Surveying any Wi-Fi network

Any Wi-Fi is ARRF’s vendor-neutral survey: you join a Wi-Fi network, walk, and the iPhone itself measures the experience at each spot — no access-point login, no vendor pack, any brand of gear. It is the source to pick whenever you don’t administer the APs, or just want to know whether calls and video will work. If your Wi-Fi isn’t RUCKUS — another brand, a home router, or a network someone else runs — this is how you survey it: choose Any Wi-Fi on the Survey tab and walk. Nothing about it needs RUCKUS hardware.

What does the phone measure?

As you walk, the phone times its router, the internet edge and short speed bursts, and paints each spot as a cube:

Measured	Against
Wi-Fi latency, jitter and packet loss	Your router (the Wi-Fi hop), found automatically or set under Settings → Experience → Manual gateway.
Internet latency	The test server’s nearest edge.
Download and upload speed	Short speed bursts against the test server, or a local iperf3 server you set under Settings → Experience.
Call quality (MOS)	A simulated voice call (a steady stream of small call-sized packets) timed to your router, and to the test server while internet tests are on.

Internet latency and the speed bursts use NeuralConfig’s test server by default; see Internet tests and privacy. For what each metric means, see Experience metrics.

Signal strength is an add-on

iOS doesn’t let apps read this iPhone’s Wi-Fi signal (RSSI). The Any Wi-Fi card offers Add signal strength: an Apple Shortcut, set up once, reads the phone’s own signal, noise and channel. In Stop & sample mode a Read signal at each capture toggle then attaches it to every cube.

What do I need?

• A Wi-Fi connection. Start stays disabled with “Join a Wi-Fi network to measure it” until the phone is on Wi-Fi. Experience tests are Wi-Fi only.
• Experience tests (beta) turned on under Settings → Experience. It is on by default; turning it off hides the Any Wi-Fi source.
• The free trial or the unlock.

No access-point login, IP list, SSID or device MAC is needed.

How do I start an Any Wi-Fi survey?

1. Open the Survey tab, tap the Where card, and choose Any Wi-Fi — “No AP access needed — the phone measures latency, loss and speed”.

2. Check the Measure the experience card. It reads “Works on any Wi-Fi, any vendor. As you walk, the phone times its router (Wi-Fi latency, jitter, loss), the internet edge, and short speed bursts, and paints each spot as a cube.” Below that it shows On Wi-Fi (or Not on Wi-Fi) and the router address it found.

3. Pick a capture mode in the card’s Capture picker:

   • Continuous — “Walk and a cube drops every couple of seconds, with speed bursts as you go.”
   • Stop & sample — “Stand still, tap Capture — the phone measures for a moment, runs a speed burst, then drops a cube.”

4. Tap Start Survey. The first time, ARRF shows the one-time Internet tests sheet, then a “Test this phone’s Wi-Fi” primer explaining two permissions (below). Tap Continue.

5. Walk, then tap Stop Survey to see the experience grade.

Which permissions does it ask for?

The primer explains, and iOS then asks for:

Permission	Why	If you decline
Local Network	To time round trips to your router (the Wi-Fi hop).	The internet edge and speed tests still run.
Location (While Using)	iOS only reveals the Wi-Fi network name and access-point address (BSSID) to apps with location access. ARRF uses it to note which access point served each measurement; your location itself is never recorded.	Cubes won’t record which AP served them or show roams.

The lobby repeats either problem as a warning that doesn’t block Start: “No router found to time the Wi-Fi hop — the internet edge and speed tests still run. You can set a gateway in Settings ▸ Experience.” and “Location is off for ARRF, so iOS hides the access point (BSSID) — cubes won’t record which AP served them or show roams.”

What does the pre-flight check?

Every Any Wi-Fi start runs a quick pre-flight: it pings your router and says hello to the test server (and to a local iperf3 server, if you set one). If everything answers — or only the router is missing — the survey starts straight away. Otherwise a sheet explains:

• “Part of the test is unavailable” — “You can start anyway — the survey measures what it can reach.” Tap Start anyway or Cancel.
• “Nothing to measure” — “Neither your router nor the test server answered. Check this iPhone’s Wi-Fi connection.” Only OK is offered; this is the one case that blocks the survey.

Measuring experience on a RUCKUS survey too

With Experience tests on, a RUCKUS venue or RUCKUS APs by IP survey also shows a Measure experience toggle (on by default): “Also time the router, internet edge and speed bursts from this phone, alongside the AP readings.”

Next steps

Experience metrics What latency, jitter, loss, speed and call quality mean on each cube.

The experience grade How the walk becomes a verdict for calls, video and browsing.

Internet tests and privacy What the test server sees, and how to self-host or switch it off.

Network Test Check this phone's Wi-Fi in one spot without walking a survey.