Channel Checklist: Top five tools for troubleshooting a WLAN

Service provider takeaway: Troubleshooting a customer's WLAN requires a well-stocked WLAN tool box. Service providers can use these wireless LAN troubleshooting tools to fix cranky connections.

When a wireless connection is slow or intermittent, customers are quick to blame what they can't see and don't understand: the airwaves. Troubleshooting a WLAN connection requires a bit of wireless savvy, mixed with good old-fashioned network know-how. In this Channel Checklist, we discuss how service providers can diagnose and fix a cranky Wi-Fi connection using free open source and commercial tools to get the job done.

Conclusion
In the end, many "wireless" connection problems turn out to be client problems (e.g., misconfigured wireless LAN connection managers) or good old-fashioned network connectivity problems

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. A reasonable set of WLAN troubleshooting tools in your arsenal can help you quickly confirm or deny wireless as the culprit.

In this Channel Checklist, I identified a few examples of WLAN tools in each category. For a more complete list, visit my WLAN Tools page. If you don't see your own personal favorite WLAN troubleshooting tool listed, please let me know. Happy hunting!

About the author
Lisa Phifer is vice president of Core Competence Inc., a consulting firm specializing in network security and management technology. Phifer has been involved in the design, implementation, and evaluation of data communications, internetworking, security and network management products for nearly 20 years. She teaches about wireless LANs and virtual private networking at industry conferences and has written extensively about network infrastructure and security technologies for numerous publications.