Your relationship with WiFi networks doesn't have to be limited to using the most appropriate option and maintaining a connection. There's plenty of room to experiment in this field, from the physical location of equipment to antenna design, router settings, and other obscure parameters on cards and adapters. But the first step is to search for WiFi networks on your PC and learn as much as you can about them, including their power, the type of radio enabled, and available transfer modes. That's where Vistumbler comes in.
A quick anecdote to start: a series of drastic changes to my connectivity service forced me to adopt a low-speed wireless solution, and in an attempt to improve and optimize its performance and stability, I ended up headfirst in the fascinating world of antenna design for the 2.4 GHz band.
There are plenty of smart people out there with decades of experience sharing their knowledge. When it comes to searching WiFi networks and measuring their designs, I've noticed they generally favor Vistumbler, a free and open-source tool. Vistumbler's main goal is to visualize the location of access points in your area and map them using wireless and GPS data, but in practice it's much more than that.
Learn to Search for WiFi Networks with Vistumbler
If the English interface is a problem for you, the first thing you should do is go to the Set Language section in the Settings menu, and choose one of the two Spanish language options. Once you restart Vistumbler, you can start searching for WiFi networks with a click on the Scan APs button. The search is continuous, so it's very likely you'll lose connectivity while Vistumbler tries to find additional networks, but you can stop it at any time.
Now, this isn't a mistake, but an essential feature of Vistumbler. Its active profile lets it generate real-time charts that are especially useful for detecting changes in power and sensitivity. If you have a device where you can replace the antenna, Vistumbler will help you visualize the performance of different designs almost immediately.
The GPS function requires additional hardware, either a dedicated module with a serial connection, or a mobile device connected to your PC via Bluetooth using a compatible app like Bluetooth GPS Output or another virtual COM port generator. The complete process isn't necessarily intuitive, but it shouldn't give you headaches either.
In short, if you want to search for WiFi networks with a much more advanced tool, Vistumbler will be an excellent ally. The latest builds are compatible with Windows 10, and you can also make them work on 8.x/7/Vista as long as you install version 4 of the .NET Framework. It also has a portable edition, if you prefer to skip a traditional install and work from a temporary folder. Download a copy!
Official site and download: Click here
