In terms of features, however, software scanners typically exceed hardware scanners, and the same can be said about their ease of use. Because different laptops and mobile devices have different WiFi modules, the same software scanner may provide vastly different results when used on two different devices.

Software scanners On the other hand, software scanners depend on a laptop or mobile device and its WiFi module.

Hardware scanners are most commonly used by technicians in the field because they free them from having to carry a heavy laptop with limited battery life.

Hardware scanners: As the name implies, hardware WiFi scanners are physical devices, typically of the handheld variety.

WiFi scanners can be divided into two categories: The collected information includes everything from network names and their security settings to signal strength, noise level, interference, and more. If yo’re in a situation where there’s just too much traffic, it’s better to put a second WAP (Like a WiFi extender) closer to where you use your devices.The purpose of a WiFi scanner is to discover all nearby WiFi networks and collect as much information about them as possible. Let your WAP (aka your “router”) handle the channel selection. Yes, you can actually make the problem worse! The problem with selecting your own channel is that the WAP won’t automatically switch to another when the one it’s manually configured to use becomes saturated with traffic. So, what you “capture” today and determine what’s the best channel now might change the next day or even later that afternoon! Bluetooth devices, wireless peripherals, our phones and devices are all crowding the airwaves. Modern WAPs (wireless access point) auto select the best channel for you based on existing traffic and this can change continually given the explosion of wireless devices which we are using every day. Unless you’re using a 10+ year old WiFi router that doesn’t handle automatic channel switching well, there’s no need to do this.

Trying to find which channel to use is pointless nowadays. There are many apps that you can use from the built in Network Diagnostics to commercial grade WiFi mapping and analyzers.

Wifi channel scanner online