Introduction

This guide provides step by step instructions for installing the SurfScan application on your OpenWRT based router. Once complete, your device will be ready to analyze mobile networks. The full onboarding process ony takes a few minutes with SurfScan app handling automated install of the latest SurfScan package on your router.

SurfScan: Setup and First Scan

Bring your own GL.iNet router, add the SurfScan app, and get ground truth on every operator in range. Start to first result runs about five minutes; the app installs the SurfScan package on the router for you.

What you need

• A supported GL.iNet 5G router: Spitz AX (GL-X3000), Puli AX (GL-XE3000) or Mudi 7 (GL-E5800), with its initial setup done (SIM in, or Ethernet WAN connected, admin password set)

• An Android phone with the SurfScan app installed

• A SurfScore.live account (invite code or waitlist)

An active SIM is optional for scanning: the router's modem listens to the networks around it either way. It is needed if the router is your only internet path for sync.

1. Connect

Power up the router and join its Wi-Fi from the phone. Open SurfScan and sign in with your SurfScore.live email; the one-time code arrives by email.

From Analyze, choose SurfScan OpenWRT and enter the router's admin password.

2. Claim

The app checks the router, installs or updates the SurfScan package, and asks for a name.

Use something you will recognise in a list later (a venue, a truck, a kit number). Tap Claim Device.

That router now belongs to your account. Any teammate signed into the same organization sees its scans on SurfScore.live.

3. Scan

On the Scan page pick a duration (5 minutes is our default on site) and add a note for the location. Tap Start Scan and allow the GPS prompt so the scan is pinned to where you stand.

Operators and bands appear as the modem finds them; the first entries land inside about 70 seconds and the list keeps filling until the timer ends. Scanning is cumulative: a longer scan catches more of what the sector is doing.

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The instant report in SurfScan app provides quick insights into the current environment. For full analytics, access reports on SurfScore.live

4. Read the result

Sessions lists every scan on this router; open one for the raw band list. Sessions upload to SurfScore.live every 15 minutes, or now from Sync.

On surfscore.live, sign in with the same email. Your scan is a marker on the map. Open it for a SurfScore per operator, the spectrum and strongest-tower breakdown, and the reports (Expert, Operator Compare, Bonded Uplink). PDF export from the report page.

That is the whole loop: scan on site, read it anywhere, hand the report to whoever needs it.

When something is off

• Router not found: confirm the phone is on the router's Wi-Fi, not mobile data. Some phones drop a Wi-Fi network with no internet; pin it in the phone's Wi-Fi settings.

• Install stalls: the router needs internet during claim to fetch the package (SIM or Ethernet WAN). Retry once it is online.

• Scan runs, nothing on SurfScore.live: open Sync and push manually; check the router still has a WAN path.

• Wrong location on the map: the GPS fix comes from the phone at scan start. Move outdoors or wait for a fix before tapping Start.

Anything else: support@waveriders.live. A person reads these.

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Next: SurfScore.live reports · Upgrading SurfScan on the router · Sensor Mode

Please contact Support with any questions or issues.