# Wireless question



## balanga (Nov 10, 2014)

I'm trying to get the wireless card working on my IBM ThinkPad T41p and am not sure about how to configure it to access an open network.. In particular what do I need to put in my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf?

Also, if I have a number of access points what should I set my SSID to?

When running `ifconfig wlan0 up scan` I see two SSIDs. How do I go about connecting to the access point with the strongest signal?


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## fonz (Nov 11, 2014)

Have you read the Handbook section on wireless networking?


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## wblock@ (Nov 11, 2014)

wpa_supplicant.conf:

```
network={
  ssid="_myssid_"
  key_mgmt=NONE
}
```


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## balanga (Nov 12, 2014)

fonz said:


> Have you read the Handbook section on wireless networking?



Yes I have, but like with many FreeBSD guides it seems to be written by people who are completely familiar with a topic for other people familiar with that topic.

For example, in the quick start section it says:

```
network={
ssid="myssid"
psk="mypsk"
}
```

There is no mention of what to do when trying to connect to an open network - I spent ages trying various options for psk and I don't really understand the point of assigning an SSID when you want to connect to any available Wi-Fi network.

Having just skimmed through the section again, it seems to go into far too much technical detail for the ordinary chap wanting to access the Internet on his laptop in some Internet cafe if he's using FreeBSD. Doing such in Windows is almost a no-brainer, why does it have to be so hard under FreeBSD?


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## wblock@ (Nov 12, 2014)

The Quick Start was meant to address the problem of too much detail. I added it during BSDCan in spring.

The default situation is a WPA network.  A note could be added at the end of the Quick Start to refer the reader to wpa_supplicant.conf(5) for other types of connections.


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## balanga (Nov 16, 2014)

What is the difference between the following:

```
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"
```


```
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA DHCP"
```


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## Juanitou (Nov 16, 2014)

balanga said:


> What is the difference between
> 
> `ifconfig_wlan0="WPA SYNCDHCP"`
> 
> ...


The former will start dhclient(8) synchronously at startup, waiting for a while for the DHCP lease for this interface, instead of working in the background. It's explained in the rc.conf(5) man page.


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