4 edits | [Solved]Detecting SSID of very distant wifi hotspots. I am using my old AR335W router as a wifi monitor scanner to pipe raw traffic into wireshark that is running on my Ubuntu pc. I noticed something very interesting in the Wlan statistics, it shows BSSID of the routers that are literately kilometers away from my router.
[Edit]
Explanation:
Quoting myself
quote:
What happens here is: wifi client(laptop, cellphone, etc,etc) is basically looking for the access point by "shouting" its name into the air. When you connect to some access point, its usually stored somewhere in the memory of your device and when you leave hotspot area, your device still looking for that(actually it looks for all hotspots that you have previously connected to) AP.
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| Re: How is this possible? This 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz?
Ever do basic wave theory in high school physics? Look up reflection / refraction / diffraction.
Regards |
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| said by HELLFIRE:This 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz?
Ever do basic wave theory in high school physics? Look up reflection / refraction / diffraction.
Regards
I know about those... The question was about how such a low powered transceiver is able to pick up packets from something so far away. Also my antenna is focused into the wide open space with a tall building about 1.5 km away. It's 2.4Ghz 17 dBm 50 mW powered. |
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 tipstir
join:2004-11-14
Boca Raton, FL
kudos:1 | reply to dmitry_tek
Anything is possible with older equipment, are you near water.. |
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| said by tipstir:Anything is possible with older equipment, are you near water..
If you look at the map I attached, you'll see that the nearest water is about 1 km away from where I live. And its surrounded by trees. |
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1 recommendation | said by dmitry_tek:said by tipstir:Anything is possible with older equipment, are you near water..
If you look at the map I attached, you'll see that the nearest water is about 1 km away from where I live. And its surrounded by trees. I figured it out! Those hostspots names I saw were coming from the wifi clients, and not the routers. I tried to connect to non-existing hotspost on my cellphone by manually entering name and BAM that exact name showed up in my scanner. |
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 CylonRedPremium,MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
1 recommendation | reply to dmitry_tek
If you keep your question in the post then in the future, if anyone has the same type of question, they could find this thread and possibly get an answer.
--
Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain |
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LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON
kudos:1 | reply to dmitry_tek
Google ad hoc wifi chain letter. |
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1 edit | said by CylonRed:If you keep your question in the post then in the future, if anyone has the same type of question, they could find this thread and possibly get an answer. I restored some of it from google cache.
said by LLigetfa:Google ad hoc wifi chain letter.
Nah, its not it. What happens here is: wifi client(laptop, cellphone, etc,etc) is basically looking for the access point by "shouting" its name into the air. When you connect to some access point, its usually stored somewhere in the memory of your device and when you leave hotspot area, your device still looking for that(actually it looks for all hotspots that you have previously connected to) AP. |
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