how about an answer on how and why wi-fi works or doesn't on the iphone

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how about an answer on how and why wi-fi works or doesn't on the iphone

I'm not much of a tech guy...I can usually work stuff out somehow, but I've been totally perplexed by wi-fi on the iphone.

As others have mentioned, I can see that my iphone is starting some sort of communication with the router here, but when I actually try to view a webpage, check my email, look at google maps or visit You-tube it just locks up and sometimes gives me some version of a "cannot connnect" message or a "server not found" message. sometimes it just clicks over to Edge even though I'm sitting 10 feet from the router.

Does someone on here really know what is wrong with the way that the iphone attempts to establish connection with a router?

There have been a lot of guesses in a few different threads that it has to do with resolving DNS from the router and things like that, but I'm really hoping for a real end-user sort of explanation.

I've only tried it on one private network at a relatives house where I've been on vacation. I'm writing this post from my Macbook and I've also used a notebook running Vista and neither is having any problems whatsoever which tells me that there is an issue with the way that the iphone does business.

My assumption would be that for the iphone to have the sort-of seamless user experience that Steve and the apple team intended, you shouldn't have to go to the owner of a network router and ask what the ip address or DNS should be. It should just pull all that information from the router/network/isp just like my laptop.

Like many others, I would find it really annoying to have to find some code to input every time I find a new network.

I'll probably try to reach apple tomorrow to mention this to them, but I'd love it if someone could put this into "rubber-meets-the-road" terminology and explain what the problem is.

dano

macbook, Mac OS X (10.4.10), iphone, 4gig black nano

Posted on Jul 3, 2007 4:53 PM

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Answer 1

Jul 3, 2007 5:00 PM in response to danredwing

The problem, even as well as you describe what you seen, cannot reasonably be diagnosed long distance.

The behavior you indicate is a DNS issue. Domain name servers are maintained upstream from your device, and you are often instructed by your ISP—in this case, the provider of internet connectivity to your router—to enter specific DNS values in either your router configuration records, in in those maintained by your device. You may find your recommended DNS identities on your Macintosh portable or desktop computer by examining the the Network pane in System Preferences, browsing your router configuration records, or by contacting your ISP for instructions.

There is nothing special about the iPhone in this respect. It's WiFi configuration must include DNS pointers, and your at&t EDGE configuration may include, and likely does include, other values. Take a look a the iPhone user guide for instructions on how to set these values.

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Answer 2

Jul 3, 2007 5:51 PM in response to danredwing

I never could connect to WI-FI. I finally went to the Apple store and compared their phone settings to mine. I still could not connect. I waited for an Apple "Genius" who tried to configure the phone and finally stated "you need a new phone." Waiting for a new phone at this time. There was serious frustration trying to make the Iphone work while cruising the discussion boards. If it does not work right out of the box, something is wrong. All other apps and everything about the phone worked at first attempt.

Iphone Windows Vista

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Answer 3

Jul 3, 2007 6:44 PM in response to wings1969

I don't think the statement "if it doesn't work out of the box, something is wrong (with the iphone)" is correct.
I also can connect to my router(linksys), with the iphone, but can't get any of the sites to connect. I get a server time out notice. I also can't get a connection at TMobile hotspots. There I get their login screen, but can't log in.
I went the the Apple store and DID connect to their network. I spoke with the genius, who had no idea there are wifi issues (I find that hard to believe). He told me their network is "wide open" in terms of security. I have mac filtering enabled, but turned it off to test my iphone. No luck (I do have the mac address entered on my list). I have no other security enabled. My iphone will often switch back to edge even though I'm connected to my router. I think there must be some issues with the software related to wifi.

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Answer 4

tkmonie

Level 1

0 points

Jul 3, 2007 6:47 PM in response to danredwing

Yep im having the same problem. When i first turned on my phone its asked me if i wanted to join my wifi network. So i logged in. But I cant seem to use it.

when I first turn it on, it has the wifi icon on the top but its only there for a split second and then switches to the EDGE icon. If I look at wifi settings this is what I see:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/tkmoney/iphone_wifi.jpg

Im sitting right in front of my router too. I have a macbook pro and a iMac g5 using the network without a problem. What the heck is going on?

iMac g5 Mac OS X (10.4.7) Have 5th gen iPod

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Answer 5

lcyoung

Level 1

8 points

Jul 3, 2007 7:09 PM in response to danredwing

Same problem here. If anyone figures it out, please let me know!

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Answer 6

danredwing Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 3, 2007 8:28 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

The problem, even as well as you describe what you
seen, cannot reasonably be diagnosed long distance.

The behavior you indicate is a DNS issue. Domain name
servers are maintained upstream from your device, and
you are often instructed by your ISP—in this case,
the provider of internet connectivity to your
router—to enter specific DNS values in either your
router configuration records, in in those maintained
by your device. You may find your recommended DNS
identities on your Macintosh portable or desktop
computer by examining the the Network pane in System
Preferences, browsing your router configuration
records, or by contacting your ISP for instructions.

There is nothing special about the iPhone in this
respect. It's WiFi configuration must include DNS
pointers, and your at&t EDGE configuration may
include, and likely does include, other values. Take
a look a the iPhone user guide for instructions on
how to set these values.

Michael, I appreciate you taking the time.

Through watching the boards and asking a couple of network guys that are friends, I've come to the understanding that the difference seems to be that my notebook is able to receive the correct DNS values from my ISP whereas the iphone seems to have issues with this task.

I've compared all the info from the Network pane on my notebook and the network pane on the iphone and they seem to line up.

As widespread as this problem seems..I know, we are still only talking about a very small percentage of all iphones out there...I'm doubtful that this is just a bad iphone.

None of the user guide or trouble shooting pages provided by apple and AT&T seem to deal with this problem.

Dano

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Answer 7

Paul Fix

Level 1

0 points

Jul 3, 2007 8:41 PM in response to danredwing

Same. Same. Same.

Really just waiting for someone to figure this out. I can get in tomy wi-fi (2 apple airport expresses linked via WDS), but cannot access any web sites; or it just hangs; or it reports unable to connect to server; or it refuses to connect at all and gives me edge (even though it shows up as connecting in the sttings menu).

I have been trolling these boards for days looking for a solution... what I really hate are the sanctimonious network geeks who officiously declare that the problem is with the user or the configuration. Every other wifi device on the frigging planet just turns on and works at my house. This iPhone does not. Something is wrong with the phone, or the software within it-- not me.

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Answer 8

ucs308

Level 1

35 points

Jul 3, 2007 8:44 PM in response to lcyoung

Could it be that the iPhone is trying to get the DNS servers from the Edge connection? That would be my guess.

If you tried putting a static ip and DNS servers does that work?

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Answer 9

Jul 3, 2007 8:46 PM in response to danredwing

It could be that your iPhone (and maybe many or all iPhones) cannot properly retrieve, store or process these DNS identifiers, or it could be the dreaded 'multiple issue' problem at hand…

There is this variable: it's the third-party with iPhone combination that many users passively report in their posts, even when all other Apple computers seem to work flawlessly with the [insert name of router here] unit they have. Others respond by saying they don't see the issue with their Apple branded 802.11x gear. This obviously isn't an easy issue to experiment with for most users. After all, how many have a spare AirPort Extreme at hand?

I toyed around for an hour today at an Apple Specialist in Eugene, using AirPort WAP personal links, and never saw the issue arise.

Why not head down to one of the two Apple Stores in Portland or Tigard and see if you can connect to one of their networks and get some help diagnosing the problem. Better yet, though Apple Specialists like the Mac Store chain and powerMacpac cannot sell the iPhone, they have a vested interest in insuring that you achieve a positive outcome.

I am particularly partial to the powerMacpac outlet in NE Portland, and I know that a couple of employees there have them. Why not drop by there and see if they can help you resolve it? If it works there, it's bound to be something different about your environment - quite likely, your router.

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Answer 10

danredwing Author

Level 1

0 points

Jul 3, 2007 9:03 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

That sounds like a good idea. I'm out of town on vacation until thursday, but I may try to go get some help in person before the end of this week. I may be able to figure it out a little better when I'm back at home on my router as I can experiment a little more when it is my own setup.

when I first switched back to a mac last year I chose a linksys router and it has been great until now.

My folks have an inexpensive Belkin router with a password that they've given me but I'm not sure of the encryption type or anything like that.

I'll keep at it!

Dano

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Answer 11

Jul 3, 2007 9:36 PM in response to danredwing

Yeah it gets weirder and weirder

Earlier I posted I had no luck at all on my home Linksys, even with all encryption turned off. The phone got its DNS addresses (same as on my main computer), but could not seem to "do" anything.

I also posted that it worked fine at Panera Bread. Welll... the first time I tried it there I did notice (and forgot) that 2-3x things would hang up, then I would reload Panera's login page and I would be fine for a while.

Today I went to Panera and could not get any web pages to fully load ... at all ... it would get to like 80% and sit there ...

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Answer 12

WMTA

Level 1

10 points

Jul 3, 2007 9:41 PM in response to Michael Lafferty

I was having the same problem both with wifi and email. Called apple after a full restore and they walked me through resetting the network and clearing caches,cookies and resetting safari. Since then it has worked flawlessly. Email was also duh simple. I had my desktop machine set to check email very often and it was never out of the pop server long enough to let the iPhone in.
One issue that they are working on. my primary email account is a pop server thet requires password authentication. iPhone gets the email all right but will NOT let me set and keep password authentication. It always goes back to MD5 Challenge response.. go figger

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Answer 13

jjagogo

Level 1

6 points

Jul 3, 2007 9:52 PM in response to danredwing

I had an issue with DNS with my linksys wireless router, for some reason the first DNS entry was wrong. I went to the network settings and took out the first DNS and all was well after that. The DNS does not show up when I reconnect after leaving home, but if I hit 'Forget this network' the bogus DNS will show up. The odd DNS is:

216.148.227.68

jjohnson$ nslookup 216.148.227.68
Server: 68.87.85.98
Address: 68.87.85.98#53

Non-authoritative answer:
68.227.148.216.in-addr.arpa name = ns2.attbi.com.

looks like a bug to me. So far I've only seen this with the linksys I have at home.

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Answer 14

dlugo

Level 1

15 points

Jul 3, 2007 10:55 PM in response to ratcliffe65

This sounds like the transparent proxy or NAT IP your iPhone presents to the remote httpd is changing on the fly. Dunno if that suggests your phone is switching between multiple towers, or something is flapping in att's network.

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Answer 15

Jul 4, 2007 9:24 AM in response to jjagogo

The name server you identified is an active AT&T Broadband server, acquired by Comcast Cable Communications years ago. As with so many other acquisition identities, the registration data has never been updated to reflect that it has long been controlled by Comcast.

I mention this only so that other readers won't be confused by the AT&T identity in the DNS record you pointed to, and presume that it is an artifact of an at&t wireless EDGE DNS identity. There is no relationship between the now no longer existing AT&T Broadband operation acquired by Comcast, and the newly named at&t, once Cingular.

[Why can't these monstrous telecommunications companies play by the rules, and update their DNS records?]

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