suppress a certain SSID

Hello,

we have a hidden (non-broadcasting) WLAN.
We configure our WLAN-Laptops by manually adding our SSID and EAP-settings

Now a company in our neighbourhood has decided to start up a public hotspot.
This hotspot is broadcasting its SSID - and now our WLAN-clients are getting
popups "new wireless LAN avaiblable" (even if they are already connected to
our hidden WLAN)
Of course some users select the "new wireless LAN" - thus disconnecting from
our WLAN.

We have hundreds of WLAN-clients and it would be difficult to teach all of
them not to change the WLAN...

So my question is:
is there a way to suppress (block) a certain SSID - in my case the hotspot`s
SSID - so that a client would not see that this WLAN exists ?

thank you
Steffen

Steffen Meier

"Steffen Meier" <spacewalker4711 at hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%...

Steffen,

See my post: "Preventing automatic access to specific WiFi networks" on 13
July and all the associated replies...

Mark

"Mark Rae" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:...
> "Steffen Meier" <spacewalker4711 at hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%...
>
> Steffen,
>
> See my post: "Preventing automatic access to specific WiFi networks" on 13
> July and all the associated replies...
>
> Mark
>

If have the the thread and I will try the idea to add a password to the
SSID...

But I am also thinking of the following :
Disable the "Connect when this nework is in range" option on the Wireless
Networks tab in the Wireless Network Connection Properties....

Steffen Meier wrote:
> Hello,
>
> we have a hidden (non-broadcasting) WLAN.
> We configure our WLAN-Laptops by manually adding our SSID and EAP-settings
>
> Now a company in our neighbourhood has decided to start up a public hotspot.
> This hotspot is broadcasting its SSID - and now our WLAN-clients are getting
> popups "new wireless LAN avaiblable" (even if they are already connected to
> our hidden WLAN)
> Of course some users select the "new wireless LAN" - thus disconnecting from
> our WLAN.
>
> We have hundreds of WLAN-clients and it would be difficult to teach all of
> them not to change the WLAN...
>
> So my question is:
> is there a way to suppress (block) a certain SSID - in my case the hotspot`s
> SSID - so that a client would not see that this WLAN exists ?
>
> thank you
> Steffen
>
>
Try broadcasting your SSID. Hiding the SSID doesn't really add much, if
any, security. Yes, casual passers-by won't see it and possibly try to
connect, but any halfway serious wardriver will pick it up and easily be
able to determine a hidden SSID. See "How Wireless Auto Configuration
Works" in this Nov. 2002 Microsoft Technet article
(http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...y/cg1102.mspx).

According to that article, your WLAN clients should not be getting the
"One or more wireless networks are available" message if they are in
fact connected to your WLAN. As I understand it, that prompt should
only appear if the client is unable to connect to a preferred wireless
network.

The article explains the order in which connections to wireless networks
are attempted. On the other hand, once someone has connected to the
nearby hotspot, its SSID is automatically added to the top of the
preferred network list. Microsoft has informed me that this behavior
can not be altered or prevented by group policy or other programmtic
methods. I don't know if the SSID gets added if an unsuccessful attempt
is made to connect; I rather doubt it. For this reason, you might want
to try the suggestion from Diamontina Cocktail in the thread Mark Rae
refers to of configuring the SSID associated with the hotspot with a
bogus password.

"Lem" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:...
> Steffen Meier wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> we have a hidden (non-broadcasting) WLAN.
>> We configure our WLAN-Laptops by manually adding our SSID and
>> EAP-settings
>>
>> Now a company in our neighbourhood has decided to start up a public
>> hotspot.
>> This hotspot is broadcasting its SSID - and now our WLAN-clients are
>> getting popups "new wireless LAN avaiblable" (even if they are already
>> connected to our hidden WLAN)
>> Of course some users select the "new wireless LAN" - thus disconnecting
>> from our WLAN.
>>
>> We have hundreds of WLAN-clients and it would be difficult to teach all
>> of them not to change the WLAN...
>>
>> So my question is:
>> is there a way to suppress (block) a certain SSID - in my case the
>> hotspot`s SSID - so that a client would not see that this WLAN exists ?
>>
>> thank you
>> Steffen
>>
>>
> Try broadcasting your SSID. Hiding the SSID doesn't really add much, if
> any, security. Yes, casual passers-by won't see it and possibly try to
> connect, but any halfway serious wardriver will pick it up and easily be
> able to determine a hidden SSID. See "How Wireless Auto Configuration
> Works" in this Nov. 2002 Microsoft Technet article
> (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...y/cg1102.mspx).
>

Broadcasting our SSID is not really on option - even though it probably
would solve my problem, but I had to reconfigure 35 APs and maybe all my
WLAN-Clients (400 laptops....)

Thank you for the link - rather useful information there.
The article gave me the following idea:
Would it be possible to suppress the popup (bubble) message "One or more
wireless networks found" in the tray notification area ?
If the users dont know that another WLAN then they can not try to connect to
it...which would basically solve my problem....

thank you

Steffen Meier wrote:
> "Lem" <> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
> news:...
>> Steffen Meier wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> we have a hidden (non-broadcasting) WLAN.
>>> We configure our WLAN-Laptops by manually adding our SSID and
>>> EAP-settings
>>>
>>> Now a company in our neighbourhood has decided to start up a public
>>> hotspot.
>>> This hotspot is broadcasting its SSID - and now our WLAN-clients are
>>> getting popups "new wireless LAN avaiblable" (even if they are already
>>> connected to our hidden WLAN)
>>> Of course some users select the "new wireless LAN" - thus disconnecting
>>> from our WLAN.
>>>
>>> We have hundreds of WLAN-clients and it would be difficult to teach all
>>> of them not to change the WLAN...
>>>
>>> So my question is:
>>> is there a way to suppress (block) a certain SSID - in my case the
>>> hotspot`s SSID - so that a client would not see that this WLAN exists ?
>>>
>>> thank you
>>> Steffen
>>>
>>>
>> Try broadcasting your SSID. Hiding the SSID doesn't really add much, if
>> any, security. Yes, casual passers-by won't see it and possibly try to
>> connect, but any halfway serious wardriver will pick it up and easily be
>> able to determine a hidden SSID. See "How Wireless Auto Configuration
>> Works" in this Nov. 2002 Microsoft Technet article
>> (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...y/cg1102.mspx).
>>
>
> Broadcasting our SSID is not really on option - even though it probably
> would solve my problem, but I had to reconfigure 35 APs and maybe all my
> WLAN-Clients (400 laptops....)
>
> Thank you for the link - rather useful information there.
> The article gave me the following idea:
> Would it be possible to suppress the popup (bubble) message "One or more
> wireless networks found" in the tray notification area ?
> If the users dont know that another WLAN then they can not try to connect to
> it...which would basically solve my problem....
>
> thank you
>
>
>
According to that article, your users shouldn't be getting the "One or
more wireless networks found" message if they are, in fact, already
connected to your WLAN. As I read the article, that message only is
supposed to display (a) the first time you turn on the wireless adapter
or (b) if the system can't connect to a preferred network but detects
other networks in the area. However, you might try one of the fixes
suggested at http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=549782 but
I don't know if it will suppress this particular "balloon tip."