New hotspotter has more options for finding Wi-Fi

February 24, 2008 at 12:00a.m.

Around four years ago, I wrote about a little device that had the ability to locate hotspots. A hotspot is simply defined as a location that has Wi-Fi access. Back then, hotspots were still fairly uncommon and hard to find. Back then, the only option you really had to see whether a Wi-Fi signal was available was to pull out your notebook computer and turn it on.

The Digital Hotspotter from Canary Wireless was a godsend because you could now just press its little button and see if there was Wi-Fi available. And not only could it detect the presence of a Wi-Fi signal, it would also tell you whether it was open or locked, the name it had been given (its SSID), it displayed the strength of the signal and it also told you what channel it was using. But as Wi-Fi has continued to expand, so have its numbers of options and configurations.

So Canary Wireless has just introduced the Model HS-20, its next generation of the Digital Hotspotter. The new model is slightly larger but slimmer than the HS-10, weighs 2.5 ounces, and it offers several new and improved features. It also just looks a lot nicer in its shiny black case. The first and most noticeable is that its 96x64 pixel LCD screen is now backlit. If there was one new feature on my wish list for this device, that would have been the one. Too many times I’ve found myself not being able to read the display simply because the room I was in at the moment was too dark.

Some of the features remain but they have been improved. For example, the signal strength indicator on the old model used only three indicator bars. The new one offers five vertical bars, which serves to give you a more accurate measurement of the Wi-Fi’s signal strength.

The older model required you to repeatedly press its one button to force the Hotspotter to rescan for multiple hotspots in the same location. Now the unit performs a single scan for any and all available Wi-Fi signals at the same time. On the side of the device is a scroll button that lets you easily access multiple access points from the single scan. You just highlight an access point’s name and you instantly see all of the network’s details such as its type, security and channel configuration.

Before, you could only see if a network was locked or open. Now the Hotspotter can identify the type of encryption being used such as WEP, WPA, WPA2 and CCX. You will also see the type of Wi-Fi being used such as 802.11 b, g or n, which wasn’t even around with the first model was designed. In addition, the HS-20 can scan 14 channels. Though only 11 are used in the United States, 13 are used for Wi-Fi in Europe and 14 in Japan, making the HS-20 useful when you go overseas. This is important because channel information can be useful in detecting potential reasons for interference. Most access points are set to channel 1, 6 or 11 by default. If you see more than one network on the same channel, it is likely that you may experience problems with interference. Taking this a bit further, Wi-Fi channels can overlap on adjacent channels and might cause interference. You may wish to use the Hotspotter when configuring your home or office network to determine what channels are least likely to experience interference.

Another nice touch is the addition of a battery strength indicator. Though I always made it a point to carry two additional AAA batteries, now at least I can see when I’m going to need them before the unit just quits.

As with its predecessor, the HS-20 uses a true 802.11 engine, which basically means that unlike other devices that make an attempt to just show you that there’s a Wi-Fi signal nearby, you won’t receive false positives from the presence of other wireless standards such as Bluetooth.

I’m glad to see that Canary took its time coming out with its new model. From this newer one, it’s clear that they were listening to its users and they’ve come up with something that has adapted to the newer standards as well as being much more user-friendly with its ability to scan multiple points with a single scan. My older one served me well but the HS-20 is a welcome new addition.

The HS-20 Digital Hotspotter is available from the Canary Wireless Web site and sells for $59.95.

Visit: www.canarywireless.com.

X Craig Crossman is a national newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. For more information, visit his Web site at www.computeramerica.com.