Alongside the poor, abused home lab networking gear I seem to spend more time reinstalling than anything else, I've got a simple mesh network for everyday use. It's using Wi-Fi 6E to provide an untouched wireless network for my family's devices, and it'll stay like that until the hardware fails. Most of the time, it works as intended, except occasionally when the top floor has connectivity issues, and I'm pretty sure a couple of spots need another node to fix.

But I've never been entirely sure, so I didn't want to spend money on the additional node. Things came to a head recently when streaming the preseason NFL games, which didn't go as planned, and I had to move things around to ensure coverage quickly. I decided enough was enough and spent an afternoon researching how to map out my Wi-Fi coverage, and then scanning each floor, and now I have the answers I needed. It was a fairly quick process, all told, and if you're struggling with wireless coverage, it's well worth doing.

I wasn't sure my mesh nodes were in the optimal locations

Wi-Fi was mostly consistent, but there were some issues to be ironed out

I only have two Eero nodes because more would have been too many for the apartment I used to live in. When we moved to a townhouse, one node went where the ISP decided to hook things up, and the other was moved around a few times on the floor above, with the idea it would be fine for that floor and the top floor.

For the most part this worked, and with regular reboots to clear out cruft, my mesh network was good enough. It wasn't as well-optimized as it could be, and the spare bedroom had some coverage issues, but the rooms we used had a solid blanket of wireless connectivity. But I always wanted to know exactly where the deadzones were, and if I needed another node or if I could just rearrange where the existing ones were, and that's what led to wandering around the house with my iPhone for an afternoon.

Time to make a wireless heatmap of my Wi-Fi

The best part is, you don't need any specialized equipment anymore

I can remember the days when you needed specialized networking tools paired with expensive hardware to sniff Wi-Fi networks. Or certain Atheros-based wireless cards and the right combination of Linux tools. So I was pleasantly surprised to find the latest version of NetSpot doesn't need any of that, and can work on your existing Wi-Fi adapter, or your smartphone.

NetSpot has three main sections in the desktop app:

• Inspector mode: Collects information about every nearby Wi-Fi network and graphs the results
• Wi-Fi survey mode: Scans for in-depth network analysis, and created visualizations to help you understand your network
• Wi-Fi planning mode: Models the effect future router and access point additions will make to your existing network

The Android app has Planning mode now, while iOS doesn't have Inspector mode because of Apple's restrictions on network access. Both also let you export your results into the desktop app for further use.

Now, I used the iOS version of NetSpot to begin with, which only allows you to scan the network your iPhone is connected to. To get the ability to make a heatmap of download and upload speeds, it cost me $7, which is fine. I know I'll use this tool repeatedly, and even without that I needed to know what was going on with my network.

The more expansive version of NetSpot is $59 for a Home license, which is enough to cover many home situations. You can get a free seven day trial of the Pro version which gives even more functionality, and I did this too so that I could decide if I wanted to get the more expensive license. For my needs, I probably will (multiple floors, multiple network setups) but that might not be the right call for your home.

I learned a few things about my home Wi-Fi in the process

I'd always known I needed another node but now I have proof

Both versions of the NetSpot app have a similar approach, where you move the device it's installed on to sections of your space and run a quick scan. The mobile app does more basic tests with download and upload speeds, while the desktop OS version scans surrounding Wi-Fi strength and a few other things at the same time.

I got lucky since my home has floorplans online from the builder's website, so a quick download and trim got me maps to line up with the scan results. When uploading the floor plans, all I had to do was pick two points I knew the distance between and set that in the app, and then everything was calibrated. A few dozen scans later and I had a rough picture of the wireless coverage of my mesh network, and that showed me two things.

The first was that I'd done a decent job of situating the existing nodes, and nowhere had a terrible signal. But the second was that the top floor could do with its own node, and that's now on my to-do list. I do have some other wireless equipment installed, but this is the network my family uses, so it's just easier if it all matches what's already there.

The neat thing about NetSpot is that I could have done the same mapping with one router, and moved it to each floor, then merged the results. It's going to be a very useful tool for me, and save hours of frustrating setup.

Heatmapping your Wi-Fi shows you where any issues will be

The mobile app showed me that there was enough of a problem with my wireless network to investigate further. I've picked up the full desktop app now, and will be doing a fine-grained survey scan, which narrows the datapoints to a 3-foot diameter circle each time. That might take more than an afternoon to complete for all three floors, but it'll be invaluable to show me which parts of my home interfere with wireless signal so I can figure out how to better serve those areas.