Apparatus, and associated method, for facilitating access to a home, or other public network

A method comprising:

• obtaining information indicating whether 802.1x authentication is supported, the information being contained within a broadcast message;
• determining whether to use a non-802.1x authentication mechanism based on an indicator stored at a wireless device, the non-802.1x authentication mechanism comprising a tunnel procedure;
• based on the information and the indicator stored at the wireless device, identifying, via at least one wireless local area network (WLAN), any available network using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism;
• and
• indicating at least one network identified using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism.

A method for a wireless device, the method comprising:

• obtaining information indicating whether at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) supports 802.1x authentication, the information being contained within a broadcast message;
• determining whether to use a non-802.1x authentication mechanism based on an indicator stored at the wireless device, the non-802.1x authentication mechanism comprising a tunnel procedure;
• based on the information and the indicator stored at the wireless device, identifying, via the at least one WLAN, any available network using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism;
• and
• indicating at least one network identified using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism.

An apparatus comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to:
• obtain information indicating whether at least one wireless local area network (WLAN) supports 802.1x authentication, the information being contained within a broadcast message;
• determine whether to use a non-802.1x authentication mechanism based on an indicator stored at a wireless device, the non-802.1x authentication mechanism comprising a tunnel procedure;
• based on the information and the indicator stored at the wireless device, identify, via the at least one WLAN, any available network using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism;
• and
• indicate at least one network identified using the non-802.1x authentication mechanism.