no worries.

the net effect of client separation is that your device sees no other layer 2 devices on the wlan besides the gateway. this would typically be enforced at the frame level by the APs and is separate from any radio privacy cryptography.

a properly configured wireless setup would assume every client is compromised and would also disallow local client-client via source routing or proxy ARP or any other escape options. 100% secure? probably not, but its a non trivial barrier that would have to be circumvented.

as with e.g. broken WEP years ago, there are still options to mess with clients at ~Layer 1 but I dont believe its currently as trivial as it used to be.

most properly configured public wifi will enable client separation, of course that potentially still leaves lower level protocol and radio attacks.

all accurate.

I will say that a combination of…

• quassel (IRC connection mediator)
• quasseldroid (android client for quassel)
• TLS protected Tor hidden service connectins to your fav. IRC network

is an absolutely fantastic way to be always-on connected to IRC. turns it into a modern experience.