks on the same channel.
- Security: A capable WiFi scanner should be able to obtain information about the security settings of a WiFi network so that you can find unsecured networks in your area and evaluate whether they’re posing a threat.
- Signal: One of the most important pieces of information that a WiFi scanner can obtain is the strength of a specific WiFi signal. This information can help you optimize the performance of your own WiFi network eliminated signal weak spots.
To discover what else can a WiFi scanner tell you about a wireless network, go to the end of this article, were we talk in more detail about information provided by NetSpot.
