We have run into problems where Apple devices (apparently more mobile devices than laptops) appear to gravitate towards SSID's that are on top alphabetically. It often confuses users who get set up for our preferred 802.1x network which should automatically connect and authenticate them. They wind up connecting to one of our other networks we use for configuration. The problem apparently can be remedied by going into the profiles and "forgetting" the network, but this is not something at all intuitive to the average user.
With Windows devices, this same network somehow starts showing up on top, and becomes the preferred network and it never seems to be a problem. We never hear complaints from Windows users whose network connection starts misbehaving with the cause being that they aren't connecting to the network that they think they are connecting to. In fact with the Apple products, you can explicitly connect to your preferred network, and even while you are connected it will sometimes suddenly change to the network on the top of the list. I should point out that the other difference is that these networks are also non-802.1x networks, so it is certainly possible that the Apple client is preferring it for that reason. I'm wondering if anyone else has seen this behavior? Pete Morrissey ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
