how to: see if a wireless network is password-protected?

[mark2288]

hey all,
i'm trying to join a wireless network but am unable to - i believe the network is password protected, although my cousin swears against it.

i know on windows xp you can see if a network is secure or not via the "View Available Wireless networks" option. is there any way to do that on a mac?

thanks in advance.

 

[coogee]

coconut wifi tells you

http://www.coconut-flavour.com/coconutwifi/index.html

OS X probably does too but I'm pushing coconuts here.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

If it's password protected then it will ask you for a password. If you are getting the "Error occurred while trying to connect" then something else is just not working.

There's another way to scan wireless networks in Terminal, but its a bit more complicated.

 

[iBookG4user]

You could download istumbler and use that. But Tiger does not have that ability for the wifi menubar utility, although Leopard does, but that doesn't help you right now.

 

[mark2288]

the networks aren't password protected. the 2 networks i see show up and then disappear again and then show up again.

may i be just in that range that i can see them but cannot join them or could there be other issues??

i was able to join one network sucessfully for 30 minutes yesterday - but am unable to today so i'm ruling out mac addressing as a possible issue.

 

[iBookG4user]

the networks aren't password protected. the 2 networks i see show up and then disappear again and then show up again.

may i be just in that range that i can see them but cannot join them or could there be other issues??

i was able to join one network sucessfully for 30 minutes yesterday - but am unable to today so i'm ruling out mac addressing as a possible issue.

I'd say that you are probably right at the edge of the wifi network where you still getna signal but you can only connect inconsistently.

 

[nbusse]

airport should show bars, indicating how strong the wifi signal is.
even still, i know i've had cases where it looks strong but then kicks you off anyways.... nothing to be done about that!

 

[GimmeSlack12]

http://osxdaily.com/2007/01/18/airport-the-little-known-command-line-wireless-utility/

Here, this is a built-in function that allows you to see what wireless networks are around you. Its very useful and easy to use.