Location of Unprotected Access Points Through Protected Access Points

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program stored therein, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

• maintain a location structure comprising an indication of a geographical position of each one of a set of unprotected access points in proximity of a wireless network access point, each unprotected access point in the set of unprotected access points providing the access to a network at least partially unconditionally,
• receive a request to access the network from a mobile station within a transmission range of the wireless network access point,
• deny the access to the network to the mobile station, and
• return the indication of the geographical position of one or more of the set of unprotected access points to the mobile station in response to the denial of the access to the network.

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• maintain a location structure comprising an indication of a geographical position of each one of a set of unprotected access points in proximity of a wireless network access point, each unprotected access point in the set of unprotected access points providing the access to a network at least partially unconditionally,
• receive a request to access the network from a mobile station within a transmission range of the wireless network access point,
• deny the access to the network to the mobile station, and
• return the indication of the geographical position of one or more of the set of unprotected access points to the mobile station in response to the denial of the access to the network.