Wifi Survey For Mac



Dear koloth,
Thanks, appreciate it - 'wireless-tools' is not installed on my Ubuntu box - will look into installing it. The other command, 'iwconfig', gives information for my own network only, which I already know. But I appreciate the tips.
On another machine I've got (an old Mac laptop) I found & installed a freeware app last night that allowed me to walk around and map my condominium building's WiFi environment, which was what I was basically after.
That Mac app gave me a nice graphical map output, and it didn't cost anything, so I'm not complaining. But I'd still like to find an Open Source app to run on my Linux boxes. It was just irritating to have to do that job on the Mac! Which is a stupid way to feel, I admit - software is software, if it works, it's good. At least a Mac is basically Unix. But I'd like to do this survey every couple of months or so, and in future it would be nice to use my good Linux laptop instead of the Mac.
Any good suggestions? I know there must be a Linux app out there that would do the job. Thanks!

If you've followed the steps to connect your Mac to a Wi-Fi network, but the connection to your network or the Internet isn't reliable, the steps in this article might help.

HiveRadar Wireless Site Survey Kit is an all inclusive, extremely portable wireless survey kit for Wireless IT professionals. Designed out of necessity by a team of IT guys who have done hundreds of wifi surveys. Most survey kits on the market are heavy, cumbersome and require you to bring a pack horse to carry all the gear. This is the first survey kit of its kind on the market and includes. Great tool overall. All you need is your mac and this software to complete a WiFi survey. After a walking around it provides a heat map showing signal and the signal to noise ratio. It also shows any other networks in the area. So its easy to see what networks may be causing interference around you. Wireless site survey software for mac os x. Netspot is a new wireless survey software for Mac OS X. Find out what your Wi-Fi networ. NetSpot Pro is a simple and accessible wireless survey tool for Mac users, which allows collecting, visualizing and analyzing Wi-Fi data using any MacBook. NetSpot Pro can visualize your wireless network by building a visual Wi-Fi map. It will let you see dead zones without coverage and place hotspots (Access Points) correctly.

WiFi heat map software can create an accurate map of signal strength during a site survey, producing a graphical representation of hot, cold, and dead areas. Many professionals responsible for installing and maintaining WiFi networks will find a lot of value to WiFi heat map software in order to implement an environment with the best wireless.

Check for Wi-Fi recommendations

When your Mac tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it checks for issues that affect its ability to create a fast, stable, and secure connection. If an issue is detected, the Wi-Fi status menu in the menu bar shows a new item: Wi-Fi Recommendations. Choose it to see recommended solutions.

Wi-Fi recommendations are available in macOS Sierra or later.

Analyze your wireless environment

Your Mac can use Wireless Diagnostics to perform additional analysis.

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  1. Quit any apps that are open, and connect to your Wi-Fi network, if possible.
  2. Press and hold Option (Alt) ⌥ key, then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics from the Wi-Fi status menu .
  3. Enter your administrator name and password when prompted.

Wireless Diagnostics begins analyzing your wireless environment:

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If the issue is intermittent, you can choose to monitor your Wi-Fi connection:

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When you're ready to see recommendations, continue to the summary. Wireless Diagnostics asks for optional information about your base station or other router, so that it can include that in the report it saves to your Mac.

Wifi

Click the info button next to each item in the summary to see details about that item. Wi-Fi best practices are tips that apply to most Wi-Fi networks.


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Back up or make note of your network or router settings before changing them based on these recommendations—in case you need to use those settings again.

Monitor your Wi-Fi connection

Your Mac can monitor your Wi-Fi connection for intermittent issues, such as dropped connections. Follow the steps to analyze your wireless environment, but choose ”Monitor my Wi-Fi connection” when prompted.

During monitoring, a window shows that monitoring is in progress. Monitoring continues as long as this window is open and you're on the same Wi-Fi network, even when your Mac is asleep.

If Wireless Diagnostics finds an issue, it stops monitoring and shows a brief description of the issue. You can then resume monitoring or continue to the summary for details and recommendations.

Create a diagnostics report

Wireless Diagnostics automatically saves a diagnostics report before it displays its summary. You can create the same report at any time: press and hold the Option key, then choose Create Diagnostics Report from the Wi-Fi status menu . It can take your Mac several minutes to create the report.

  • macOS Sierra and later saves the report to the /var/tmp folder of your startup drive, then opens that folder for you.
    To open the folder manually, choose Go > Go to Folder from the Finder menu bar, then enter /var/tmp.
  • OS X El Capitan or earlier saves the report to your desktop.

The report is a compressed file with a name that begins “WirelessDiagnostics.” It contains many files that describe your wireless environment in detail. A network specialist can examine them for further analysis.

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Use other diagnostics utilities

Wireless Diagnostics includes additional utilities for network specialists. Open them from the Window menu in the Wireless Diagnostics menu bar:

  • Info gathers key details about your current network connections.
  • Logs enables background logging for Wi-Fi and other system components. The result is saved to a .log file in the diagnostics report location on your Mac. Logging continues even when you quit the app or restart your Mac, so remember to disable logging when you're done.
  • Scan finds Wi-Fi routers in your environment and gathers key details about them.
  • Performance uses live graphs to show the performance of your Wi-Fi connection:
    • Rate shows the transmit rate over time in megabits per second.
    • Quality shows the signal-to-noise ratio over time. When the quality is too low, your device disconnects from the Wi-Fi router. Factors that affect quality include the distance between your device and the router, and objects such as walls that impede the signal from your router. Learn more.
    • Signal shows both signal (RSSI) and noise measurements over time. You want RSSI to be high and noise to be low, so the bigger the gap between RSSI and noise, the better.
  • Sniffer captures traffic on your Wi-Fi connection, which can be useful when diagnosing a reproducible issue. Select a channel and width, then click Start to begin capturing traffic on that channel. When you click Stop, a .wcap file is saved to the diagnostics report location on your Mac.

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Learn more

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Additional recommendations for best Wi-Fi performance:

  • Keep your router up to date. For AirPort Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, or AirPort Express Base Station, check for the latest firmware using AirPort Utility. For non-Apple routers, check the manufacturer's website.
  • Set up your router using Apple's recommended settings, and make sure that all Wi–Fi routers on the same network use similar settings. If you're using a dual-band Wi-Fi router, make sure that both bands use the same network name.
  • Learn about potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference.

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Learn about other ways to connect to the Internet.