Question

Not ST related, but this group seems to know their stuff when it comes to WiFi. last year we moved into a house that had what I thought were standard smoke detectors, but they ended up being smoke detectors as part of the AT&T digital life system that was offered years ago. We don’t subscribe, and those are not hooked up to our Wi-Fi, but I know they are Wi-Fi compatible. Let’s assume that they are looking for a standard Wi-Fi system and not the digital life hub (since I don’t know),  could they be hogging up my Wi-Fi bandwidth (or even weakening my signal around the house) by trying to connect even though they don’t have the password, or do they have no affect?  

Answer 1

Generally no effect on your Wifi. They may be trying to connect to 'something' but stuff polls your Wi-Fi all the time. Dont worry about it.  

Answer 2

Nope if you did not connect them, they will just not work. They will not affect anything.  

Answer 3

With the lack of a reachable SSID they won't be using a bunch of bandwidth but they will be searching for their mothership and it may or may not be on the same frequency (channel) you use. It may be minimally disruptive. It is not 0% disruptive, as only once thing can be transmitting at a time.