We’ve featured wireless detectors, a.k.a Wi-Fi Finders, before, but those have been standalone devices. Linksys goes one better and makes one that’s also a 802.11g adapter. Convergence at its best. The WUSBF54G has a compact 2-line LCD screen that displays the wireless network’s name (SSID), signal strength, the channel used, and whether wireless security is enabled or not. There are a couple of buttons on the side that allow you to scan the for 802.11b and 802.11g networks and another that lets you scroll through the display’s info. Once you run a scan, the networks it finds are listed by order of signal strength. Final thought (to Linksys): since the device is about the size of a typical USB thumbdrive, why not add some flash memory to it? Give folks one less thing to carry around and one more reason to buy it!
Features in a nutshell:
- Scan for available wireless connectivity before turning on your computer
- High-speed Wireless-G networking for your desktop or notebook computer
- Built-in Wi-Fi Finder detects Wireless-G and Wireless-B signals
- Easy to read display shows network name, channel, signal strength, and security on/off
- Wireless communications are protected by up to 128-bit WEP or WPA encryption
Price: $79.99
(Please note prices are subject to change and the listed price is correct to the best of our knowledge at the time of posting)