Yeah, that's a potential but different problem. We're discussing keeping your location hidden from Google and friends. If you're worried about using a common SSID because it's used as a "seed" for encrypting your WPA/WPA2 key, I guess that's more important than hiding from Google.
No, because Google will still know where you're located.
That doesn't work. Using the router feature of MAC address cloning or changing only changed the MAC address for the WAN (internet) port. That's useful for the few remaining ISP's that authenticate by MAC address, but not really a good privacy measure. The MAC addresses for the LAN side, including the wireless, remains unchanged. Since Google wants the LAN MAC address for their directory of wi-fi devices, you're stuck with the MAC address delivered by your wireless router vendor.
The only way I can currently think of changing the wi-fi MAC address is to plug a wireless card into a PC or SBC (single board computah), set it up to act as an access point, and change the MAC address in Linux. I haven't tried this.
In case it's not obvious, I am somewhat joking. I don't consider hiding from Google and SSID mutilation to be worthy exercises.
You're mixing two separate and independent problems.
- Google knows your location by SSID and MAC address.
- Evil hackers might crack your WPA2/AES pass phrase because the SSID is known. This assumes that Google is not trying to crack your pass phrase.
The first is not worth solving because Google only stores the SSID, MAC address, and whatever else it can sniff, for a limited amount of time. I think it's 30 days, but I'm not sure. I can't find the URL where they mention this, but it's understandable. WiFi location data gets stale quickly, especially with mobile hotspots.
The second is strictly a matter of minimizing the chances of ending up in the rainbow tables. I have already mentioned what I consider a good way to avoid the entire issue, by using WPA2/AES/Enterprise encryption, with one time keys that are not easily cracked and non-shared (i.e. no PSK) keys, that cannot be "borrowed" from another user on the same system.
I hate security discussions, especially on weekends.