I'm a student at Washington University in St. Louis. Like most everyone, i want a iPhone. I realize 2.5g is slow but my school has a WLAN network so i dont think i'll be using EDGE much. So i asked my friend a few days ago and he told me that he would be surprised if the iphone would be able to log in because the login page that is through bluesocket might not recognize a mobile device for some reason i didnt understand. So my question is, does anyone know if the iphone will work?
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iPhone on my university's wireless network
- Thread starter mike19
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The iPhone has WiFi so you should be able to connect to any wireless network(unless it is encrypted and you don't have a password)
My school register's MAC addresses to allow computers to connect. Anyone have any idea if iPhone is going to have an address I can register. I would hope it does since it has a WiFi card in there.
It really depends on the network setup at the campus. At the college I work at we use Bradford Campus Manager which actually requires a program to be downloaded to the computer you're trying to connect. The program verifies up to date anti-virus/spyware software as well as all the latest windows critical updates and service packs. For OS X all it really requires is the latest OS revision (10.3.9 or 10.4.10). If your campus network uses a similar authentication procedure you may be out of luck. If that is the case, you could always try sweet talking / bribing the IT staff because there is usually a way to manually enter the MAC address of the device your trying to connect to get around the registration procedures.
Thanks, thats what I thought but I wasnt sure. I will just bring it in and have them register it.
I hate that fricken bluesocket. It's the bane of my existence. But safari handles it well enough. I'd like to think that the "full internet" in the iPhone will also handle it. Let's hope so...or I'm screwed at work
Depends on you college wireless. My collage the way all the logging in works I can do it with my laptop but my palm polite can not log into the network because it can not handle the way you have to sign in. It could easily be that the way it is set up the iPhone can not be configured to work with it and you will be SOL.
Best bet is do not count on it working.
Best bet is do not count on it working.
Just go to settings, then to general, then to About, and then flick down to the bottom of the screen where you'll see the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth address. I already went to my university to register my iPhone using the Wi-Fi address. It wasn't a problem.
Then you have two options, hack the wifi or make your school IT accommodates to iPhone... I don't understand the crying and whining part.
Both of the apps only work with a specific login system called BlueSocket. Otherwise, yeah it works exactly as you described. Run the app, it logs you in and you are golden to use the intertubes just like you had typed in all the login info by hand. Saves a bit of time and a lot of hassle.
Yes I do think my interface looks cleaner, but it's a subjective opinion, if you don't like you're welcome to disagree. I happen to like the way mine looks. As for error information, BlueLogin provides lots of information on various possible outcomes and tries to alert the user as to what could be wrong. Since you bring that up, I would ask if you have used BlueLogin yourself, or are you making things up?
Actually google is pre-entered, the user only needs to give a username and password and they're set. All other options are set to sane defaults. The user is able to enter a website other than google because they may be connecting to an intranet or to an ISP that does not have access to google.com. This is arguably a rare case, but considering changing the field is optional, this provides added functionality with no downside to the user.
Verifying SSL is an important feature because it is trivial for someone to setup a dummy network in order to mount a man in the middle attack and steal passwords. Verfying that you're sending your password to a valid SSL server helps to provide the same guarantees you get when you use SSL to order things on the internet or login to a website. Again this is on by default, and the user doesn't have to set it up to use it. I left it as an option because I was not sure if all BlueSocket servers provide authentication over SSL, otherwise it should always be left on.
SSL provides both encryption and identity verification, if you think these are somehow unimportant, I'd like to understand why you think so.
We all have sat around in the queue for weeks at a time, apparently I submitted a little sooner. I am not trying to say that this in and of itself makes BlueLogin better, but it does mean that it has spent more time being used. This means I have already received user feedback and have already started improving BlueLogin (updated version already in the review queue). Your app is relatively untested, but that doesn't mean it's worthless, nor was I trying to imply that.
Again, more users, thus more user feedback, and already working on improvements.
There was nothing angry nor demeaning about what I said. I gave a subjective opinion and added some information to help the user decide what they might want. Actually I said precious little, and offered them a link to look for themselves. I did not tell anyone to stay away from your app, they're welcome to use what they want. However, pretending like I am attacking you in someway is a little silly. If you truly wanted a free market you wouldn't be so aggressive towards someone who is only offering an alternative to people.
Either way, good luck.
I use my iPhone first generation on my school's Wi-Fi all the time, works great. You just have to register the device's MAC Address with them, and they allow your device to see their network.
Enough bickering... I have a question for either of you...
My university (FSU) uses BlueSocket, and I login via the website interface. I'm currently using 1password for this, and it works alright, but I like the idea of an app like this for speed...
How do I know either of these apps will work? AFAIK, the iTS doesn't have a system setup for refunds, so I just want to be sure before I purchase either app.
My university (FSU) uses BlueSocket, and I login via the website interface. I'm currently using 1password for this, and it works alright, but I like the idea of an app like this for speed...
How do I know either of these apps will work? AFAIK, the iTS doesn't have a system setup for refunds, so I just want to be sure before I purchase either app.
Well a couple of things. If it doesn't work on your BlueSocket network which i will be surprised if it doesn't because almost all of them are the same, then it would be simple for us to figure out what is different on your campus and make a fix for it. You would be getting custom software development for 1.99$ and that is pretty darn good if you ask me!
When you try and hit Google does it automatically take you to a web page with a username and password you have to enter? Then these apps you will be good to go.
Mike, I just ran over to WashU. Guess what, my iPhone worked, but yeah go to the IT dept and register your MAC addy.
You should also see a "source=" in the URL that your are directed to.
The following is a little more complicated but:
You can also go to view source of the login page and make sure that there are is an input field with name=bs_name and another name=bs_password.
According to: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_Oct_19/ai_n6242728 FSU is indeed using BlueSocket.
Hmmm. I just noticed that FSU seems to use BlueSocket with IPSec. My app doesn't do anything to setup IPSec, and I'll hazard a guess that his doesn't either (I don't think it's possible without provisioning). It looks like some BlueSocket systems require IPSec, some have it as an option, but most don't use it at all. If from the login page you login normally and can start using the Internet, then you're okay, if you have trouble using the Internet after logging in then neither of these will fix that, they just make logging in easier.
The configuration page for your school with more information is here: http://www.otc.fsu.edu/Networking/wireless/configure.html
i have to pat my school on the back, the IT dep. is great.
we have wifi EVERYWHERE!
even in the middle of a field!
anyways. i log in on my iphone on a login-to-use page and i just use student login info
we have wifi EVERYWHERE!
even in the middle of a field!
anyways. i log in on my iphone on a login-to-use page and i just use student login info
The IPSec is optional, AFAIK. I've never had to install the Bluesocket IPSec package or set it up myself, neither have any of my friends, so I've always assumed its optional.
My college campus also has WiFi everywhere, but SADLY I cannot use it on my iPhone as it doesn't support the 802.11a protocol :[[[
And 3G isn't here yet. (it's about 3 miles away as of right now :[ )
I've been living with EDGE and no Macbook Pro for too long now!!! I'M WIGGIN OUT MAN!
And 3G isn't here yet. (it's about 3 miles away as of right now :[ )
I've been living with EDGE and no Macbook Pro for too long now!!! I'M WIGGIN OUT MAN!