My university recently added a 5-digit (WEP) network password to their wireless network. (This is in addition to a login page that requires university credentials.) I emailed them, and they said the purpose of the new password was to reduce "connect to network" attempts by unauthorized users that was impacting the wireless bandwidth. I don't understand this explanation. Any help?
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When a wireless network is open (no encryption) a lot of devices these days will automatically try to connect to the wireless network, such as mobile phones, tablets etc.
Even if you require authentication to access the outside Internet the university proxy server or firewall it is still using a small amount of wireless bandwidth denying or dropping the connections that aren't valid.
A basic 5 digit passphrase would stop devices trying to connect automatically.
unixdude
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I have only seen this happen, if the device recognized the SSID. Wouldn't it have been better to use a unique SSID? Which devices would automatically connect to an SSID, they have never seen before? Even if you do encrypt, using a unique SSID is a good idea for multiple reasons. – kasperd Apr 29 '14 at 05:27