Hello, I would like to monitor the URL traffic on my home wifi. I downloaded Wireshark and installed it on my Windows computer. I have successfully been able to capture all traffic from that computer to the network and can see the individual URLs visited. Now I would like to take it a step further and get the network traffic from 2 other Cell phones that hit the wifi network and use the internet on the phone. I have a verizon router and fios wifi. When I log into my router, I can see that it is set to something called compatibility mode which says it supports 802.11b/g/n. It looks like I need Airpcap to capture this information. On the website, it looks like this can either be around $300 for a version of 802.11b/g or around $700 for a version of 802.11a/b/g/n. My question is which of these would I need? I assume I can get away with the $300 version since my router supports b/g, but is that actually the case? At the end of the day, my ultimate goal is to be able to see all website visited by a cell phone internet that connects to my home wifi. Are there other cheaper options out there than the $300 Airpcap to accomplish this? asked 05 Aug '16, 05:30  questions123 |
2 Answers:
Hopefully you have looked at the Wiki page on Wireless capture? That will inform you that WiFi capturing on Windows (without AirPcap) is difficult due to WinPcap limitations. You might try the replacement for WinPcap, npcap as discussed on the page, or boot to a version of Linux that has better support for monitor mode. answered 05 Aug '16, 06:06  grahamb ♦ edited 05 Aug '16, 06:06 |
Buying another wireless access point and eventually a second Ethernet card to your PC (e.g. an USB one) might be cheaper than AirPcap. You would then switch off the WiFi on the Verizon router and configure the new AP with the same channel, SSID, encryption mode and passphrase, and connect it to the Verizon modem using your PC as an intermediate switch or router. This way, all traffic from the AP to the modem (and internet) would run through your PC, so you could capture it on the wire rather than in the air. To date, npcap cannot capture packets bridged between two Ethernet ports, so you either have to use WinPcap or a routing mode (called "internet connection sharing" on Windows). You may also use your PC as an access point directly if its wireless card can support an AP mode and if you find a software capable of making use of that mode. I haven't done that practically since Windows XP, though. The AirPcap has to support all modes supported by the AP to be able to capture everything. So for a b/g only AirPcap, you would have to permit only b/g mode on your AP. answered 05 Aug '16, 13:16  sindy |
