WiFiFoFum - For scanning WIFI areas needed?

[sorci]

Hello,

I have PDA2K (integrated WIFI of course).
I don't have any WIFI at work or home. But I may want to use it
sometimes outdoors in special cafes and internet wifi areas.
I didn't get the chance to use WIFI yet.

From what I undetstand, when WIFI radio is ON, my machine will automatically detect WIFI if areas that have it and I do not even need to do a single thing.

But I came across this program WiFiFoFum. From what I understand
it is a WIFI scanner, so that if I go to urban areas, it can automatically
scan for WIFI zones with public Internet and connect me there.

My question is what's the use if WM2003SE does it automatically already?

I'm looking for an easy and fast solution.

Thanks !

[Rico83]

Hello,

I have PDA2K (integrated WIFI of course).
I don't have any WIFI at work or home. But I may want to use it
sometimes outdoors in special cafes and internet wifi areas.
I didn't get the chance to use WIFI yet.

From what I undetstand, when WIFI radio is ON, my machine will automatically detect WIFI if areas that have it and I do not even need to do a single thing.

But I came across this program WiFiFoFum. From what I understand
it is a WIFI scanner, so that if I go to urban areas, it can automatically
scan for WIFI zones with public Internet and connect me there.

My question is what's the use if WM2003SE does it automatically already?

I'm looking for an easy and fast solution.

Thanks !

wififofum give you a list of all the AP's near you with there SSID and the SNR (signal strenght in db) and tells you if there encypted etc. the windows one is like XP zero config, it just pops up whenever it finds one and lets you connect to it, with a scanner you are scanning and not connecting,but it may give you the option to connect (perhaps when you find an open AP)

you should check out PocketWinCE, its my fav IMO, also check others like ministumbler but this probly wont work.

scanners (uses legally) are good to walk around your company premises to check for rouge AP's etx, illegally it can be used to find open AP that you could use to access internet email or anything TCP really,

[Bonzo]

I took a 5 km drive one day..
Windows came up with four different findings for connections..
WiFiFoFum found 24...

That's a 6:1 ratio for WFFF...
And at only a few hundred k.. ..install it and enjoy..

[Rico83]

I took a 5 km drive one day..
Windows came up with four different findings for connections..
WiFiFoFum found 24...

That's a 6:1 ratio for WFFF...
And at only a few hundred k.. ..install it and enjoy..

around and about glasgow you find loads and loads of AP's and many are unencrypted and unopened,

check out pocket lan, this goes great with wireless networking, you can map printers, shares, and much much more but i wont go into that as i doubt its gonna be used legally (in most cases)

[sorci]

COOL Thank you all guys for good info.

So what's the verdict for a good program that doesn't require
hours of tweakings and techie games to use ? Something simple
that will get the job done ?

Also are Encryped channels really encrypted? I mean, when surfing from an coffee shop that has WIFI, how can I be sure that my communication is totally encrypted and that no simple software sniffer can get catch all the data? OR maybe even hack my pocket pc ?

I thought about the WiFiFoFum as it's the first one I came accross with, but let's hear your choices for my goals (i.e. probably onle to catch wifi zones on t he streets) + sharing etc... would be nice.. disregard the price of the utility, i'm interested in performance.

Thanks guys!

[Bonzo]

WiFiFo Fum is the best..
It's simple to use, requires little memory, and can be used to connect to the AP's it finds..

As for encryption..
No, there is no WiFi network in the world that is secure..
The way ethernet is buildt, everyone with a very simple sniffer can download ALL your data stream..

As for security.. With WEP encryption, they will need roughly 4 to 6 GB of data before they can crack it and get any information from the data stream..
Don't be paranoid!

[veletron]

If you wanna check that it works, go stand outside PC world, or McSh1te and get WiFiForUm to do some sniffing.

You are right when you say that it 'should just work' unfortunately, though MS wrote windows mobile so it likely wont! If you dont find any hotspots when you think there should be some try a soft restart (my XDA IIs requires this swapping from work-->home AP, but not for Home-->work AP very odd.

Of course the AP's at PC world/mcsh1te will be btopenzone or thecloud ap's which means that it costs approximately 5 million pounds per hour to use them. But if you can sniff them and get to the appropriate 'give us your c/card page' then you've proven that the device works. Check out the btopenzone/thecloud websites for their login url's.

If they ever start being honest and offering a per MB tarriff at hotspots then I'll start using them.

Nigel

[Rico83]

If you wanna check that it works, go stand outside PC world, or McSh1te and get WiFiForUm to do some sniffing.

You are right when you say that it 'should just work' unfortunately, though MS wrote windows mobile so it likely wont! If you dont find any hotspots when you think there should be some try a soft restart (my XDA IIs requires this swapping from work-->home AP, but not for Home-->work AP very odd.

Of course the AP's at PC world/mcsh1te will be btopenzone or thecloud ap's which means that it costs approximately 5 million pounds per hour to use them. But if you can sniff them and get to the appropriate 'give us your c/card page' then you've proven that the device works. Check out the btopenzone/thecloud websites for their login url's.

If they ever start being honest and offering a per MB tarriff at hotspots then I'll start using them.

Nigel

tha scots knows all!! haha

[sorci]

thanks for all replies.

I downloaded the latest version of the program (0.3.3 i think)
Couldn't understand it or get it to work properly, it seems designed towards network technicians, not some normal pc/pda freak.

several issues:
1) When I go in urban areas, it does show on the Radar many spots, but the machine's own notification of 'Do you want to use xxxx for connecting to internet or work' dialog is interrupting it, and it starts to be a 'concert' of the WiFiFum and the internal network programs making noise.

2) When I did see many spots and tried to connect to some of them in the list screen(Try to tap and hold on the radar screen does shit) , it doesn't do shit. I click on Connect and no other dialog box or anything shows me as connected or something. Very akward program I must say. I also don't see in the list something which says if a spot is private or public (i.e. anonymous internet access allowed). And even not any help file. Seems like no human engineering was made here. I'd rather buy a program and pay nicely if it works rather than getting even a freeware which simply doesn't work.

Any other suggestion for other light programs that can actually work are very welcomed..

thanks again guys.

[Bonzo]

I think the problem might be between the stylus and the screen..

WiFiFoFum works flawlessly..
And please, forget about using the radar..
It will not work properly until you use TWO wifi cards..
When you see the list, tap and hold any AP to bring up a "Connect" option.
Now, you must remember; WFFF discovers EVERYTHING!
WM2003 only lets you connect to AP's that meets certain demands. (Signal strength is one)

I firmly believe that WFFF is the best software out there, just like NetStumbler is for Win32 environments..
I find it easy to use, and provides all the information I need..

How do you propose that the software can find out if you must pay before using it or not?
I guess this could be solved by connecting, pinging google, disconnecting and marking as "Public"/"Private"...
Though this would slow down the whole process so much, It would not be usable for anything else...

The concert can be disabled by the options panel, or just turning off the sound..
Sadly, we can't disable the WM2003 settings..

[xda-rocks]

Street Hawk tries to connect to google so you know if the connection works.