I don't know anything about the internals of 802.11, so these are just random thoughts: - Could the spec be modified (or maybe it already has such a mechanism?

I don't know anything about the internals of 802.11, so these are just random thoughts: - Could the spec be modified (or maybe it already has such a mechanism?) to allow APs to broadcast themselves every 1-2 seconds, and remove this device polling mechanism? - Instead of device polling constantly, could devices simply sniff the entire flow for frames containing a src/dst MAC address of any known APs (i.e. APs the user has selected to auto-connect to)? And only perform the polling when the user is in the AP selection screen? - Another 'hack': since we're mostly talking smartphones which all have GPS now, could devices be set to only poll for APs if they're in an area they know a recognized AP is in? Probably battery life concerns though.