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NewsGlobe: Currents
MetaGeek ups the ante on Wi-Fi troubleshooting
Wireless spectrum visualization software spots 2.5 GHz interference
by Jim Barthold
MetaGeek wants to help IT professionals find and remove
2.4 GHz Wi-Fi interference with a with new wireless
visualization software bundled into its USB spectrum analyzer.
The software-hardware combination helps users troubleshoot
and optimize Wi-Fi networks by identifying signatures of
electronic devices that may be causing interference.
“There’s quite a bit of demand for a low cost analyzer tool to
help with a lot of Wi-Fi issues for IT guys and installers who
are going into homes or office buildings to do installation and
want a better view of what’s going on in the 2.4 GHz band,”
said Ryan Woodings, MetaGeek’s founder-CTO.
2.4, he said, is a busy band with Wi-Fi and non-Wi-Fi devices
like cordless phones, microwave ovens and security cameras
fighting for spectrum.
“We’ve added a signature sidebar that contains profiles of a
lot of different devices,” Woodings said. “You can get a feel
for what an 802.11b network looks like versus a ‘g’ or an ‘n.’
Various cordless phones have different protocols so you can
figure out what is in your environment,” he said.
Although the product could be used by a homeowner eager to
deliver clean Wi-Fi throughout a residence, the product
is “more geared towards consultants and IT guys,” he said.
That market could expand to include installers for mobile
operators like T-Mobile, which is marketing a dual-mode
mobile-Wi-Fi product called @Home that leverages the
home’s Wi-Fi network for mobile traffic.
“We’ve had conversations back and forth with T-Mobile on
making some tweaks to our software to work better for their
guys,” Woodings said. “Homes tend to have a lot more
different types of interference because 2.4 GHz is a really
popular band for home devices like cordless phones and baby
monitors. And every home has a microwave oven.”
One area that isn’t a problem, he said, is Bluetooth, even
with the plethora of devices running in a home.
“There’s not a lot of traffic and it’s hopping around,”
Woodings said. “But if you’re able to get two or three different
Bluetooth devices you would start to see that and would start
to see some interference with the Wi-Fi.”
The software, bundled with the spectrum analyzer, costs
US$399.
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