the invention provides a secure wi - fi communications method and system to enable automatic network roaming without requiring any back - end authentication servers and alleviating the need to handle large numbers of network parameters . in an embodiment of the invention , a client device listens for a “ beacon frame ” broadcast from a wi - fi access point . the beacon frame identifies the basic service set identifier of the access point . a tamper - resistant token , or client key , installed at the client device stores a set of authentication parameters , e . g ., cryptographic keys , for each wi - fi network the client is permitted to access . each set of authentication parameters is associated with a particular bssid . using the bssid received from the access point , the client device identifies and implements the appropriate set of authentication parameters necessary to authenticate the client device according to an authentication process generally accepted by all the wi - fi networks potentially servicing the client . accordingly , a consistent authentication and security mechanism is provided to enable a client device to easily roam from one network to another without requiring the client to manually change network configurations .