It is very easy to get information about wireless networks with the command line.
This example uses iwlist to view the information we need.
jason@jason-Lenovo-H50-55:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | grep ESSID ESSID:"OPTUS58FFG69" ESSID:"TelstraD22F23" ESSID:"OPTUS58FFG69" ESSID:"TelstraD22F23" ESSID:"OPTUS_B8E926" |
This is very good for listing WIFI networks without using Network Manager.
Get information about your wireless adapter with this command.
jason@jason-Lenovo-H50-55:~$ iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:off/any Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm Retry short limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off Power Management:off eth0 no wireless extensions. |
This Lenovo hardware allows me to list all networks, even 5 GHZ.
jason@jason-Lenovo-H50-55:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan | grep Freq Frequency:5.18 GHz (Channel 36) Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11) Frequency:2.422 GHz (Channel 3) Frequency:5.68 GHz (Channel 136) |
This simple one-liner also allows the user to get more information from the WIFI networks around them.
jason@jason-Lenovo-H50-55:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scanning | egrep 'Cell |Encryption|Quality|Last beacon|ESSID' Cell 01 - Address: C8:14:51:5F:A9:54 Quality=70/70 Signal level=-19 dBm Encryption key:on ESSID:"OPTUS58FFG69" Extra: Last beacon: 0ms ago Cell 02 - Address: 10:13:31:D2:2F:23 Quality=42/70 Signal level=-68 dBm Encryption key:on ESSID:"TelstraD22F23" Extra: Last beacon: 0ms ago Cell 03 - Address: C8:14:51:5F:A9:50 Quality=70/70 Signal level=-11 dBm Encryption key:on ESSID:"OPTUS58FFG69" Extra: Last beacon: 0ms ago Cell 04 - Address: 12:13:31:D2:2F:2B Quality=51/70 Signal level=-59 dBm Encryption key:on ESSID:"TelstraD22F23" Extra: Last beacon: 432ms ago Cell 05 - Address: F4:6B:EF:B8:E9:27 Quality=40/70 Signal level=-70 dBm Encryption key:on ESSID:"OPTUS_B8E926" Extra: Last beacon: 2792ms ago |
This is another very good way to list WIFI networks with the command line. This also shows how many bars of signal strength each network has.
jason@jason-Lenovo-H50-55:~$ nmcli dev wifi * SSID MODE CHAN RATE SIGNAL BARS SECURITY OPTUS58FFG69 Infra 3 54 Mbit/s 100 ▂▄▆█ WPA1 WPA2 OPTUS58FFG69 Infra 36 54 Mbit/s 100 ▂▄▆█ WPA1 WPA2 TelstraD22F23 Infra 136 54 Mbit/s 69 ▂▄▆_ WPA2 OPTUS_B8E926 Infra 1 54 Mbit/s 54 ▂▄__ WPA1 WPA2 TelstraD22F23 Infra 11 54 Mbit/s 54 ▂▄__ WPA2 Optus X Smart 2829 Infra 1 54 Mbit/s 47 ▂▄__ WPA2 |
These commands will help when using a Linux laptop and it is desired to know what wireless networks are available around you.