Comment 6 for bug 1480864

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Matthew Paul Thomas (mpt) wrote :

I don't know why the network menu on PC has a "Disconnect" function, because I've never found a design specification for NetworkManager. (I didn't include it in my design for the Wi-Fi menu on PC.)

Currently I count four obvious ways to disconnect from a Wi-Fi network without moving the phone:
a. Turn off Wi-Fi.
b. Turn on Flight Mode.
c. Choose "Forget This Network".
d. Connect to a different network.

(Starting a hotspot will also disconnect from any current network, but that may not be obvious ahead of time.)

Each of these complicates the mental model. So before we added a fifth method, I think we'd want a clear answer to three questions:

1. How common are use cases that aren't satisfied by the other four? Using Wi-Fi for location but not data is a possible use case, but seems a bit esoteric. Some of the time you wanted do that, your phone GPS would have a fix by then anyway, so simply turning Wi-Fi off would achieve the same.

2. If you disconnected from a network that would automatically connect, exactly when should it automatically reconnect? After the phone sleeps and wakes? (That might be only a few minutes later.) After it powers off and restarts? (For some people, that would be only when they install a system update.) After 24 hours? Never? (Never would be tantamount to "Forget This Network, Just Not Its Password Etc", which is a pretty fine distinction.)

3. How could we make it obvious to users what the answer to question #2 was? How would we avoid surprising them either that a configured network was never being connected to any more, or that it was being reconnected to earlier than people expected?