You are divorced from the reality of how most of this works, its show up so many times in your perception of a problem and your proposal for a solution for that flawed identification of a problem. 802.11b was introduced in 1999. It was largely supplanted by 802.11g in about 2004. This means the devices you're advocating for support for are likely way over 20 years old. With 20-25 year old tech, you're into the definition of "retrocomputing" by that point. Even if you could get on the internet they are largely useless because the software clients for internet use have not been updated to meet today's web standards. Lets say you're successful and find an 802.11b access point on the internet. I would doubt you'd be able to run a web browser that would let you usefully access many sites. It’s an abstract proposal for an app that runs on a mobile device. There are no app stores for any device that only has 802.11b. The very first Android phone and very first iPhone both shipped with the later/faster 802.11g. Your crazy 802.11b requirement will be for device like a HP/Compaq ipaq Windows Mobile 5 device from 2004 like this: [image: 55584895-407a-439a-a4f2-4d46e2901247.png] You can't even buy batteries for those anymore. Who in the world are you trying to serve with this insane app idea? A well designed app would run on old and new devices. On what planet would you expect a modern app to be written that would run on both iOS 18, Androi16, Windows Mobile 5 from 2004? That's what you're asking for. THAT is your 802.11b devices. Most everything after that used newer 802.11g. Most public APs are not enterprise deployments. Some public libraries outsource to Cisco, but a vast majority are SOHO routers sitting under the counter of a cafe or bakery. If the Cisco pros have to do considerably more work, I don’t give a shit about that. I gave you the benefit of the doubt when you said "public APs" to mean municipal or state funded. You're not talking about those though, you're talking about privately owned APs that belong to businesses. Stop nannying people. Every user has their own use cases and with that implies a security posture and threat model that is right for that individual. Fuck you for trying to dictate to others what their security posture must be without even knowing their use case. No, Fuck you for trying to dictate that private businesses run insecure setups putting their other customers at risk because you want to run your 25 year old gear that can't effectively use the modern internet anyway because of how old they are. Old software is rich in known bugs and vulns, the kind that you can control for. Except you're NOT controlling for them, you're running on gear so out-of-date that they haven't been patched it years. The control is not using old insecure unsupported tech, or wrapping it in modern tech to control for the old, but you're not wrapping it. If you were, you wouldn't be asking for 802.11b. You're so far out of your depth with your lack of understanding on this idea. I think it comes from a good place, but your ignorance far exceeds your ability to rationally even form the problem question much less propose a solution. You're not hurting anyone with your crazy ideas, so there's no reason to stop you, but I'm done given it any thought. Have at your app! Good luck!