If you are looking for a pocket sized WiFi access point router for sharing the Internet below are several devices that I own or have considered buying in the past.
D-Link DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router – This pocket wifi router is comes in a nice carrying case with accessories. The web based graphical user interface is easy to use and comes with a wizard to get all items configured. This device is only 2.4 GHz and has great range for it size. It has a small phone size power adapter that is light and easy to carry. This pocket WiFi router can also be powered from a USB port. I have owned one of these devices since 2005 and keep in my computer bag for sharing wired Internet with others or to make my wired hotel wired Internet wireless so that I can watch TV from my hotel bed while working my computer. The device can operate in three modes: router, access point (aka wireless bridge) and wireless client. I usually use it as a router but have confirmed the access point (bridge mode) and client mode work fine.
Cradlepoint PHS300 Personal Hotspot – The pocket sized WiFi router is designed to operate with a USB EVDO card. It can be powered from a power adapter or use the removable rechargeable battery. Having a removable rechargeable battery is great for times when power is not available. I have owned one these since 2008 and currently use with a Sierra Wireless AirCard USB 598 with data service from Sprint. I like having the flexibility to use my USB aircard plugged into my PC as well is with this device. The exact model I have is actually Sprint branded and limits the number of devices that can share the EVDO connection but the Cradlepoint branded device does not have these limits. This device support 4G wireless USB aircards if the firmware is upgraded.
TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless-N Travel Router – This pocket WiFi router is almost identical to the D-Link in features and appearance but add 802.11n speeds and coverage. It supports Router, Access Point and AP Client modes like the D-Link and can be powered from an electrical outlet or USB port. If I were buying a device today I would gladly pay the extra $10 compared to the D-Link to get higher throughput and the additional security options. Per the vendor “Maximum wireless signal rates are referenced from IEEE 802.11 theoretical specifications. Actual data throughput and coverage will vary depending on interference, network traffic, building materials and other conditions.” Since this is a 2.4 GHz only device and antenna separation is minimal it is very unlikely that device will ever achieve 300Mbps data rates but it is nice to have MIMO support for areas with RF issues.
Virtual Access Point Software – If you are looking for a zero cost, zero weight pocket WiFi option then you may want to consider using virtual access point software to transform your PC into a WiFi access point router. Windows 7 has a great virtual WiFi feature making this a great alternative to buying a pocket WiFi device for sharing your Internet.
Below is a list of Virtual Access Point Software products. Most/all of them rely on a Windows 7/Windows 2008 R2 feature that can virtualize a wireless physical adapter into multiple wireless virtual adapters.
On Windows 7 and on Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Wireless LAN Service installed, the operating system installs a virtual device if a Hosted Network capable wireless adapter is present on the machine. This virtual device normally shows up in the “Network Connections Folder” as “Wireless Network Connection 2″ with a Device Name of “Microsoft Virtual WiFi Miniport adapter” if the computer has a single wireless network adapter. This virtual device is used exclusively for performing software access point (SoftAP) connections. The lifetime of this virtual device is tied to the physical wireless adapter. If the physical wireless adapter is disabled, this virtual device will be removed as well.
VirtualAccessPoint.com – Virtual Accesss Point Tool is a 100% web based tool to create virtual access points. The tool requires requires Microsoft Windows 7 and Java. Some uses for this tool: Turn your laptop into a WiFi Hotspot, Turn your laptop into an access point, Turn your laptop into a wireless access point. After creating virtual access point Internet Connection Sharing must be manually enabled.
WLANController Client – WLANController has two components, a software client that transforms Windows based computers into WiFi virtual access points and scanners and a web based dashboard that can manage multiple devices from a single graphical user interface. The WLANController Dashboard and client make the deployment and management of large WiFi networks quicker, simpler and less costly. We eliminated the need for any new hardware and software (other than our client) by using the Virtual Access Point capabilities available in Windows.
Connectify – Connectify is a free and easy to use software router for Windows 7 computers. With Connectify, users can wirelessly share any Internet connection: a cable modem, a cellular card, or even another Wi-Fi network. Other Wi-Fi enabled devices including laptops, smart phones, music players, and gaming systems can see and join your Connectify hotspot just like any other Wi-Fi access point and are kept safe and secure by password-protected WPA2 Encryption.
Virtual Router – Virtual Router turns any Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 Computer into a Wifi Hot Spot using Windows 7′s Wireless Hosted Network (Virtual Wifi) technology. The Wireless Network create/shared with Virtual Router uses WPA2 Encryption, and there is not way to turn off that encryption. This is actually a feature of the Wireless Hosted Network API’s built into Windows 7 and 2008 R2 to ensure the best security possible and the password/key must at least 8 characters.
Virtual AP – Virtual AP is an easy-to-use software that turns any LAN-connected PC or laptop into a Wi-Fi wireless access point.
WLANController.com public beta is now available. If you haven’t already heard about it, WLAN Controller is a service that leverages your existing Windows based computers for WiFi networking!
We are very excited about this cloud based Wireless LAN (WLAN) controller that can manage soft access points and scanners. We eliminated the need for any new hardware or software by using the WiFi capabilities available in Windows based computers that exist in almost every organization. See the bottom of the post for some very amazing information about Windows 7**.
WLAN Controller Video
Check out video below of me using a Windows Vista computer as a remote WiFi scanner. Pretty cool stuff.
Centrally Manage Windows 7, Vista, XP Soft Access Points and Scanners
The results of our efforts are the WLAN Controller service and client. The WLANController.com dashboard can be accessed from any type of modern browser and we have clients today for Microsoft operating systems (Windows 7, Vista, and XP) and plan to release clients for other operating systems in the near future.
Use the WLANController.com service to:
Create an infinitely scalable WiFi network for work or recreation
Centrally configure and manage hundreds of devices
Run remote wireless scans to discover interfering and rogue access points
Software only solution, zero additional hardware required
Use WLAN Controller client software to:
Convert your Windows 7 computers into WiFi access points and scanners
Convert your Windows Vista and XP computers into WiFi scanners
Access point operates in background with no impact to computer
Share business or home broadband Internet
WLAN Controller Account Request
To get an account during the public beta period do the following.
**On July 22, 2010 Microsoft reported that they have sold more than 175 million Windows 7 licenses. As of 7/22/10 – Windows 7 is now running on more than 16% of all PCs worldwide and is the fastest selling operating system in history [source].
Image below shows a single hardware Atheros AR5007 WiFi adapter that supports virtual WiFi. The primary adapter is connected ot the Internet via SSID “slow”. The virtual adapter is configured as a virtual access point with SSID “test”.
Enabling Internet Connection Sharing
1) Right click adapter that is connected to Internet (primary adapter connected to SSID “slow”)
2) Select properties and select sharing tab
3) Check “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s
Internet connection”
4) Select to connection to users will connect to (in this case virtual
access point interface Wireless Connection 2)
How To Turn Your Windows 7 Laptop Into Wireless Access Point Router
Go to website http://www.virtualaccesspoint.com and follow steps below (requires Java). This website automates the command line process needed to create a virtual access point in Windows 7.
Turning a Windows 7 laptop into an access point is possible because of a new Microsoft feature called “hosted network”.
The wireless Hosted Network is a new WLAN feature supported on Windows 7 and on Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Wireless LAN Service installed. This feature implements two major functions:
* The virtualization of a physical wireless adapter into more than one virtual wireless adapter sometimes referred to as Virtual WiFi.
* A software-based wireless access point (AP) sometimes referred to as a SoftAP that uses a designated virtual wireless adapter.
These two functions coexist in a Windows system together. Enabling or disabling the wireless Hosted Network enables or disables both virtual WiFi and SoftAP. It is not possible to enable or disable these two
functions separately in Windows.
With this feature, a Windows computer can use a single physical wireless adapter to connect as a client to a hardware access point (AP), while at the same time acting as a software AP allowing other wireless-capable devices to connect to it. This feature requires that a Hosted Network capable wireless adapter is installed in the local computer. The driver for the wireless adapter must implement the wireless LAN device driver model defined by Microsoft for use on Windows 7. To receive the Windows 7 logo, a wireless driver must implement the wireless Hosted Network feature. [source]
Like many others, I too **was** having problems with WiFi connectivity on my iPad.
I solved my iPad WiFi problems by configuring my access point (AP) for 802.11bg only mode. I have an enterprise class dual radio Cisco access point that allowed me to create a different SSID per 802.11 radio. I created one with for 802.11b/g and one for 802.11a. I use the 802.11bg mode for my iPhone 3GS and iPad.
iPad Works Fine With My 802.11bg WiFi
Yep..that’s it..no more problems. I couldn’t believe it, so I changed my AP back to to 802.11abg mixed and then to 802.11a only mode and noticed that the connectivity issues returned. My unscientific testing seems to indicate that the iPad has an issue with 802.11a/5GHz frequency.
My iPad WiFi Troubleshooting Process
I read on many blogs that the issue could be caused by the location of the WiFi antenna. After finding the photos below taken by iFixit I don’t think this is the case. I don’t know how these antennas operate but it seems that the body of the iPad is utilized based on the contacts that can be seen in the photos below. I’m pretty sure Apple wouldn’t release a product that would be impacted by how it is positioned like some blogs suggested.
Symptoms
Under certain conditions, iPad may not automatically rejoin a known Wi-Fi network after restart or waking from sleep. This can occur with some third-party Wi-Fi routers that are dual-band capable when:
* Using the same network name for each network
* Using different security settings for each network
Products Affected
iPad
Resolution
If you encounter this issue, try the following:
* Create separate Wi-Fi network names to identify each band. This can be done easily by appending one or more characters to the current network name.
o Example: Add a G to the 802.11b/g network name and an N to the 802.11n network name.
* Ensure that both networks use the same security type (WEP, WPA, WPA2, and so on)
If the issue persists, reset your network settings using Settings > General > Reset > Reset Network Settings.
Some how I missed the release of this free web based WiFi Stumbler from Meraki. A very clean and well implemented scanner using Java that works on Macs and PCs.
SSID-Channel distribution graph – This graph shows how many visible SSIDs are being broadcast in each channel of the 2.4Ghz and 5GHz wireless spectrums. This information can help you plan your channel selection to utilize channels that are most clear of interference. Search field – Search for open networks, specific manufacturers of access points, a particular SSID or MAC address or any other string in the scan results using this field. You can also use standard Google search syntax. Click on “Advanced search” to expose a variety of filters to easily customize your displayed results. Network list – This section lists useful information about the wireless networks that are visible to WiFi Stumbler. You can sort the list by any column by clicking on the header for that column.
Description of information presented in each column in the Network list: SSID – Name of SSID. Hidden SSIDs will appear as blank (all other columns will be filled in) MAC Address (BSSID) – Hardware address of access point Radio Type – Wireless protocol of network (802.11b/g, 802.11a or 802.11n) Channel – Wireless channel that the network is operating on Signal Strength (dB) – Signal level of network in RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication). Since RSSI outputs from different client cards can vary, these signals are best used as a relative measure of signal strength when comparing networks Manufacturer – Name of manufacturer of access point Security – Wireless security protocol in use (or Open if none) Last Seen – Last time a response or beacon from this network was received
Great Time To Be In WiFi Industry
It is great to see vendors and WLAN professionals releasing so many useful tools and sharing information for building, securing, and managing wireless/WiFi networks.
Why I like the iPad as a platform for WiFi tools such as a WiFi scanner or WiFi site survey tool:
Display – Nice big display compared to the iPhone. Anyone that has conducted WiFi site surveys for millions of square feet knows that having a big laptop screen is useful. The 9.7-inch (diagonal) multi-touch display isn’t huge but should work well for WiFi site surveys.
Size and Weight – The bigger the screen the better..but with size comes weight. While having a 16 inch screen is ideal..an 8 pound laptop for site surveys feels like a 1000 pounds after a few hours of surveying. For me, the perfect screen size for a WiFi Scanner/Site Survey laptop is around 13 inches. The iPad’s 9.7 inch diagonal screen may end up being a little small but for most scanning and surveying it should work well. At around 9.56 inches by 7.47 inches and 1.6 pounds for the WiFi + 3G model the iPad is perfect for carrying around all day long.
Battery and Power – Per Apple’s website the iPad “has up to 10 hours of surfing the web on W-Fi”. Even if the battery life is closer to 7 hours…that is enough for a full day of WiFI scanning and surveying. When scanning a wireless card isn’t transmitting so hopefully the iPad’s battery life is closer to 10 hours when used as a scanner.
Processor and Performance – For large survey projects it helps to have a powerful processor that is responsive when clicking/tapping the screen and also can handle the larger number access points and WiFi devices that sometimes need to get tracked during scanning and surveying. The 1GHz Apple A4 processor is unknown since it is so new so hopefully it is a powerful as marketed by Apple.
Wireless Features – The iPad supports 802.11 a/b/g/n so it has all the capabilities needed for the major WiFi types deployed by organizations today. The iPad will connect at the full speeds to any type of network for any speed testing or active surveying.
iPad Is Value Priced and Feature Rich
At $499 ($523.95 after tax) the iPad with Wi-Fi only and 16GB of storage is a great platform for WiFi tools. We hope to port our very popular (and free) WiFi Scanner app for Snow Leopard to iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch and add/enhance the tool for wireless site surveys.
iPad/iPhone OS SDK for WiFi Tools
Currently there is is no way to access the information we need from the iPhone/iPad OS without using a private framework. This isn’t a big deal in terms of creating the application but if we want the app available in the App Store then we have play by Apple’s rules which means waiting for a updated OS and SDK to be released. Apple usually realeases major iPhone/iPad OS updates once a year around this time so hopefully the next major release will provide a documented way to access to 802.11/WiFi information that meets our needs for porting our WiFi Scanner to the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch platform.
iPad/iPhone WiFi Scanner/Site Survey Tool Features Requests
If you have any feature requests for a WiFi Scanner and Site Survey Tool on the iPad let us know. Check out our WiFi Scanner for Mac OS X for what is possible.
We have just released a new OUI lookup tool / MAC address lookup tool. The tool is currently in Beta but is very stable and very feature rich.
This OUI lookup tool provides a way to look up OUIs, MAC address prefixes, and full MAC addresses.
If a full MAC address is searched an option to geolocate the BSSID is provided.
Results can be emailed from the page without the need for an email account.
Searches can be conducted using OUIs, MAC address prefixes, and full MAC addresses. OUIs and MAC addresses may be colon-, hyphen-, or period-separated.
Sample search and results below.
00:06:25:FD:32:EB
000018
08:00:22
sitara
Search Multiple Types of Data
Get Lat/Long of Full MAC Address
A full MAC address can be used to geolocate the BSSID by clicking Get Lat/Long.
I think most people have used open networks when an Internet connection is needed and no other option is available but using someone else’s connection for an extended period of time is a security risk and probably illegal where you live.
Watch video the below where a lady calls into Leo Laporte’s Tech Guy Show claiming that the “Linksys” WiFi access she has been using for over a year has “disappeared”. She purchased a Linksys 802.11n extender thinking that would bring “Linksys” back. Leo discovers that she was really using her neighbors WiFi and explains the potential risks of using open networks.
D-Link DWL-G730AP Wireless Pocket Router – This pocket wifi router is comes in a nice carrying case with accessories. The web based graphical user interface is easy to use and comes with a wizard to get all items configured. This device is only 2.4 GHz and has great range for it size. It has a small phone size power adapter that is light and easy to carry. This pocket WiFi router can also be powered from a USB port. I have owned one of these devices since 2005 and keep in my computer bag for sharing wired Internet with others or to make my wired hotel wired Internet wireless so that I can watch TV from my hotel bed while working my computer. The device can operate in three modes: router, access point (aka wireless bridge) and wireless client. I usually use it as a router but have confirmed the access point (bridge mode) and client mode work fine.
TRENDnet 300Mbps Wireless-N Travel Router – This pocket WiFi router is almost identical to the D-Link in features and appearance but add 802.11n speeds and coverage. It supports Router, Access Point and AP Client modes like the D-Link and can be powered from an electrical outlet or USB port. If I were buying a device today I would gladly pay the extra $10 compared to the D-Link to get higher throughput and the additional security options. Per the vendor “Maximum wireless signal rates are referenced from IEEE 802.11 theoretical specifications. Actual data throughput and coverage will vary depending on interference, network traffic, building materials and other conditions.” Since this is a 2.4 GHz only device and antenna separation is minimal it is very unlikely that device will ever achieve 300Mbps data rates but it is nice to have MIMO support for areas with RF issues.
Virtual Access Point Software – If you are looking for a zero cost, zero weight pocket WiFi option then you may want to consider using virtual access point software to transform your PC into a WiFi access point router. Windows 7 has a great virtual WiFi feature making this a great alternative to buying a pocket WiFi device for sharing your Internet.
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