Wi-Fi signals are everywhere, did you ever want to know where they are coming from? NetStumbler, short for Network Stumbler, will let you easily detect Wireless LAN networks around you, using the 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g WLAN standards. Other than simply detecting the networks, it also reveals some physical details like Signal, Noise, and SNR. The tool helps a lot if you are a network administrator and you want to verify the network configuration and the availability of Wi-Fi signals at your facility.
Detect wireless LAN networks with NetStumbler
There are many use cases that are associated with this wonderful tool, but the core task of this tool is to detect Wi-Fi networks around your device. Based on that information, you can derive a lot more information and changes you might want to make to your network configuration.
NetStumbler for Windows PC is quite easy to use once you’ve installed and set it up. Just select your wireless adapter from the Devices menu and then hit the green play button to start scanning. Adjacent to the scan button, you can find the ‘Auto-Configure’ button. You can enable this to automatically configure your network card for scanning.
Once you’ve started scanning, the program will display the networks in range with all their details. Some of the details that are displayed are MAC, SSID, Name, Vendor, Speed, Type, Encryption, Signal to Noise Ratio, Signal, Noise, IP Address, Subnet, and more.
You can export all this information and share it with others. Or you can just save it for future reference. This information can be used to derive a lot of other useful information about your network. You can use it for wireless LAN Auditing, which means that you can identify if your wired LAN is being exposed to unauthorized wireless users. What happens in usual scenarios is that LAN users create their own Wireless LAN, which opens up security loopholes in the entire network. So using NetStumbler, you can easily detect any such wireless LANs and then eliminate them.
Other than that, you can use NetStumbler to check and verify the coverage of your Wi-Fi network. This helps a lot of users in identifying the best place to keep their Wi-Fi routers. Also, you can check if the Wi-Fi signal is reaching beyond the intended boundary and change the location of the router accordingly. This is essential from both security and accessibility points of view.
The tool can also help you survey your site before installing a new Wi-Fi device. The noise level indicated in scan results is a measure of interference that should be kept as low as possible for best results.
Moreover, NetStumbler can also be used for Wardriving. Wardriving is searching for Wi-Fi networks from a moving vehicle. With its GPS capabilities, NetStumbler makes a really good tool for Wardriving.
NetStumbler is a great tool for Network Administrators and all other people who are inquisitive about the Wi-Fi networks surrounding them. This is one powerful tool that can help you make effective decisions about your Wireless LAN.
Click here to download NetStumbler. The tool is simple to use even with all the complex details and terms it uses to display the scan results.
NetSurveyor is another WiFi Scanner and Network Discovery Tool that may interest you.
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