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Hi:

Publishing the SSID is a requirement of the IEEE 802.11-1999 standard for good reason -- ease of use. Access points that publish their SSIDs make it relatively easy for standard software on clients within range to display nearby WLANs. Hiding the SSIDs makes it relatively hard for authorized clients to join and for unauthorized clients to share the medium on well chosen non-overlapping channels.

Not publishing the SSID is part of the WLAN culture for bad reasons -- first, a vendor conspiracy to compensate for the utter failure of WEP by offering a faux security method, and second, a customer conviction that the "hide the SSID" check box must be there for some good reason so why not be safe and check the box.

It took several years of our suffering with WEP and hidden SSIDs, but the IEEE in the 802.11i-2004 amendment gave us WPA, WPA2, and 802.1X/EAP. The IEEE in that same amendment could have blessed the by then popular practice of hiding the SSID, but did not.

For years to come our WLAN equipment will support the now seriously deprecated WEP, and "SSID Hiding". All of us should enjoy or WLANs to the max, be good neighbors to other WLANs, and just say no to both WEP and SSID hiding.

I hope this helps. Thanks. /criss