Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Guest WiFi using a QR code

blog.jgc.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 284 posts

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#101

Post by BadOakOx »

josefresco wrote: post #69

This is super cool and would be awesome for situations where your guests are familiar with QR codes. But from my experience the process would go something like this: Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: No password needed! We have a cool QR code you can scan that will auto-join you! Visitor: Oh cool, how do I use a QR code? Do I need an app? Me: Nope, just point your camera at it. Visitor: Like .. .take a picture…

It might be only my bubble (of non-tech-savvy people), but recently I started to use QR code to share my WiFi and there was never such friction you described. I don't do it with a printed out image, but my phone has an option to share the WiFi via QR code. Also, modern phones have a direct button from the WiFi connection screen to directly scan a QR and connect to WiFi... This is a thing... and it's easier to use it as typing `ShinyTortoise78`...

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#103

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

noobermin wrote: post #74

I am freaking tired of QR codes. I recently moved to another country (SG) and QR codes are literally used for almost everything now, essentially requiring a phone (and good lighting and a clean camera) to do almost anything. At least once a week I have to idle around waiting for a link to load in order to pay a vendor because scanning a qr-code under a glossy plastic standee is taking too long to read. I love how dev…

A shortened URL is just as opaque for humans as a QR code.

http://bit.ly/gAtJlyc

Would you trust this URL?

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#104

Post by deathanatos »

Now if only Comcast modems could scan these, I could use this to set the WiFi password (/s), since it forgets every time it is reset (…less /s).

… too bad I'm with a different monopoly ISP now. Their Wifi just drops you if you are on the 5 GHz bands and transmit anywhere remotely near full throttle. So you have to stay on the 2.4 GHz and weep.

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#105

Post by tetha »

joeframbach wrote: post #81

I once had an idea to generate "hidden" qr codes in art and photos. Initially I wanted to take a photo of a giraffe and replace one of its spots with a QR code, and hang it in my living room for guests to scan. It turned into this (broken) website: https://www.qraffe.com/ . I don't have a lot of time right now to fix it. The pdf rendering is broken. If anyone likes this idea and wants to help with a PR, I'll be might…

Hmm, after tinkering around a bit, I think according to https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 , the mask element in the giraffe SVGs is not supported in the PDF converter. It is just dropped, leafing the qraffe rather qr-less.

But I sadly know neither svg enough to think up an alternative approach, or a JS/TS dev enough to see if there are other libraries.

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#106

Post by deathanatos »

ryanianian wrote: post #87
js2 wrote: post #27

Here's what I do in my home: I've had the same easy-to-type WiFi password (it's a name and a four-digit year) since 2005 and I just tell my guests. It's not even a guest network. It's just my network. Free hugs in my house too.

That seems fine until someone's compromised device joins your network, sniffs for open ports, and starts uploading or ransomware-encrypting your NAS.

Secure the NAS.

I.e., treat the network as an extension of the Internet, that is, assume it's compromised. Since … it basically is, given the crap hardware ISPs foist upon people.

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#107

Post by zaptrem »

deathanatos wrote: post #104

Now if only Comcast modems could scan these, I could use this to set the WiFi password (/s), since it forgets every time it is reset (…less /s). … too bad I'm with a different monopoly ISP now. Their Wifi just drops you if you are on the 5 GHz bands and transmit anywhere remotely near full throttle. So you have to stay on the 2.4 GHz and weep.

Why not buy your own router or access point? Spectrum even let us buy our own modem.

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#108

Post by aaaaaaaaaaab »

josefresco wrote: post #69

This is super cool and would be awesome for situations where your guests are familiar with QR codes. But from my experience the process would go something like this: Visitor: What's your wifi password? Me: No password needed! We have a cool QR code you can scan that will auto-join you! Visitor: Oh cool, how do I use a QR code? Do I need an app? Me: Nope, just point your camera at it. Visitor: Like .. .take a picture…

I just use the automagical p20 Apple WiFi password sharing.

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#109

Post by joeframbach »

tetha wrote: post #105
joeframbach wrote: post #81

I once had an idea to generate "hidden" qr codes in art and photos. Initially I wanted to take a photo of a giraffe and replace one of its spots with a QR code, and hang it in my living room for guests to scan. It turned into this (broken) website: https://www.qraffe.com/ . I don't have a lot of time right now to fix it. The pdf rendering is broken. If anyone likes this idea and wants to help with a PR, I'll be might…

Hmm, after tinkering around a bit, I think according to https://github.com/yWorks/svg2pdf.js/issues/82 , the mask element in the giraffe SVGs is not supported in the PDF converter. It is just dropped, leafing the qraffe rather qr-less. But I sadly know neither svg enough to think up an alternative approach, or a JS/TS dev enough to see if there are other libraries.

That is likely the issue. The alternative is to use Lambda to render pdfs on the server side, but I wanted to keep this fully on the client side as a static site (to avoid any trust issues with sending your wifi credentials to strangers). I may have to pay up real $$ if I want to do this "right".

Re: Guest WiFi using a QR code

#110

Post by metadat »

koins wrote: post #20

Bit of a self-plug I know, but this reminds me of something I had made a while back ( https://github.com/kmanc/wifi_qr ). Nice work! Always fun to see others' take on neat projects

It took me a second to understand what this does, but wow what a neat project!

Thanks for sharing, this sort of overkill is my favorite kind~ Cheers @koins!

Post reply on HN