Patent attributes
A decryption key and a network name are received by a cloud-based social bandwidth manager from an Internet-connected device that acts as a wireless access point for a wireless network, wherein a beacon broadcasted by the Internet-connected device includes the network name and an encrypted passphrase, and wherein the encrypted passphrase can be decrypted using the decryption key. An indication that a wireless enabled device is an authorized device to associate with the wireless network and share an Internet connection of the Internet-connected device is received from the Internet-connected device The network name and the decryption key are transmitted to the authorized wireless enabled device, wherein the authorized wireless enabled device is configurable to detect the beacon and decrypt the encrypted passphrase included in the beacon using the decryption key and associate with the wireless network using the decrypted passphrase to share the Internet connection of the Internet-connected device.
