Apparatus and method for accessing wireless networks

A wireless device, comprising:

• a first network transceiver;
• a second network transceiver;
• and
• a processing system coupled to the wireless network transceiver and the wide-area network transceiver, that provides functions comprising:
• receiving a request to access, by the wireless device, a social network account that provides member information about a plurality of social network members, wherein the member information includes network detection data and security data to access a secure wireless network of a member of the social network;
• retrieving the network detection data from the social network for the wireless device to generate a network identifier of the secure wireless network of the member based thereon;
• retrieving the security data from the social network for the wireless device to generate a security key for the secure wireless network of the member based thereon;
• and
• providing access to the secure wireless network of the member, by the wireless device, in response to the generated network identifier and security key;
• wherein the security key generated by retrieving the security data from the social network is a first security key, the functions further comprising:
• detecting, by the wireless device, a change to the security data from the social network;
• retrieving, by the wireless device, the changed security data from the social network;
• initiating, by the wireless device, a change to the first security key to generate a second security key by utilizing the changed security data to derive the second security key;
• transmitting, by the wireless device, the second security key to a network node of the secure wireless network;
• maintaining, by the wireless device, communication with the secure wireless network using the first security key for a transition time period to allow the network node of the secure wireless network to acquire the second security key, wherein the transition time period is based at least in part on latency characteristics of the secure wireless network;
• and
• accessing, by the wireless device, the secure wireless network using the second security key after the transition time period.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including contents that are configured to cause a computing system to perform a method comprising:

• providing a social network account, wherein the social network account provides member information about a plurality of social network members;
• providing access to the member information of the social network account by a device, wherein the member information includes network detection data and security data to access a secure wireless network of a member of the social network;
• providing the network detection data from the social network to the device to generate a network identifier of the secure wireless network of the member;
• and
• providing the security data from the social network to the device to generate a security key for the secure wireless network of the member,
• wherein the device is configured to use the generated network identifier and security key to access the secure wireless network of the member;
• the security key generated by providing the security data from the social network is a first security key;
• the device is configured to detect a change to the security data from the social network;
• the device is configured to retrieve the changed security data from the social network;
• the device is configured to initiate a change to the first security key to generate a second security key by utilizing the changed security data to derive the second security key;
• the device is configured to transmit the second security key to a network node of the secure wireless network;
• the secure wireless network is configured to maintain communication with the device using the first security key for a transition time period to allow the network node of the secure wireless network to acquire the second security key, wherein the transition time period is based at least in part on latency characteristics of the secure wireless network, and
• the secure wireless network is configured to allow access by the device using the second security key after the transition time period.