Kensington WiFi Finder

Gadgeteer Hands On Review by Jeffrey Friedman

August 14, 2003

 

It is fairly annoying to try to locate new places where your WiFi equipped laptop or PDA will pick up a signal, if you don’t want to continually set it up and experiment (perhaps attracting curious onlookers who then smirk when you can’t get a signal). My experience with Starbucks, hotel, and other hotspot employees is that many have never heard of WiFi hotspots, don’t know if they have them, and would rather tell you “no” than invite other questions they can’t answer, or take the time to direct you to someone more knowledgeable. If you don’t get a signal, is there one present but too weak, should you try another spot 10 feet away, or is your computer having issues that need to be addressed? What you need is a WiFi signal sniffer.

Last March, a company called iDetect had a gadget mentioned on the-gadgeteer.com, a credit-card sized WiFi sniffer. As a new WiFi Websurfer on my Sharp Zaurus SL-C700, I took an immediate interest in this, and emailed the company to learn about product availability. They promised it for April, but as April passed and May and June, and the web site showed no updates, I lost hope. Then the web site vanished. I was a sad surfer. But recently Kensington announced a non-vaporware product, much like the iDetect model if somewhat thicker than optimal, which I got last week.

802.11b and 802.11g signal sniffer, Model 33063
Size: 3”x 2 ¼”x 3/8”
Weight 1.1 oz.
2x 2032 button batteries “can last well over 1 year” depending on use

You push the button, and get a reddish blink from the right-hand LED, and the device keeps blinking white for a few moments while it searches for a WiFi signal. If it finds one, it turns green, and the other two lights go on as the signal gets stronger and stronger (I never had more than two green lights, however).

Alas!!!! I took it around to some known local hotspots, Starbucks and Bryant Park. At one Starbucks, where I have happily signed up and logged onto the T-Mobile network many times, I got two green lights at the door, but no signal indication elsewhere in the store. At another Starbucks I didn’t get any green signal anywhere; however, when I whipped out my Sharp Zaurus C700 with Linksys CF WiFi card I had no trouble logging on anyway. In Bryant park, where there is a public WiFi network, I got one or two green lights in some places, nothing elsewhere, though I was able to log on with my C700 anywhere I tried. Tech Support at Kensington reports that there have been other findings of problems at Starbucks, perhaps because this is a “closed network,” whatever that means. I did get a surprise when I accidentally pushed the WiFi Finder button outside my office door and got two green lights (my office doesn’t have a WiFi network); a colleague reports that his laptop also often picks up a signal from the law firm downstairs from us. My C700 found this signal and tried to initialize on it but failed (now that is what I would call a “closed network”).

This is a product that I feel has a need and a market. The technology of screening out non-WiFi signals at 2.4 GHz, from cordless phones, Bluetooth networks and microwave ovens, exists in my CF card, so I am confident someone, maybe even Kensington, will get it right soon. But this product is not the answer.

 

Price: $25-30

Pros: 
Great idea
Price I am willing to pay for it
Okay form-factor (smaller would be nice)

Cons: 
Doesn’t work right