Step 1 : Press the ‘alt’ key on your keyboard and mouse-click on the AirPort icon in the menu bar, like this:
The network you have selected will display some extra info. This is what each option means:
PHY Mode : protocol being used to connect.
BSSID : The unique identifier for your airport hardware, also known as the MAC address.
Channel : Wi-Fi signals are transmitting on certain channels. A channel might conflict with other transmitters.
Security : The kind of encryption used. WPA and WPA2 are safe options. WEP isn’t anymore.
RSSI : The ‘Received Signal Strength Indication’ shows the strength of your signal. Closer to 0 is better.
Transmit Rate : The actual speed at which data is being transmitted between your access point and your computer.
MCS Index : This is a number that corresponds to protocols used to encode the radio signal.
This is already useful. Especially the RSSI and Transmit Rate, which give you an indication of how well your network is performing. But we don’t stop here.
Step 2 : At the bottom of that menu is an option called ‘Wireless Diagnostics
’. Select it to open an app with the same name, after you’ve authenticated yourself. It opens with an introduction screen which we will ignore for now. Instead, we will press the command key + 2. Or go to the ‘Window’ menu and select the ‘Utilities’ option, as shown on the right here.
A window will open with more info about your AirPort network. In the menu bar of that window are 5 options. Select the 5th one called ‘Performance’.
That is what we are looking at now:
This is the window that will really help you optimize things. Move your computer around the house to see the different parameters change. You could just focus on the ‘Quality’ indicator and wait until it says ‘Excellent’ or keep an eye on the ‘RSSI’ versus ‘Noise’ indicators. I ended up disconnecting the wireless phone system and moving it around to minimize noise and I rotated the AirPort base station 180 degrees, which turned my parents signal from ‘Good’ to ‘Excellent’.
The native and already got a redesign in modern versions of Mac OS X, and with it came some new features that make the utility better than ever. One of the best new additions is the built-in Wi-Fi scanner tool, which is a full-featured wifi stumbler to find and discover nearby Wi-Fi networks – even those that don’t broadcast their network names.
This is really an advanced feature that has a wide variety of potential uses beyond just locating access points, most users would be best off just to find available wireless networks to join. For those that want a wireless stumbler, here’s how to find and use it.
Accessing Wireless Diagnostics in Mac OS X
In modern versions of Mac OS X like OS X Yosemite, OS X Mavericks, you can get to Wireless Diagnostics from the Wi-Fi menubar item:
- Option+Click on the Wi-Fi menu item in OS X
- Choose “Open Wireless Diagnostics”
This is somewhat hidden, but still much easier than accessing it in prior releases of OS X where the app was basically hidden.
Scanning for Wi-Fi Networks with the Mac Wireless Diagnostics Tool
Now that you’re in Wireless Diagnostics, here’s how to use the Scanner:
- Go to the “Window” menu and choose “Scan” to immediately open the Wi-Fi Stumbler tool built into Mac OS X
- Within the Scanner tool, click on the Scan button to scan for available networks
This will open the wireless card to detect all possible nearby wifi networks, effectively stumbling onto available wireless routers and discovering details about those networks.
All available wireless network names, SSID, channels, band, network protocol (wireless n, g, b, etc), the network security type, the network signal strength, and the network noise level of the signal discovered will be listed by the scan utility.
This is obviously much easier in modern versions of Mac system software, but don’t worry if you’re not on OS X Yosemite, you can still access and use these tools with the directions below.
Making Wi-Fi Diagnostics Easier to Access in OS X
For other versions of OS X, like OS X Mountain Lion, you’ll want to make the Wi-Fi Diagnostics app readily available by bringing it to LaunchPad or the Dock, to do that:
- From any Finder window, hit Command+Shift+G and enter the path: /System/Library/CoreServices/
- Locate “Wi-Fi Diagnostics” (or “Wireless Diagnostics”, depending on OS X version) and drag and drop it into Launchpad or the OS X Dock for easy access
Now that you have the Wifi app in an easy to find location, using it is slightly different depending on your OS X version. Newer builds of Mountain Lion (10.8) changed it slightly, and those changes are reflected in OS X Mavericks (10.9) as well. Outside of accessing the tool, all functionality remains the same.
If the app is called “Wi-Fi Diagnostics” , here is what you need to do:
- Launch Wi-Fi Diagnostics and ignore the frontmost menu, instead hit Command+N to summon the new “Network Utilities” window (this is also where the is located now)
- Click the “Wi-Fi Scan” tab to get started with the wireless stumbler tool
If the app is called “Wireless Diagnostics” , to access the scanning utility is slightly different:
- Open Wireless Diagnostics and ignore the menu, instead pull down the “Window” menu and select “Utilities”
- Select “Wi-Fi Scan” tab to summon the scanner and stumbler wireless networking tool
Under the Wi-Fi Scan tool, you will see all available network names and their respective BSSID, channel, band, protocol (wireless n, g, b, etc), security type, their signal strength, and the noise level of the signal.
The tool defaults to scanning once and displaying the found information, but you can turn on Active Scan or Passive Scan mode to constantly search for new networks by clicking on the “Scan” pulldown menu in the lower right corner.
There are plenty of potential uses for this utility and the wireless stumbler, whether it’s optimizing networks, reducing interference and noise, or discovering those around you, but the wifi diagnostics app also includes many powerful features that allow you to capture network traffic, be it data that is sent from the computer in use or even all nearby wireless networks. Ultimately those latter functions and their uses are far beyond the scope of this article, but previously Mac users had to use third party apps like Kismet or boot from a separate Linux installation to access advanced network capturing abilities.
Wifi analyzer for mac – Discover & analyze your wifi network using this list of the best wifi analyzers for mac OS X El Capitan & Sierra.
A Wifi analyzer is a basic tool which helps you in discovering the best wifi networks, analyzing wifi signals, troubleshooting wifi issues, and taking an insight into your wireless network.
Though there are many wifi analyzers for mac are there but we have crafted a beautiful list of the best wifi analyzer for mac:
NetSpot for mac: Best wifi analyzer for mac
NetSpot is our favorite wireless networking software for the Mac out there. There is an obvious reason to that. The user-friendly interface and the powerful features packed inside one single wifi software give us enough reasons to rejoice this wireless tool as a powerful wifi analyzer for mac.
There are basically two modes in the software:
- Discover mode and,
- the Analysis mode.
With survey data presented in interactive tables and graphs, the Discover mode makes it very easy for you to troubleshoot your network and find the weak spot and act on that.
You can use NetSpot as a wifi analyzer for mac using the analysis mode. The analysis mode uses heat maps to tell you the weak point about your site with the help of the analysis Map, you can sort out different wifi problems of your wireless networks.
KisMac for mac
KisMac is another useful wifi analyzer for your wireless network that helps you improve the performance of your network. It can tell you about the clients on your network and just like Netspot, you can also troubleshoot your network with the help of Maps. KisMac also supports Apple Airport extreme and several other USB devices which are not common with other software.
WiFi Scanner for mac
Wifi Scanner is another great tool for analyzing your wifi network in Mac. The software helps you in analyzing and comparing different wifis in your network so that you can choose the best for yourself.
The filtering option makes it easier to choose the best network by comparing between the different options. 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz support along with IP scanner make the software stand out from the crowd.
iStumbler for mac
iStumbler is another great wifi analyzer tool for mac which provides information about the wifi networks in your area along with the signal strength and encryption status. Apart from that, the software also provides support for Bluetooth devices and bonjour services too.
Logging, interactive graphs and real-time tracking of the network are other features that make this software so easy and interactive to use.
Easy Wifi Analyzer for mac
If you’re having a problem finding the best wifi signal out there and are not much of a geek, easy wifi will help you out doing that. The Application sits in your menu bar as a wifi analyzer for mac and keeps looking for the best network out there. Once it finds the best wifi network, it asks your permission and you can lock it there.
Easy Wifi has both a free version and a premium version that comes with features like connection history and networking with friends.
AirRadar for mac
Developed by Koningo software, Air Radar is a not much of a wifi analyzer but it is a network discovery tool that comes out as a boon for the users shifting their networks very frequently.
You can get the strength of you home connection if you’re curious to know or you can set your favorite connection a color in your office space. You also get voice alerts for the best networks in your area with the app.
ChangeMac wifi analyzer for mac
This application lets you spoof your Mac Address over your ethernet port or Airport Mac Address. The App only works on ethernet connection and doesn’t support the Mac Pro Airport connection. It is a helpful app if you want to save yourself from the vicious hackers and network attacks.