Re: home screen icon to connect to wi-fi network

On 9/18/2024 9:07 PM, VanguardLH wrote:

Actually the wait is "forever and ever" because I have the wi-fi
auto-connect turned off for privacy reasons - as leaving auto-connect
turned on shouts out your home BSSID every few seconds everywhere you go.

 
You sure disabling auto-reconnect must be a global setting?

I never said it was a global setting. It's set per access point.

 I thought
you could go into the properties of a connectoid to decide if you want
that one to auto-reconnect, like the wifi hotspot in your home.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEkwtEzYeAQ&t=12s

Absolutely. Each wi-fi access point has its own setting for autoconnect.
But if you turn one off, you'll be turning them all off.

It makes no sense to turn one off and leave the other turned on.
That's like locking one door of your car but leaving the other unlocked.

Without the password, what good is the broadcasted BSSID?

There are a hundred ways to answer that but the simplest is that the BSSID
is like your Social Security Number. It's you. Only you. Nobody else. You.

Anyone can
drive by my house, but they're not getting in with the key.

Again, there are a hundred ways to respond to that but the simplest way is
for me to switch BSSID with your Social Security Number to make the point.

When you're home, your router screams out your unique social security
number and with that information, when you're home, you CONNECT to the AP.

The problem doesn't happen when you're home.
The problem happens ONLY when you're AWAY from home.

When you're away from home, your PHONE screams out your unique social
security number everywhere you go (it wants to connect to your router).

Every 5 seconds your phone screams out your unique social security number.
Do you really want EVERYONE who is around you to know your unique SSN?

To stop that, you have to turn off auto-connect for each access point.
(Replace "Social Security Number" with "BSSID" in the explanation above.)

 Yes, they
could break in, just like anyone with physical access to your AP or wifi
cable modem can alter its settings.  If they have physical access,
they're already inside.  I can wear a company badge on my shirt that
anyone can read, but that doesn't grant them access into the building by
just knowing my name off the badge.
 
You run open wifi hotspots to which anyone can connect without a
password?

You don't seem to understand the problem doesn't happen at your home.
It's a matter of being tracked uniquely everywhere you go away from home.

I must stress that the problem happens when you are AWAY from home.
But only if you do not turn off auto-connect.

Which is why any sane person always turns off the wi-fi auto connect.

If you have auto-connect turned on, then your phone is screaming out your
unique BSSID everywhere you go, every few seconds, it screams it out again.

That makes it trivial for bad actors to track your every movement.
This is basic wi-fi stuff that you should already know (long ago).

What I'm trying to do is make the non-auto-connect connection simpler.

I want to do that by putting a shortcut on my home screen that will connect
only to the given unique BSSID/SSID pair that is my own wi-fi access point.