ESP8266 Community Forum

Hello Folks,

Could you provide some insight as to why my ESP8266 continues to publish the SSIDs FaryLink_XXXXXX or ESP_XXXXXX where XXXXXXX is part of the mac address? From my research, I've read where this could be the result of residual code or a hanging variable on the ESP. I can't seem to resolve this problem. It worries me that I can connect and receive an IP (192.168.4.X) due to the possible security vulnerabilities this can cause.

Here are the steps I've taken:
- Trying multiple sketches. I thought the issue may have been with RFLink-MQTT-Gateway However, the problem problem persists with the PupSubClient example code mqtt_esp8266
- Trying previous versions of esp8266 boards package in Arduino IDE
- Trying previous versions of PubSubClient library package in Arduino IDE
- Trying both Arduino IDE 1.6.12 and 1.8.8
- Flashing with Platform.io

It appears that the problem orginates in association with the PubSubClient library. I do not get a ghost SSID using the WiFiClient from the ESP8266WIFI example.

If it is publishing an ssid then you must have the AP mode enabled.

If you don't want an AP then set the mode to Station only.

WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA);

Note that if using wifiManager then this will activate an internal AP if it can't access its normal external AP so that the wifi credentials can be set up via 192.168.4.1

The ssid in AP mode does default to have the partial Mac address but can be set explicitly to a different name when setting up the AP mode.

I added the WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA) and that resolved my problem. Thank you.

Joshua11 wrote:Here are the steps I've taken:
- Trying multiple sketches. I thought the issue may have been with RFLink-MQTT-Gateway However, the

So I guess this is Arduino. Why isn't this question in the Arduino section?