All Articles Tagged wifi

In a move designed to make even notorious Wi-Fi stripper Verizon seem liberal by comparison, China Mobile’s outstanding demand that Apple strip the iPhone of both Wi-Fi and 3G if they want to sell to the worlds largest carrier just got an uncomfortable shot of “maybe” via Apple Insider:

while there’s no concrete information to suggest Apple would agree to make such concessions, references to “ChinaBrick” discovered in betas of iPhone Software 3.0 leave room for debate.

Also at issue, China Mobile wants control of the regional App Store. Without 3G or Wi-Fi, would there even be a point?

And we’d joked about AT&T…

Back before the iPhone, I was using one of GRC.com’s long, pseudo-random passwords for my WPA-protected Wi-Fi network. Typing it into iPhone 1.x, even iPhone 2.x was a non-starter, however, so I shrank it down considerably.

Similar security-conscious folks have lamented not only the lack of copy and paste on the iPhone, but especially the lack of “paste-into-password field” to support just those kinds of super-secure strings.

Well, it looks like we might be getting them — along with the previously discussed copy and paste features, in iPhone 3.0.

Whether this makes it or not into the final release version is something only time will tell (because Apple, of course, isn’t saying).

But we want it.

Following up on the MobileMe data merge screenshots… We’d heard mention of this when iPhone 3.0 was introduced, but it’s the first time we’ve actually seen how it actually works. WiFi Settings now includes and option for auto-join, which we’re assuming saves passwords for commercial, web-fronted WiFi services like you’d find at a hotel or coffee shop.

Also, when you log in, you get a special slide-up window with some new controls and an embeded web-view — no more app-jump to Safari.

Very nice!

Again, for more iPhone 3.0, check out our giant walkthrough…

We’d heard rumors about this back when mobile 802.11n WiFi chipsets began to announced, and when the next gen iPhone was said to be “faster“. Now Apple Insider is reporting that:

Wireless radio component specifications contained within the iPhone 3.0 firmware indicate support for a new chip enabling low power 802.11n, which is likely to be exposed in the new iPhone and iPod touch set for release later this year.

Along with faster CPUs, faster GPUs, and faster cellular networking, 802.11n Wifi, anyone think speed isn’t the name of the game Apple’s playing with the next gen iPhone?

Since all current and previous iPhone (and iPod touch) devices have 802.11b/g WiFi, if placed on a faster, wider-range 802.11n network, they typically cause such networks to downgrade to 802.11b/g speeds for compatibility. This means your hyper-fast router will slow down your iMac or MacBook whenever your iPhone hits the network…

…But maybe not for much longer?

Apple Insider reports that the FCC has just been hit with new versions of the Airport Extreme (802.11n Router) and Time Capsule (802.11n Router + HD for Time Machine backup) that handle things a tad more gracefully:

The documents appear to indicate that Apple is adding a combined mode, allowing its AirPort base stations to simultaneously support iPhones and other 802.11b/g devices operating at 2.4 GHz, while also broadcasting 802.11n wide signals in the 5GHz band to maximize throughput for notebooks and devices such as Apple TV. Existing models can only run in one mode or the other, providing either wide compatibility or the highest possible network performance, but not both.

While only the most power-mad of power users will likely ditch their old Airport Extreme or Time Capsule for the latest/greatest, the new features should appeal to iPhone users looking for high-quality routers to round out their setups.

Now who wants one?

The current generation of iPhone, iPod Touch, and pretty much all mobile devices max out at last generation 802.11g WiFi speeds. Could the next generation finally catch up? They’d need something that packed all that speed and range into a pretty tiny chip… Luckily, Engadget says such a chip is already becoming available:

Broadcom has announced its BCM4329, one of the first mobile 802.11n solutions on the block. On top of delivering up to 50Mbps of real-world WiFi throughput on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, the darned thing throws in Bluetooth, an FM receiver, and an FM transmitter, too — in other words, everything but the kitchen sink, where the “kitchen sink” is the cellular radio itself.

Since TiPb is still predicting an iPhone HD for 2009, and 802.11n was part of that prediction (we’ll need it to stream 800×480 video!), we’ll just say it right now: yes please!

Sorry we’re a almost as late at AT&T with this one, folks. (We were busy engineering a TiPbDOS attack over on Stickam, it seems!) But like AT&T, we’ll keep on keeping on… In their case, however, it’s (finally!) making good on the 3G launch-day promise of free WiFi for iPhone users at AT&T hotspots.

According to SMS and email notifications going out, here are the deets:

AT&T knows Wi-Fi is hot, and FREE Wi-Fi is even hotter. Which is why FREE AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks*. Users can relax and access music, email and web browsing services with their favorite blend in hand from the comfort of their nearest location. For information visit www.att.com/attwifi.

So, if you find yourself at a Starbucks with your Gibson-esque Quinte-Vinte-Latte, let us know how good the side order of WiFi goes with that!

PdaNet has been hailed as the best reason to Jailbreak your iPhone. Why? Because it sets your iPhone up as a WiFi router that you can easily connect to with your laptop. This setup is ideal for a lot of users for a few reason:

1. It’s dead-simple to set up, as it doesn’t require any weird software or modem configuration on your laptop
2. Since the iPhone becomes a simple WiFi router, there are no blocked ports. Unlike NetShare, PdaNet is not a ‘SOCKS proxy,’ so you can use any internet protocol (like iChat or AIM) and not have to worry about whether or not it will work.
3. Although you’d take a big old hit on speed, you could theoretically share your internet connection with several computers.

There is one major caveat you need to be aware of with PdaNet, however. The Terms of Service on the standard AT&T iPhone contract and also on their standard Data Plans do not allow you to tether. Most people simply ignore this and go ahead and tether anyway — being careful not to overdo it to prevent AT&T from hitting them with extra fees or even a cancellation. If that doesn’t worry you, read on for a full how to on getting PdaNet setup to tether to your Laptop!

Read the rest of this entry »

If this is not bizarre, I don’t know what is. Customers looking to purchase a iPhone 3G in China will soon be able to do so. Just a little catch though, minus the 3G and toss in the omission of WiFi.

China Mobile does not have a 3G network so I understand them asking Apple to disable 3G but going a step further asking to disabling WiFi as well?! That leaves all of the owners of the iPhone 3G (don’t forget to take away that 3G) with a slow 2G data connection. China Mobile might as well sell the iPhone 3G as a very nice paperweight to all of their customers. Exactly why China Mobile would disable WiFi is way beyond me.

Apple ships the iPhone all over the world, so it is highly doubtful that a hardware change would be made simply for China Mobile. So how would these features be disabled? Software… Which means potential customers could still turn to hackers to gain back access to at least WiFi. It would only be a matter of time…

(Via Gizmodo)

Confession: My iPhone 3G/2.x experience has been relatively painless so far. No dropped calls, almost no 3G issues, very few App crashes, no eternal syncs, etc. While Steve Jobs reportedly said I’m in the norm, along with 98% of other iPhone users, you really wouldn’t know that from the intertubes. They’re on fire with dissatisfied users, and reader Anon, commenting on a post, points us to a thread on Apple’s discussion boards that indicates the dissatisfaction may not be ending any time soon.

The latest problem is with the 2.1 firmware — technically the 2.1.1 firmware already shipping, apparently, on the new second generation iPod Touch — and WiFi. Specifically, non-Apple Airport WiFi access points and the WPA security protocol (which should be what everyone is using now, right?)

While some might think this is no big deal, considering the older WEP protocol remains an option, TiPb would remind you that system can be broken in less than a minute these days, rendering it little better than no security at all.

For the record, however, I helped upgrade a 1st gen iPod Touch to 2.1 on Wednesday, and it connected to with no problems whatsoever to a Linksys WiFi router, so this might be one of the increasingly common, more complicated and multi-factor errors Apple’s been encountering (like Vista BSODs with iTunes 8…)

On the iPhone side, does this mean we’ll be getting 2.1.1 tomorrow as well? And will face similar problems? Or is Apple even now rushing an emergency rebuild of 2.1.1 or even 2.1.2 to finally — finally — give the 2%ers some stability?