View Available Wireless Networks

Have been liking Windows 8, but I have found something I find really annoying. My Internet went down due to a storm. I turned on my Verizon Jetpack and clicked the Network icon on the system tray. The Jetpack did not show up. I finally had to reboot for it to show the connection. I finally discovered that I could turn on. "Look for other wireless networks while connected to this network."

What the heck would I do if I went to Starbucks and wanted to connect? There is no, "Scan for wireless networks" dialog anywhere that I can find.

Maybe different for some, but if I click the Wireless network icon on the toolbar, it shows what is available. In my case, it even shows a very weak signal from my neighbour.

Well, if I don't turn on "searching for wireless networks while connected to this network" my Jetpack never does show up and there is no way to force a scan for wireless networks. Apparently MS thinks it should do this automatically. The problem is, computers aren't always good at doing things automatically, that's why we have humans.

I guess I will have to find a 3rd party application that allows the user to poll for available networks.

I don't understand this. As "davehc" says, clicking on the network icon in the Notification Area, or from Settings in the Charms bar, displays all the Available Wireless Networks. There shouldn't be any need for a third-party application to achieve this.

Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When Windows does not automatically find a wireless network around me, I would like the ability to manually scan for networks in range.

The other night the Internet went down for most of Northern California. I turned on my Jetpack so I would still have an Internet connection. I waited and waited and waited; it never did find my Jetpack wireless connection, I had to reboot my computer before it would pick it up.

This would not have happened if I could manually scan for a network.