Comment by amarshall
4 years ago
Reason one is that one doesn’t generally connect to an access point (BSSID), but rather to a an SSID. That SSID may have many access points, as the device may roam. Periodic scans check to see if another access point for the same SSID is now a better choice, and switch accordingly. On Linux, configuring the connection to a specific BSSID generally disables periodic scans.
Reason two is to determine location from WiFi network data. Location may not be static even if connected to a single network, since that network may cover a large area and be roam-able, or be moving (hotspot, train, etc.).
> Reason one is that one doesn’t generally connect to an access point (BSSID), but rather to a an SSID. That SSID may have many access points, as the device may roam. Periodic scans check to see if another access point for the same SSID is now a better choice, and switch accordingly.
Maybe I don’t fully understand the Wi-Fi “space” but I gotta wonder why the standard hasn’t embraced a CDMA-like system where your device can just roam around without really caring which AP is the strongest… the access points would all communicate with each other to figure out which one should be responsible for a device.
It would also fix all the nonsense with picking channels for each access point. They’d all use the same spectrum.
But I’m only an armchair observer so who knows…
A moving wifi AP wouldn't really help with establishing a location, since it's, well, non-stationary :)
In theory, it could establish that you are on a bus/train/airplane... and then look up any public transport information for whereabouts of that vehicle, but I don't think anyone does that.