Don’t Run inSSIDer in the Background

Headline: inSSIDer will consume your network interface and interfere with the network performance of your other applications. (But it is a great app.)

So I was upgrading my internet service from Comcast with about 26 MB down and 8 MB up to WifiHood where I was getting 50 MB down and 20 MB up on the wire.

So I was trying to improve my wireless access and get on a less crowded 5 GHz band rather than the 2.4 GHz I’d been using. I then started to listen to Pandora. It keep cutting in and out. Then it would skip songs because too much time had passed. So I ran a speed test to see what was going on. Here’s what I saw:

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Notice all the valleys with no activity!

I got in touch with the WifiHood (very friendly people) and asked what was going on. They checked. Things seemed ok. Later Friday night Pandora seemed to work fine. But the next morning. The issues were there again.

Not sure how I figured it out, but if I stopped running inSSIDer all was fine. And a test after closing that looked like this (over wireless some distance away):

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This time there are no valleys, just great consistent speed.

So it was inSSIDer that was taking over my network to search for these devices. Great tool for looking for the right place for your network. Here’s copy of how crowded my airways are. I used this tool to get on the 5 GHz band and then have it in a different area. The wireless I use is KZ8-5G. Here is the crowded 2.4 GHz band with over 50 SSIDs!

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And the 5 GHz band Smile With me all by myself on the left with great signal strength!

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So at the moment, I’m happy with the WifiHood performance and their price (and no hassles about bundling with TV or phone… they just do internet! Yea!)


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