Wi-Fi Heat Mapping Recommendation

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Wi-Fi Heat Mapping Recommendation

myfullflavour

896 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 382

Trusted

Full Flavour

#154687 4-Nov-2014 15:23

I've been playing around with some Android heat map apps but what I've found so far has been lacking (e.g. a crap UI that doesn't let you do anything or a rendered map that doesn't do anything too helpful with the data you collect).

Do you have any recommendations?

Mac, Windows, iOS or Android - open to suggestions.

Have the UBNT tool here as well - but the map it creates isn't based on real data - it just guesstimates what the likely coverage is.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 2638
Inactive user

#1168588 4-Nov-2014 15:37

Ekahau is quite good. Be prepared to pay though!!

saeran

139 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 18

#1168709 4-Nov-2014 18:09

If you're willing to spend some money and buy a dedicated device the Wi-Spy DBx is worth looking at. It will get the job done far better than a phone.
http://youtu.be/tr0AfBO1O20

Dynamic

4015 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1851

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1168828 4-Nov-2014 20:40

For our purposes, the free version of Ekahau Heat Mapper and the old free version of inSSIDer have been sufficient to resolve any WiFi coverage issues. In all cases so far we have been focused on coverage within buildings (including challenging warehouses) and performance has not had a significant focus. Clients have been happy with the before and after Heat Map screen shots emailed. The free version is limited to 10 minutes per session.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

eXDee

4033 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1070

Trusted

#1168953 4-Nov-2014 23:46

chevrolux: Ekahau is quite good. Be prepared to pay though!!

$5000-10000 last i checked.

Netspot for OSX is great for the price. They even have a free version for small surveys. Works well and is probably the best you'd get without an actual spectrum/channel analyzer. Which i know ekahau can do, but then you're talking quite different ends of the spectrum (pun intended)