‎31-character WiFi password limit is absurd | Page 2 | SimpliSafe Support Home
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dannydb

7 Messages

31-character WiFi password limit is absurd

After three years on a base station running 1.x firmware (the unit would not receive firmware updates), I finally switched over to a new base station running 2.3.10, and out of the blue the new unit won't connect to WiFi using the same password literally dozens of devices in my home connect with because it is longer than 31 characters. The old firmware had no problem with the long password, and now all these "Wi-Fi security improvements' that have shipped in the 2.x revisions means I have to make the password I use for my network less secure.

Really, really disappointing.

And to make matters even more confusing, the cameras in the system will still accept passwords over 31 characters.

Simplisafe, please fix this. A security product should not require less-secure passwords.

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subzone9

1 Message

I'm very disappointed that I have to shorten the password on my network and update all of my devices because a "security system" limits WiFi password lengths. Completely ridiculous and get clearly a design misstep. 

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dragonmastr

2 Messages

Yeah I'm not lowering the security of my home network just to accommodate this ridiculous limitation on SimpliSafe's base station.  Between this issue and also my other post on the thread about the lack of sensor activity history on the timeline, this is not looking good.  If you all can't even do the basic things right, then what else aren't you doing right?

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Streaky

38 Messages

The obsession with password length is laughable.  Why be 'satisfied' with 31 (or 32) characters, demand Simplisafe increase it to billions of characters. 😎🤣

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structuresound

1 Message

Well I just received my kit and my home wifi pass is 38 characters. Gonna ponder for 24 hours about whether to A) keep it and change my password and update all my other devices. B) put it on the guest network or C) return it. Right now leaning towards C, but I'm gonna review the competition's offers first and maybe B or A.

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nascarnut7078

1 Message

I just changed internet providers and now my system will not take my 36 character password that came with the T-Mobil router.  I've spoken to customer service and they were not able to assist me because your firmware limitations.  VERY disappointing.  It seems like the only solution is to scrap your system & find something else since your technology isn't as state of the art as you would like everyone to think. What a waste of money for just a couple of years use.

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davey_d

Former Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

Hi @nascarnut7078 ,

I'm sorry, but yes. The Base Station firmware currently is not able to support more than 31 characters.

If you're not willing to change your existing WiFi password, then I would suggest setting up a secondary (or guest) WiFi network that only your SimpliSafe devices connect to. That way, you won't have to change the password for all of your other devices.

A secondary network can also be locked to 2.4GHz, which would offer better compatibility for your SimpliSafe devices!

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shiherlis

760 Messages

How long (time difference) would it take a computer to crack a 31-32-character password (including a combination of letters, numbers, and characters) instead of a 38-50? Is it negligible?

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davey_d

Former Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

@shiherlis​ this is me speaking as an informed power user myself, and not by any means as an infosec expert. But mathematically, a 50 character complex password would definitely take significantly longer to bruteforce than a 31-character one. But both, with modern technology, would still take longer than the current age of the universe.

The biggest vulnerability is usually us people, if we're not careful. Though I know you are!

(edited)

Mike10W

1 Message

Any insight on whether firmware will be updated to allow longer passwords? 64 should be a “minimum” max character count for passwords to allow folks to easily use the concept of a passphrase.

worthing

783 Messages

@Mike10W​ 

I'd bet money on, "no". This issue has been open for years and they've said, repeatedly, in this thread, the limit is hardware related due to memory. If they are accurately representing why the restriction is in place there's literally no way they can increase it on the current hardware.

Also, it must be said, AGAIN, that in real world terms there's no difference in the difficulty of brute forcing a 30 character password and a 64 character (both being mixed case, alpha numeric with special characters) WiFi password. According to https://www.security.org/how-secure-is-my-password/ it will take "2 hundred duodecillion years" to brute force a 30 character password (again, mixed case, alpha numeric with special characters). And whoever is going to attempt brute forcing it is going to need to be in range of your WiFi to attempt to brute force it. That is never ever going to happen in our lifetimes. Also, none of us are so important that anyone would even consider spending that effort to gain access to our WiFi network.

And if any of us were that important we wouldn't have chosen SimpliSafe to guard our homes. We'd have some paramilitary contractors patrolling our houses 24/7 or we'd like in a bunker in an undisclosed location where, due to security protocols, they wouldn't even allow WiFi. :P 

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Streaky

38 Messages

Good to see someone else with some sense commenting.

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scotthaney

1 Message

This may be the last straw for me getting rid of Simplisafe after numerous disappointments—including my keypads disconnecting and not allowing me to disable the alarm so I could exit my house without triggering the alarm at 3am with my sick pet, or sensors disconnecting no matter the troubleshooting steps taken or new sensors added. I have been using a longer-than-31 character wifi password in Simplisafe for several years now, but suddenly it says the max is 31 characters. If the limit is hardware related, it shouldn't have ever worked, but it did. Simplisafe should not be able to dictate how I set up my wifi password—plain and simple.

I contacted support and they assured me it's always been 31 or lower. No matter how many times I told them I was using a longer character count in the past, they were essentially gaslighting me into believing I'm mistaken. I was glad to find this post to see there are other people dealing with their unhelpful support and ridiculous technical limitations in the same way.

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Streaky

38 Messages

@scotthaney​ You might consider that previously SS was simply ignoring characters after the 31st and the change is a now a restriction on input field length.

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sandy

24 Messages

@scotthaney​ you said "Simplisafe should not be able to dictate how I set up my wifi password—plain and simple." I say, Almost every site and device I have ever seen dictates password parameters in some way or another.

(edited)

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h82bcold

4 Messages

Let's be clear, this hardware restriction is the result of choices made by SimpliSafe to reduce the cost of the Base Station. As has been pointed this, and/or other, thread(s), there are far cheaper devices that support longer WiFi passwords and/or have Ethernet ports.


This is 2024, 2025 is less than a month away, according to this and/or other thread(s), this issue has been around for at least 2 - 3 years. It is absolutely unacceptable that SimpleSafe, a purported security company, is unable and/or unwilling, to provide a a Base Station that offers the most basic level of Security by having a physical Ethernet Port or the ability to support a WiFi password longer than 32 characters, preferably longer than 64 characters and/or up to at least 128 characters.

I'm not interested in history lessons, excuses, or workarounds - all I want to know is: When will SimpliSafe have a new Base Station available for purchase with a built in Ethernet port and/or support for WiFi passwords up to at least 64 characters?

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sandy

24 Messages

@h82bcold​ You do realize that if they went to 128 somebody else would come along whining that it is not 256. 

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