Re: Multiple WLAN Routers with same SSID

[Petric Frank <pfrank gmx de>]

Hello Dan,

Am Donnerstag, 20. September 2012, 19:19:52 schrieb Dan Williams:
> On Thu, 2012-09-20 at 18:13 +0200, Petric Frank wrote:
> > at my location i sometimes notice that different WLAN-routers broadcasts
> > the same SSID, but different frequencies and MAC-addresses. They also
> > require different (WPA1/2-) keys to access. But i have only the access
> > key of one of this access points.
> 
> So this is somewhat bad network planning, because it means you cannot
> roam between access points.  That's somewhat worked around by the
> locking to WPA1 vs. WPA2.  NM actually *does* have the functionality to
> lock a connection to WPA1 or WPA2, but it's not exposed in the UI
> because it's incredibly stupid planning on the part of network
> engineers, and in 6 years this is only the second case we've heard of
> that would require that.

These networks are not owned/managed by me. So i don't have the possibility to 
get then changed.
You seem have the impression that i am in the task of network planning. This 
is not true - i am a simple end user on this subject.

> However, we'll probably end up adding an option to expose the
> WPA1/WPA2/Automatic option in the UI by setting a gsettings key to
> expose it.  These dialogs already have enough toggles :(
> 
> > The autoconnect feature of nm-applet (and hence network manager) seems to
> > select the host to connect only by the SSID - which often fails.
> 
> Correct, because with WiFi the SSID *is* the network; wifi networks with
> the same SSID are expected to be backed by the same core network, and
> you're expected to be able to roam between these APs.

In fact (here in Germany) german telecom delivered WLAN-routers which all have 
preset the same (E)SSID. Shall i go to every household (even if i can locate 
them) in my environment to tell them to change their SSID ?

And again at every location i travel to if the same SSID appears again ?

Therefor i asked to use an other key additionaly

> > Could i suggest to implement and use (/store) the MAC address of the WLAN
> > access point as additional selection key (maybe optionally) ?
> 
> This is already implemented as the "BSSID" option in the connection
> editor; setting this to the BSSID of the access point you'd like to
> connect to will limit that connection to only that AP. 

I saw the field in nm-applet's config system. What should be put into this field 
- the MAC address of the access point in question ?
If it is an SSID it does not help me, because of duplicate SSIDs (as written 
above).
At one time i was at a location where i saw 4 access points in range 
announcing the same SSID. These access points were *no* roaming ones, they 
seemed completely different dedicated ones.

The MAC address of the access point's wlan interface (if not changed by the 
owner) is the unique key of it - as far as i know.
The can be see by issuing for example
  iwlist <wlan if> list

in the line
  Cell xx: Address <MAC>

> This however
> does break roaming quite spectacularly, because it disables roaming
> completely.  If you don't need roaming at all, try this.

I do not need roaming for them.

regards
  Petric