Q: Is there a free copy of the 802.11 spec anywhere? I have gone to IEEE and it looks as though you need to be a member to get a copy.
Q: Does the 802.11b spec offer some form of service discovery? ie If I enter an airport that has an 802.11 service provider ( or perhaps many ), is there a way to present the network options to the user so that they do not have to go into thier Wireless LAN card and configure?
Q: Is there a gateway ou there that will record access times, acounts etc.
Any/all help is greatly appreciated.
A. The 802 committee is now making those available via its own Web site. Visit here.
A. No. You can eliminate the SSID from configuration in some software, and your system will automatically connect to whatever open (non-WEP protected) network it finds. However, the only system I know that does this right is Mac OS. It recognizes new networks and asks if you want to join, and offers a popup of networks it recognizes. Microsoft plans to offer better 802.11b support in future OSs, probably starting with XP.
A. Some gateways log a variety of behavior, but the more expensive ones tend to integrate with RADIUS servers which are built to handle authentication and logging.