knetworkmanager connects to wrong hotspot with same SSID even when BSSID has been specified

[Robert Persson]

Binary package hint: plasma-widget-networkmanagement

I have a number of hotspots in my neighbourhood, all with the same SSID. I edited the connection in the knetworkmanager so that the BSSID of the hotspot I wanted to connect to was specified, and renamed the connection. Nevertheless I sometimes find that when I click on that connection, I end up getting connected to the wrong hotspot.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Find an area where there are several wireless access points with the same SSID. In my case this would be "Ozonebe.net Open Access". Connect to it so that it registers in the knetworkmanager list of connections.

2. Find the BSSID of the access point you want to connect to; you can use rutilt for this. In my case this would be 00:0b:6b:4e:da:e4 on channel 7.

3. Go to "manage connections" and enter this BSSID in the appropriate entry (i.e. "Ozonebe.net Open Access" in my case). Then rename the connection (I chose "Ozonebe.net metal0").

4. Now try repeatedly connecting to this access point. Under certain conditions you will still end up getting connected to the wrong access point. At a guess I would say that you will get connected to the wrong access point about as often as if you hadn't specified the BSSID at all.

What should happen:
You should be able to specify the BSSID of a connection and then be confident that that is what you will be connected to. This should, of course, not prevent you from connecting to other access points with the same name when you need to. As a bonus, it would be good if you could distinguish between hotspots with the same name from within the KDE network manager, and select and rename them without needing to use third-party applications. Most non-geeks experiencing this problem wouldn't have a clue what was causing it unless the explanation and the solution were presented to them within the default network management tool on their desktops.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Feb 16 12:28:05 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release amd64 (20091027)
Package: plasma-widget-networkmanagement 0.9~svn1029786+ag1-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: plasma-widget-networkmanagement
Uname: Linux 2.6.31.6-rt19 x86_64

[Jason Straight (jason-jeetkunedomaster)]

This would also be unnecessary if kde network manager connected to the stronger BSSID as the gnome network manager does :(