Pete,
 
I noticed this when we were piloting our WPA SSID, but when we moved to
production, we implemented Cloudpath's XpressConnct WPA setup app. As
part of the setup process, XpressConnect is configured to have the
client device "forget" our other SSIDs, and if the device supports it
(Mac OS X for example), place it at the top of the client's SSID
preference list. 
 
Jeff  

>>> On Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at 9:11 AM, in message
<[email protected]>, Peter
P Morrissey <[email protected]> wrote:


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
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