NOTE: this page is for archival only, see the note at the end of the page.

Open Wireless Movement - review for Linux

The EFF has announced an effort to promote open wireless networks in metropolitan areas and recommendations on default software solutions available for 802.11 access points and some protocol / design review for enabling encrypted sessions with open wireless networks. The EFF is calling this an Open Wireless Movement. This page is dedicated to reviewing their proposal and brainstorming / keeping track of solutions available on Linux.

This page will focus on the core innovating petitions by the EFF and technical solutions for Linux based 802.11 APs. In short the biggest technical challenges faced by the petition is to come up with alternative solutions to the main concerns of why home owners typically desire to close out their wireless networks to the public:

  • Protect their data
  • Priority of traffic

Open but encrypted WiFi

One of the ideas being recommended is the call for some enhancements which would allow anyone to connect to an 802.11 access point but at the same time enable encryption. One possible solution is to use WPA2-Enterprise and just come up with an easy to use mechanism for EAP authentication. For authentication perhaps one solution is to use openid.

Priority of traffic concerns

Traffic priority concerns can be addressed by enabling home owners to create two BSS on one 802.11 AP, one which is available to the public and another private BSS which has higher priority for traffic. Traffic shaping techniques can be used to enable these preferences, but we will also need quick easy access to set this up with a GUI interface.


This is a static dump of the wiki, taken after locking it in January 2015. The new wiki is at https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/.
versions of this page: last, v8, v7, v6, v5, v4, v3, v2, v1