The Wi-Spy, an inexpensive ($99) WiFi Analyzer has been available for over a year (see DailyWireless; 12 WiFi Analyzers Compared & $99 Spectrum Analyzer from Jan, 2006), but now Meta Geek has updated their product line.
Here’s a comparison between their $199 Wi-Spy and their $399 Wi-Spy 2.4x which has better resolution and an external antenna jack. Their Chanalyzer 2.1 software lets you view the landscape, Record and Play-back traces, and set a variety of parameters.
George Ou of ZDNet tried it out (above).
As you can see from the results, a Microwave oven (when in use) absolutely dwarfs the signal level of a typical consumer 802.11g Access Point. Channel 6 (4-8) is absolutely murdered, half of channel 11 (9-13) is murdered, and the edge of channel 1 is severely degraded.
Glenn Fleishman of WiFiNetNews tested both units in his office under Windows Vista and Mac OS X. He likes it.
MetaGeek’s Eakiu is a Wi-Spy viewer for Mac OSX, sporting a nifty 3-d display of the 2.4 GHz spectrum. Version 4.0 features a totally rewritten back end and adds support for Wi-Spy 2.4x.
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