By Andrew Liszewski
I consider myself pretty lucky since the downtown area of the city I live in is blanketed with free WiFi. So the days of hunting down coffee shops or stores with free wireless internet is a thing of the past for me. For those not so lucky (like you suburb dwellers) Linksys now has a Wireless-G USB adapter with a built-in WiFi finder allowing you to locate a hotspot without having to boot up your laptop.
The Wi-Fi Finder detects Wireless-G and Wireless-B networks with a simple push of a button. It displays all pertinent information such as the wireless network’s name (SSID), signal strength, the channel used, and whether wireless security is enabled or not. The information is displayed on an easy-to-read LCD display and can be set up to look for only open networks, all networks, or a specific named network. Discovered networks are listed in order of signal strength.
The adapter also uses search technology that’s smart enough to filter out 2.4GHz interference from microwaves, cordless phones or even Bluetooth devices meaning you’ll only get a list of actual Wireless-G and B networks. It’s currently available from Amazon.com for $79.04.
[ Linksys Wireless-G USB Adapter With Wi-Fi Finder ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]
I think this one actually was announced in 2005…
Does anyone really go hunting for WiFi hotspots? I live in the Chicago suburbs and every coffee shop in town has WiFi. Most cell phones with WiFi have built in locators anyway. Cool little adapter but the software will find the hotspot that comes with any WiFi adapter. Oh Well.
Does anyone know if this works with the latest release of ubuntu? I have ubuntu installed to a usb key and would be nice if I had a usb wifi card I could take with me to make sure I have working wifi.
We love these little wifi finder devices!
We have the ZyXel AG-225H and we’ve done quite a bit of work on hacking it to insert your own code and extend the capabilities. Check it out at wifi.openschemes.com.
Long live wifi finders!