[masterfaker]

Hello
I travel a lot and it would be a great help to create a "list" of network names and their passwords that would automatically connect to such a network.
At petrol stations or mc donald's they have passwords that I know (just ask the seller) but entering all parameters at each stop is a problem. Does anyone know an easy way to do this?

I hear about AutoAP Script but this is for open network only ?

Thank You !

[eibgrad]

I took a look at that AutoAP script (actually just skimmed it), looking for two words; captive portal. Unfortunately, I found neither.

One of the biggest problem w/ these types of sites is the fact they typically require navigating through a captive portal, which the router does NOT handle very well. Or at least it has proven to be difficult to automate.

That's the problem for me, and not such much whether the site requires a password/key. If that was the only issue, I'd be more inclined to see what could be done. But dealing w/ those captive portals is a major headache.

BTW, that AutoAP script hasn't been updated in many years. I'm not even sure if it still works, or works for any wireless router. I see references to the wl command, which is Broadcom specific. So that's yet another issue; exactly what hardware is it expected to support?

And the link to the Changelog no longer works. And the documented changes in the script itself stop at 2009-7-11.

I know I'm being rather pessimistic here, but I can help but wonder if there's a realistic chance of bringing this forward to a usable state as original intended, much less embracing the OP's own requirements.

I may look into a little deeper and perhaps test it out.

P.S. I did notice the original support thread as well. Only 4-5 posts since 2015.

https://forum.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6575

[masterfaker]

my hardware: TP-Link tl-wr841n

[the-joker]

@eibgrad

Offtopic: Generally (time being a finite resource) I try to do work and spend time on things where here is more bang for the buck, i.e. benefits the largest amount of users vs just a niche.

Of course the niche is often supported if the personal interests of the dev align with said niche.

Ontopic: Where wl is concerned, its quite neutered the full implementation being 500KB and DD-WRT's being 60KB and many features are simply not available if they dont serve a DD-WRT purpose.

[kernel-panic69]

AutoAP was written when WRT54* series Broadcom routers and their clones were still prevalent and relevant. Some later discussion in the linked thread provided support for newer versions of DD-WRT, but sifting through that haystack for a needle doesn't seem like a viable use of time unless an across-the-board solution can be rendered. Unfortunately, different hardware platforms may require different approaches to accomplish this. I will fix the broken links in that wiki and add it to the list of wikis to review.

Since we now know the device in the OP is Atheros... *nudge, nudge*... *crickets*

[eibgrad]

[kernel-panic69]

Personally, for connecting to APs on the go - especially ones with captive portals - I've relented to using either my phone or a more recently-acquired self-refurbished old Pentium 4 laptop running a version of Linux with a router configured as a wired AP. Travel routers are great and all, but technology has changed to make things much more difficult and I'm okay with the added laptop bag in tow. I generally prefer a wired connection to the internet over wireless, anyway. Hotels also have data port options - and for those there are other methods of "circumvention" to allow multiple devices which don't necessarily add (much) to my luggage.

[masterfaker]

i'm so sad becase of that

[dale_gribble39]

It is nobody's fault that captive portals are in use in most public wi-fi provided services. AutoAP was written long before this was a widespread thing and people wanted to make money off providing a branded or un-branded captive portal solution for guest wifi access. DD-WRT may or may not see any inclusion or improvement to what is left of AutoAP in the future, but there is still no easy way past a captive portal without some other trickery involved that might not be included as a functional feature. AutoAP having a saved list of choices isn't necessarily out of the question, but it depends on intended target devices and space required. More to point, there is an implementation of AutoAP in development that is included internal to firmware images for DD-WRT out there, but it would require removal of some other feature in the firmware image for your router to make space for it, I'm fairly certain. It still does not fix the captive portal problem completely at present, though.

[masterfaker]

we currently have a lot of active motorhomes, and even more people ask me about this functionality. The antenna on the roof allows you to collect the signal from a greater distance, but the phone must be relatively close to the radio station.

[eibgrad]

After thinking about this a bit more, I still do NOT see any reasonable way around the issue of captive portals. They have been a thorn in the side of many others who've attempted to solve this problem through automation. If it was easy, or at least worth the cost of development and maintenance, I'm sure some entrepreneur would have done so already.

Let's assume it was even possible and cost effective to invest the time and resources. How long before these captive portals would respond w/ a captcha, thus undermining the entire effort?!

Fact is, you *need* a terminal and keyboard to deal w/ the captive portal, whether that means a laptop or smartphone. Then a travel router w/ which you've cloned the MAC address of the laptop/smartphone to the travel router's WAN (presumably the virtual WAN of client mode). In the case of the laptop, you could alternatively use ICS to double NAT the router wrt the wireless ISP.

No, it's NOT fully automated, but at least the laptop and smartphone *remember* the SSID+password and are able to automatically connect. You just have to deal manually w/ the captive portal.

That's why using the cellular network is so much easier, but of course it's costly. But sometimes you just have to pay for convenience. It's sometimes worth the expense. But once you're dealing with wifi, which every mom & pop location will configure to their own liking, automation becomes problematic. You have to make compromises, and just determine what works best for you.

[dale_gribble39]

I stumbled across this thread looking for something else. I have not read the whole thread, whatsoever, but it caught my attention. I don't know how valid it is with current releases, either. All the usual obligatory caveat warnings apply.

AutoAP for Fonera/Atheros? BETA!