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• How will a user connect to a network?

  Rob • 10/22/2015 at 19:16 • 2 comments

  So I have been focused recently on just writing the necessary code to get the base system up and running. Every now and then I run into a future feature that will at some point become critical. This post is about one of those ideas.

  How does a user select a WIFI network? What is the interface going to look like?

  
  Solutions:

  • WPS
    • Pros:
      • Simple and quick connection to network
      • Standard Protocol / don't need to maintain.
      • Little to no extra software.
    • Cons:
      
      • Router must be available to user.
      • Some known security flaws.
      • Might take some work to get this feature up and running with the ESP8266.
  • Host a mini webpage
    • Have the ESP8266 host a network and webpage. Connect from phone or computer and enter the credentials of network you would like to connect to.
    • Pros:
      • Don't need physical access to router.
      • Customization for the webpage.
      • Valid documentation on how to do this already out there.
    • Cons:
      • Maybe too many steps to set device up.
      • Possible security issues?(Need to do more research)
      • Software Intensive.
  • NFC
    
    • Select WIFI network on your phone and tap it to the knob.
    • Pros:
      • No fussing around with a web interface probably.
    • Cons:
      • Hardware Intensive. This will add an extra probably unnecessary feature

  From my solutions list I am probably going to host a mini webpage at first. This is probably my best bet since I won't have to pull any unknown features out of the ESP8266 module and it doesn't add any extra hardware.

  If anyone has better or different ideas I would love to hear them.

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