AirCheck G3 Reviews

I use it mainly for three things. For one, I use it for wired connection. I also use it for a couple of things on the wireless mode, and I use it a fair amount for the wireless locate function. 

I'm using AirCheck G2. I know they just came out with G3, which I don't have. G3 has some new features that sound interesting.

It is a pretty useful tool for some situations. It is a handheld device. It reminds me of something a UPS or a FedEx driver would have. This device is in my bag, and whenever I have to go on-site, I always bring it because I never know if I'm going to run into a wired situation where I want to do a wired test, or I need VLAN or port information. So, I just bring it. I already used it this week for that. It is always there, and it is a really simple test to run. With the live link, I can get historical data on that or at least store it. I use it for that a lot.

It is useful for wireless packet captures. I used it for that this week, and I've solved one of the biggest issues we had with a vendor. I was using it to get the captures and eventually found the solution based on those captures. It is a pretty easy device to do wireless captures. In some of our wireless environments, for example, in our Aruba environment, we can do captures on the APs, but in some of our Cisco environments, they've somewhat taken that functionality away on our 3800 APs. This device is small and convenient. It doesn’t need external antennas, and I can take it to a spot, do wireless captures pretty much anywhere, and then use Wireshark for analysis.

It is helpful for finding an access point. We're doing an upgrade at a hospital. I work with a cabling vendor who says, "You said you have an AP here, but I can't find it." I can search based on a MAC address or an SSID, find that, and use the locate function. It'll give me a dial indicator and a beep indicator of where this device is. I routinely find access points that we can't physically see, for example, above the ceiling.

It is useful when you're having reports of poor wireless. In such a case, one of the things I'll do is I'll just set this on check SSIDs. For example, in our hospitals, we use very specific SSIDs. If I see one that's not ours, and I know that's not supposed to be there, I want to find that device, and I want to know what's going on with that device. Sometimes, it is a vendor device, or someone has put a hotspot on, but sometimes, it isn't supposed to be there. For example, in a hospital, it is very common to have waiting rooms, and there is a cable TV set up in these waiting rooms. Sometimes, the cable company just turns their wireless on by default. I go in there, and then we contact the cable company to turn their wireless off there because it is impacting us.

I bought one out of my own money. So, I found enough value to spend my own money on it. The guys on our team saw it, and they used to say, "Wow, what's that? What are you doing with that? We should have one of those." I convinced my boss to buy one for the team. Tomorrow, we're going to do a big wireless upgrade in the hospital, and I'm bringing my AirCheck G2. Very likely, we'll run into a situation where it would be an easy tool to use for quickly diagnosing or understanding what's going on.

Wireless planning was one of the things for which we used it a lot last summer. That may seem counterintuitive, but our healthcare system is going through a big wireless upgrade, moving from Cisco to Aruba. We're a rural healthcare system. In some cases, we have a clinic in a town of 1,500 people. I had interns take the G2 and go through the northern part of our state and visit our sites. They used AirCheck to verify wall density and signal degradation through walls. With that information, we could more accurately model those locations in the software we use for wireless planning. We were able to use 20% to 25% fewer access points because I had accurate wall information. We saw the benefit right away of sending our interns to test these remote sites. We could see that we don't need as many APs because we actually measured, and we were not guessing about the wall density. We did that at 15 sites and saved thousands and thousands of dollars. I don't use AirMapper at big sites, but small sites are where we could potentially use it. Its functionality is so easy to use. It allows a less experienced person to be more productive personally. Some of the guys who were doing this work were summer interns. They're not network engineers yet. This tool is easy to use.

Speed of resolution is another benefit, and with that comes customer satisfaction. At one of the hospitals, I work with our Biomed team. I took my AirCheck with me because they were moving some monitors around. They were not network savvy. I was able to just quickly plug the Aircheck into our emergency department network jacks and document everything and say, "We're going to reserve that port for this device, and that port for this other device." I could send them an email with all the documentation. They were all set. They could go and implement the solution. To a large degree, our emergency department personnel don't know what happened, but it all works. That's a big thing.

We were having some voice quality issues with some of our iPhones, and it seemed like the Android devices didn't see it. A lot of nurses use little handheld devices that have messengers. So, they have texting on there, and they have voice calls. They also can use it, for example, to scan medication and things like that. They were reporting some voice quality issues. I ended up using my AirCheck to resolve the issue. I was able to show the vendor that on their iPhones, they were not using the correct QoS markings. What was happening was that the QoS was being effectively lost once it left their iPhone. So, we're not giving QoS priority throughout our network. It was a huge issue for us because not only does it impact the nurses, it potentially also impacts patient care.

It makes the speed to resolution faster, and then our staff goes on to the next issue. It enhances our end-users' happiness because they want their problems fixed fast. When I had those guys go out to our small clinics, I didn't have to send a more qualified engineer to be doing this work because obviously, they need to be doing other more intensive network work. So, it frees up the time of our skilled people to do other stuff. It is difficult for me to quantify that from a productivity standpoint, except to say that I saw thousands and thousands of dollars of savings, and I had my engineers doing other things. From what we pay a network engineer to what you pay an intern, might be a $30 per hour delta. I can give this tool to a summer intern making 25 bucks an hour to have him do this work versus having to send a $50 per hour engineer to do the work.

It is hard to measure the reduction in troubleshooting time because I'm never without it. I just bring it, and it is with me all the time. If I go remote, it is packed in my remote box. It is not the only tool I'm using, but certainly, for some issues, it can cut down the troubleshooting time in half or less. For example, one of the tools I use is Ekahau Connect, When I need to use Ekahau, it takes me 10 minutes just to get that set up so I can start using it. After I hit the power button on my AirCheck, it is ready to go in 15 seconds. Depending on the issue, it is just much faster to find a solution.

AirCheck G2 is my number one pull-out tool when I enter new customer sites because it starts quicker than any notebook or device I own. I use it to get an overview of the wireless LAN infrastructure at a customer's location. I take out the tool and get an idea of what's happening before I even enter the site. I can see which SSIDs the customer has, how they are organized, which channels they use, plus a quick overview of what's occurring on the customer's side. 

My other primary use is to get deeper insights when troubleshooting. When a customer has a problem with the wireless LAN, I use the solution to get a preliminary idea of the issue, whether it's related to the wireless network itself or something else, like the DHCP or DNS services. The solution lets me see what's going on and understand where the problem originates.

Wi-Fi is divided into bands: a 2.4 GHz band, a 5 GHz band, and most recently a 6 GHz band. These bands are divided into channels, and for a properly designed Wi-Fi setup, I need to use specific channels to avoid interference. AirCheck G2 gives me an overview of which channels are used by the access points or who delivers the Wi-Fi, which gives me a clear picture of what's going on.

When it comes to deploying access points, AirCheck G2 can check the internet. I can plug in a cable originating from the access point and check if it is receiving an IP address and if the access point is getting enough power. I can quickly check the basic installation on the customer's side to ensure that everything is correctly set up to accommodate an access point in the environment.

There's a feature which helps me create a heat map. The product comes with a cloud service called Link-Live, which allows me to import a building plan. I can walk around a building and tap my location on the display to conduct a frequency scan, and see what signals are received. The result is a heat map, where I can visualize where Wi-Fi signals are and aren't received throughout the entire building. 

We used to work with different tools, but having this solution is an excellent opportunity because it's so compact and ready to go. We don't have to carry a notebook or tablet to run the software. It's a handy device. 

There are two perspectives to consider; mine and the company's, as the solution is a privately owned device. It isn't adopted company-wide nor used by the entire networking team. Therefore, we have workflows based on other tools, specifically Ekahau, which is why I don't use AirCheck G2 as much as I would like. I would prefer AirCheck G2 for these workflows as it is a more lightweight tool, but that would be a company decision. On the first release, some view modes were missing, but NetAlly has greatly improved their product. There may be other solutions that deliver more information through a spectrum view, but for a Wi-Fi-focused tool, there's nothing I'm missing. 

I'm happy with the ability to create heat maps in Link-Live's cloud service. All the necessary information is accessible in the cloud service, so anyone who uses the device is synced to Link-Live. On the other hand, a product designed to be easy to use is made more complex by German data security laws, which means we need to be careful where data is stored. This is not a fault with the product, as I love the ease of use with Link-Live. Receiving permission for data to be stored in US-based servers solves this issue. 

I think the results are accurate and complete. They are in line with the analyses of other tools. So from my point of view, the results are pretty accurate.

I think it has saved time. I cannot speak for the whole company because I only give the solution to my colleagues when they need it, as I own it. It made me more productive, and I always carry it with me. It doesn't require another tool bag or a tablet like the Ekahau Sidekick. I can use AirCheck G2 to check that the cabling team have done a good job without consulting a tablet or my notebook. The process of checking if network outlets have been patched and if I'm receiving an IP address from the correct VLAN takes about three minutes with the solution, compared to 15 without it.

It is hard to say precisely how much time the solution saves during troubleshooting. Using AirCheck G2, I can quickly tell if there is an issue with the Wi-Fi or service near the network, such as the DNS or DHCP. This is the first troubleshooting phase, which takes just a few minutes. However, this doesn't mean the issue is necessarily resolved. I know where I have to look deeper in the network. Therefore, I wouldn't say the solution guarantees to resolve issues faster, but it definitely speeds up the initial stages of troubleshooting. I can get a good idea of an issue and where I need to do further analysis in three to five minutes. 

Our use case for the AirCheck G2 is mostly for our remote sites. We support about a dozen sites where there are multiple floors and multiple areas covered by WiFi. These areas are supported by local analysts who will go onto the floor and use the AirMapper on the device to troubleshoot any wireless that has been brought to their attention. 

This product has improved things over earlier troubleshooting in our organization simply by providing a utility that our tech analysts can use to troubleshoot wireless at their sites, without needing an engineer to intervene for every single instance. Being able to upload maps via the Link-Live portal automatically means we can review them with the tech analysts and go through the steps of remediating the issues that they've been discovering.

This utility has made our staff more productive—extremely. It has eliminated countless hours of travel time to outside facilities, time that we can use for other tasks.

The solution has also greatly reduced the amount of troubleshooting time by giving us a utility that the technicians onsite can readily use to identify wireless issues, instead of having to work with multiple means to get the same results. 

We are using G2, which is the generation two solution. It hasn't changed since we got it. Other than a few software updates, it hasn't really changed.

We use it to collect data for our Wi-Fi systems. We collect the data, and we push it up to Link-Live, and then we pull the data down and review it for any remote problems or troubleshooting assistance. We have a number of these units. We've got close to eight or nine of them that are out in the field. They're basically used by our technician staff to do that data collection for us.

We also have one for engineering so that we can take it on trips to get a better real-time view of the wireless system activity in an area.

When we do the real-time items, we're just using the data as a real-time tool. When we use Link-Live, it is going to the Link-Live Cloud, which can be called NetAlly's private cloud. It is within an account that we have visibility into. So, it is like a hosted private cloud. It is not publicly available.

We have a multiple office situation in our company where we have very geographically dispersed offices. It has allowed us to centralize some of our troubleshooting people because we can collect data remotely and more efficiently.

It allows our remote site personnel to collect data if they have a problem. They can then push it up. It goes up to the Link-Live portal, and we can then have visibility into it. We can look at the data with their portal, or we can download it to our computer, which is what I like to do, and then use AirMagnet to open and review the data. It allows us to do remote troubleshooting. It allows us to do remote Site Survey assistance, and in real-time, it helps us to do interference detection and find out who's running what in a certain area.

When we're collecting the data, we're using the AirMapper Site Survey feature. It is pretty easy to use. It is pretty straightforward. I can talk to a technician who is out in the field. I have a one-page write-up that they just follow. When they do it one or two times, it is pretty easy. It is fairly intuitive.

AirMapper Site Survey gathers the data I need. It does everything I need it for. I'd rate it a ten out of ten in terms of the ability to gather Wi-Fi site survey data.

We use phone apps a lot. We have a few different ones that we use, but phone apps only give you limited information, and because they are apps, our security posture is different on them. They give us some basic information, but they do not give as much detail as compared to what we get out of AirCheck.

I work in the wireless team in the HQ, we don't visit the sites. We mainly provide remote support, design and validation. We bought the G2 to understand how the new functionality work (we already had the previous generation Aircheck) and to train our implementation and support teams to troubleshoot with it whenever there is an issue.

Right after buying  the tester, we created a guide for our internal use, and then I distributed the guide to our support engineers. Now, they have their own G2 testers and, whenever in the field, they follow my guide and  troubleshoot the issue while I can see the test report in Link-Live cloud portal and evaluate the results remotely. We currently have four devices. Each device is assigned to a support team, and each support team has five or six people.

Generally, the most common issue we encounter is an access point going down, meaning no coverage. Some of our sites have also specialised IoT devices that are very sensitive to interference on 5GHz channels so, being able to see the interferers on the G2 is a massive help.

With a laptop, you need to install different software packages and not all such software gives you the same information as the G2; you need more than one software solution to match the same capabilities. With the Aircheck, you go and you have everything in one device.

For example you need a packet capture software (and dedicated hardware if you don't have a Macbook) and something for signal strength. With the G2, you have a lot of tools in one package. Not to mention that you can connect the G2 to a wired port and conduct a basic cable test. We were using at least two or three other tools to identify issues before we had the G2. While having one tool instead of many hasn't really affected our cost of troubleshooting, because many other tools are free, the time and the complexity have been greatly reduced for sure.

You don't need to be an expert to use the tool. A person who is not an expert in WiFi might not know the meaning of signal strength and what is a good value or a bad value. With AutoTest you have a very simplified view. This is fantastic because, while the support guys might not be able to resolve the issue, they can at least point more senior people in the right direction. And that saves a lot of time.

It's very good that everything is saved in the cloud. You have historical data and you can and say, "Okay, well on that day we had this issue and today it's this other issue." You can identify a trend.

And it has reduced troubleshooting time by 50 percent.  I can definitely see an advantage with it.

I use it sometimes when I want to quickly see the MAC address of a wireless client. With the AirCheck, it is really a 30-second job. If I had to do it with a laptop, it would take at least five minutes. You can pinpoint a particular client and see which access point it is connected to. You can do a packet capture. You can do a lot of stuff. Everything is linked and that's very good. If I had to do it the old-fashioned way, I would need software to find the MAC address, then log in into the controller, see which access point it is connected to, then do a packet capture with different software. It would be a much longer process. The AirCheck has definitely made me more productive.

We use it for multiple purposes, but it's primarily to test link speed, whether on a workstation or a switch. We also do a point-to-point from building to building and from point A to point B, which is a data center to data center check. It's fiber- and copper-based, so we can do multiple things with it. It's a good tool that gives us a lot of information.

It brings a lot to our organization. It helps us check for bit error rate loss, if someone has complained about a low wireless signal. We can prove to them that there's nothing wrong with it and usually it's an issue on their side. We can check the data port connections and that everything has been done correctly and we can make sure the layout is correct. There's just so much this device does that it's unbelievable sometimes. You don't realize what it can do until you start to play with it.

When it comes to resolving WiFi connectivity and performance problems, the information it gives us is excellent: complete and accurate. It provides the results we need and the ones we go by.

And the AirCheck helps quite a bit for our monitoring purposes. Our team is the smallest one in our organization, but we're also the busiest, and it saves us time. Our network is pretty resilient and pretty diverse and we don't have too many issues, but it helps out quite a bit. It saves us 10 to 15 hours a week. It has also reduced troubleshooting time, knocking it down by 15 to 20 minutes per job.

Mostly, this is a WiFi analyzer. I get a report from an end user saying, "Hey, I'm in my office, and the WiFi isn't working." What's complicated about that is it could be the person's laptop or their phone. It could also be the wireless infrastructure or they tried to get to some website that just happens to be down and are confusing the fact that www.company.com is down with local WiFi behavior. 

What this tool allows me to do is walk up to their office, sit next to them, and turn on the tool, then I've programmed it to do some basic checks. If it succeeds, all lights are green, then I know that it's an issue with their laptop or phone. On the other hand, if my tool has trouble connecting to the WiFi infrastructure, I know immediately that I have problems with the wireless access points or whatever constitutes the infrastructure. Therefore, the tool helps me rapidly narrow the fault domain: Is it the client's device, the infrastructure, or the remote server?

A common problem in rented buildings is that folks with a little WiFI knowledge, either the manufacturers of the (low-end) WiFi AP or the local IT staff, will change the default channels of their APs to something off the base frequencies. This is a problem for everybody:  once you understand how WiFi works, you don't do this. However, it is a common error. AutoTest picks up this error immediately and helps inform me how I might go around troubleshooting. I might, at that point, go and visit the folks who are running these APs, and say, "Here's a better way to do it where we'll all benefit if you make these changes."

It allows us to support WiFi with our existing staff. The solution has reduced our troubleshooting time by a factor of 10. Without AirCheck, I simply couldn't tackle the problem of, "Hey, I'm in my office. I can't connect."  Sure, I could of course visit with my laptop and phone, and if they also struggle to connect, then I can suspect the infrastructure  ... although I won't be sure, because of course perhaps my laptop & phone are running buggy WiFi drivers or similar.  But what then?  Is the DHCP infrastructure failing?  The authentication infrastructure?  Are there problems with signal strength / noise ratio?  Remember that phones will give you 'bars' for signal strength (which measures how loudly your device hears the WiFi signal), but they don't measure noise (which measures how much background chatter may be drowning out your ability to hear the signal ... recall the metaphor of talking to someone across the table from you in a noisy cafeteria):  you need to know the signal / noise ratio to assess the quality of radio signal.  The AirCheck automates checking all this into its single AutoTest function, and then gives you an easy-to-parse display for checking all the various components of the infrastructure which makes WiFi work.  Frankly, prior to AirCheck, we would mostly ignore WiFi tickets, because they were so time-consuming to tackle.  For VIPs, we would thrash around on their tickets, generally producing unconvincing and unsatisfactory results, degrading our department's reputation and of course wasting lots of time (change the VIPs phone, make random adjustments to the local Wireless Access Point's settings, urge them to 'try again' ...)

We use AirCheck G2 in a hospital environment. We use across 30 hospitals and use it to troubleshoot our wireless network. It helps me troubleshoot as well as identifying coverage and interference issues that we encounter throughout our organization. Also, it could be related to SNR readings not being great. Whenever those issues arise, we take care of those issues. 

We can identify issues faster so we can resolve the immediate issue on hand if it is related to coverage or interference. One of the things that is great to know is if there is an offending access point or a rogue access point, then we can identify that and see where it is located within the facility.

I consistently rely on the information that the unit provides. I feel it is accurate.