2

Here is some background:

When I'm on the move, I often have to use my mobile phone as a hotspot. Usually I will realise that after having woken up my MacBook, otherwise how would I see that no WiFi networks are available.

However, OSX does not seem to rescan too often, I don't know the interval, but I usually end up turning off WiFi and turn it on again.

A much better solution for me would be a button / service / ... that I can nudge and that will then Search for available WiFi networks NOW

Any solutions?

WiFi log of a scan:
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.475 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY SCAN CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.481 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.482 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY GAS CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.484 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.523 Info: <airportd[33]> START BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received from pid 413 (com.apple.wifi.proxy)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.524 Info: <WiFiAgent[565]> START BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.632 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY SCAN CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.638 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.640 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY GAS CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:05.642 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.660 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY SCAN CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.666 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.668 Info: <airportd[33]> QUERY GAS CACHE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.669 Info: <airportd[33]> GET CURRENT TETHER DEVICE request received from pid 407 (SystemUIServer)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.681 Info: <airportd[33]> START BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received from pid 413 (com.apple.wifi.proxy)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:08.681 Info: <WiFiAgent[565]> START BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received
Fri Dec  5 00:52:09.194 Info: <airportd[33]> STOP BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received from pid 413 (com.apple.wifi.proxy)
Fri Dec  5 00:52:09.195 Info: <WiFiAgent[565]> STOP BROWSING TETHER DEVICES request received
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5
  • by default, clicking the wifi icon in the top menu should trigger a scan. Is that not the case for you?
    – tron_jones
    Dec 4, 2014 at 13:14
  • Usually toggling wifi off then on will do it
    – dstarh
    Dec 4, 2014 at 13:52
  • Does not seem to be the same type of scan as it will not find the new network
    – dualed
    Dec 4, 2014 at 13:52
  • 1
    Hold down option and click on the wifi icon in the menu, and enable logging. Does it give any errors doing the scan after moving somewhere?
    – tron_jones
    Dec 4, 2014 at 14:52
  • @tron_jones nice hint, I didn't know about that feature at all. However It does not show any errors, just some diagnostic messages. It did also write some Bluetooth messages in the WiFi log, but disabling Bluetooth does not seem to improve things either.
    – dualed
    Dec 4, 2014 at 23:53

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2

Clicking the AirPort Wi-Fi icon on the menu bar will do a rescan of available networks.

                                     

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1
  • Like I wrote above in the comments, this does not seem to do the same thing. It fails to find the network. When I turn off WiFi then turn it on again however, it would instantly find the phone's network and join it without a problem.
    – dualed
    Dec 4, 2014 at 23:37
1

From the WiFi menu bar icon, I usually choose 'Join Other Network', then click 'Show Networks'. I can toggle between the 'Show Networks' and 'Join Other' button to scan the available networks, and that's always worked for me.

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1
  • That actually takes longer than turning it off- and on again.
    – dualed
    Dec 4, 2014 at 23:27
0

This related question gave me the starting point for putting together the following shell script:

networksetup -setairportpower en0 off
networksetup -setairportpower en0 on

I created a Service in Automator that requires no input and executes a bash script containing the code above.

Finally, I assigned a keyboard shortcut to the service. (⌘+⌥+F12 if you're interested)

Not a perfect solution, but it does what I need.

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