Non-Broadcast SSID being displayed on devices

[shane.clark2]

We have a couple SSID's that we don't broadcast.  Currently our desktop group is taking new Ipads out of the box, and they can see one of the non-broadcast networks.

I've asked a couple of local wireless engineers, and they said they've noticed this as well with certain devices, and have just ignored it, as it doesn't cause a huge problem.

Is this truly a known issue?

[Stephen Rodriguez]

Shane,

     It's not a problem usually.  When you don't 'broadcast' the SSID all you are doing is suppressing it in the beacon messages.  A client, however, will still have the SSID in clear text when it is probing.

What is probably happening, is the device is hearing the probe/probe responses at the same time it is scanning and it's able to link the mac address of the AP to the SSID, thus showing it to you.

     Some devices do this, some don't, and as your people said, not a huge problem really.

Steve