Finding Wireless Networks

Finding commercial wireless operators is easy - very often you can identify the signage hanging outside a cafe, fast food restaurant or on the walls of a hall. If not, when you power up your Windows XP computer equipped with a wireless card, it will display a list of wireless networks available. Examining the SSIDs will often allow you to identify the network operator instantly.

Windows XP

Windows XP’s Wireless Zero Configuration feature automatically discovers the available wireless networks in an area. However, Windows XP does not allow you to see detailed information about the wireless networks, such as the number of access points available or where they are located.

Click on the Wireless Network Connection icon in the tray to view all the available wireless networks. Select the available wireless networks. When you select it, you have to enter a network key. By default, it does not have WEP enabled, so when you select it, you have to turn on the “Allow me to connect to the selected wireless network, even though it is not secure” option. Click Connect to join the public wireless network.

Ensure the public Access Point has assigned an IP to your notebook. Follow this step to check your IP address.

NetStumbler

NetStumbler is a free wireless network discovery tool that runs on Windows-based computers. You can use NetStumbler for site surveys, and it is also a useful tool for detecting unauthorized access points.

NetStumbler provides a wealth of information about available networks. It will show you ESSIDs, AP MAC addresses, channels, WEP status, and more. It can show the relative signal and noise of a particular AP, making it handy for setting up point-to-point shots.

Web Site: www.netstumbler.com

MacStumbler

MacStumbler is a utility to display information about nearby 802.11b and 802.11g wireless access points for Mac OS X. It shows all available networks and the channels they are using, it very helpful in searching for hotspots and troubleshot wireless network problems.

Web Site : www.macstumbler.com

Kismac

Kismac is another Mac OS X application that uses the RF Monitor mode of the AirPort and Prism 2 cards to observe networks. It also allows the user to send raw frames to any AP or client and has a handy real-time graph of available networks and their relative usage.

Wavemon

Wavemon is an excellent ncurses-based network monitor for Linux. It has a number of useful features, including real-time signal and noise levels, an AP scanner, and a full-screen moving histogram. This helps tremendously when trying to find the other end of a long-distance link.

Kismet

Kismet is an excellent raw RF monitor. Kismet can find APs (including APs running a closed network), send and receive raw frames, and even detect the presence of people running NetStumbler. Its sophisticated data logger allows export of raw 802.11 frames to tools such as tcpdump and Ethereal for later analysis. Kismet only available in Linux version.

Web Site: www.kismetwireless.net