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understanding wifi...

saladiro

saladiro

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 7, 2007
540
2
New York
Hi, to the best of my knowledge, wifi is another form of internet connection for the iPhone. I believe EDGE is the current (with the option to switch)

with wifi turned on, how does it basically work? eg...i walk into a wifi area, eg starbucks, (which has wireless internet) and my phone switches from EDGE to WIFI automatically...

do most of u guys leave wifi option on? i was told that it drains battery power
 
saladiro said:
Hi, to the best of my knowledge, wifi is another form of internet connection for the iPhone. I believe EDGE is the current (with the option to switch)

with wifi turned on, how does it basically work? eg...i walk into a wifi area, eg starbucks, (which has wireless internet) and my phone switches from EDGE to WIFI automatically...

In most cases if you do something that requires a connection or the Internet; a dialog box will appear asking you what networks you want to join (unless you have previously connected to it - then it will connect automatically)

do most of u guys leave wifi option on? i was told that it drains battery power
Click to expand...

For the most part I do - unless I know I am not going to be using it. But I don't see a tremendous battery hit leaving it on - unless I am doing some heavy duty surfing or downloading from the iTMS.

SCR
 
I just turn it on when I wanna look for an unsecured network or when I know I'm gonna be able to connect to a WiFi spot. Pointless leaving it on when I know I don't need it. it does effect the battery quite a lot because the phone is basically searching for something to connect for as long as it's turned on.
 
speaking of wifi access, if you go to, say, starbucks, can you actually get to use their wifi hotspot or do you need some sort of contract?
same with airports, and other "public" but not open spots.
 
saladiro said:
Hi, to the best of my knowledge, wifi is another form of internet connection for the iPhone. I believe EDGE is the current (with the option to switch)

with wifi turned on, how does it basically work? eg...i walk into a wifi area, eg starbucks, (which has wireless internet) and my phone switches from EDGE to WIFI automatically...

do most of u guys leave wifi option on? i was told that it drains battery power
Click to expand...

This is easily searchable everywhere, but, to help you get started:

WiFi is not just another form of internet connection. The difference between the two is that Edge relies solely on the mobile phone networks for data where as WiFi simply relies on whatever WiFi network is available (regardless of if there is mobile cell service available.)

Also, WiFi is far faster than any mobile networks now in place, including EVDO and HSUPA (2.5 - 5.76 Mb/sec). Typical 802.11b and g offer 6.5 Mb/sec and 20 Mb/sec transfers. WiFi is so much faster because it is designed to serve a much smaller range of local service.
Click to expand...
 
I leave mine on all the time. I recharge every night. When the phone sees wifi access is available it will pop up a window with the name of the access point and ask if you want to join it. This may be for open access points only. When I get home it automatically connects to the home wifi network (it remembers the password).
 
Don't panic said:
speaking of wifi access, if you go to, say, starbucks, can you actually get to use their wifi hotspot or do you need some sort of contract?
same with airports, and other "public" but not open spots.
Click to expand...

Starbucks is a special case; see other posts for coming access.

As for airports, not many have free access. Newburgh, LaGuardia, Newark, Raleigh, Memphis... all wanted payment.

If you traveled a lot, you'd probably want to join one of those country-wide WiFi contracts. Or better yet, get a 3G phone with unlimited data.
 
grantsdale said:
Faster than 3G. Much faster.

WiFi and wireless are two terms for the same thing.
Click to expand...


ahhh...so the new iPhone with 3G is just basically going to have a faster mobil network connection....unless one stumbles upon a wifi spot


think I got now
 
genshi said:
TAlso, WiFi is far faster than any mobile networks now in place, including EVDO and HSUPA (2.5 - 5.76 Mb/sec). Typical 802.11b and g offer 6.5 Mb/sec and 20 Mb/sec transfers. WiFi is so much faster because it is designed to serve a much smaller range of local service.
Click to expand...

FWIW, using iphonenetworktest.com, I've never observed an iPhone WiFi result better than about 1Mb/sec. Their average WiFi speed is only about 685 kb/sec. ... no where near 802.11b or g for that matter.

In fact, the so called "3G iPhone" test where someone connects to their 3G notebook basestation via iPhone WiFi maxs out at around 1Mb/sec, implying the result is bottlenecked by the WiFi on the iPhone.

Some folks have claimed better speeds at bandwidthplace.com, but still only about 2Mb/sec and far short of WiFi b/g specification. I wasn't able to obtain those speeds.

:confused:
 
mrJnC said:
FWIW, using iphonenetworktest.com, I've never observed an iPhone WiFi result better than about 1Mb/sec. Their average WiFi speed is only about 685 kb/sec. ... no where near 802.11b or g for that matter.

In fact, the so called "3G iPhone" test where someone connects to their 3G notebook basestation via iPhone WiFi maxs out at around 1Mb/sec, implying the result is bottlenecked by the WiFi on the iPhone.

Some folks have claimed better speeds at bandwidthplace.com, but still only about 2Mb/sec and far short of WiFi b/g specification. I wasn't able to obtain those speeds.

:confused:
Click to expand...


Wi-fi and internet speeds are 2 different things. If you have a wireless N on a 56k dial-up connection, going to one of those sites will not read faster than dial-up. So most of the time the wifi is fast, its the internet connection that is slow.
 
I leave my wifi on most of the time with an exception; the county I live in has municipal wireless, and it sucks. Also, it's a captive portal design, which means I have to open a browser and log into it. Drives me nuts when Im driving and come into range of it, as EDGE shuts off when it picks up the wifi signal, but email won't check until I open the damn browser and login. Very aggravating. I know there's a "forget this network" feature, but it's kinda useless in this scenario. There needs to be a way to specify networks to NEVER join. That would be very helpful.
 
peeaanuut said:
Wi-fi and internet speeds are 2 different things. If you have a wireless N on a 56k dial-up connection, going to one of those sites will not read faster than dial-up. So most of the time the wifi is fast, its the internet connection that is slow.
Click to expand...

I realize that and I assure you I'm not using dial-up. :rolleyes:

WiFi connections via the same access points and high speed modems that I used for the iPhone tests, range from 6.8 to 30 Mb/sec when accessed from a computer using 802.11g protocol. (Speed delta between the two is due to home vs. work connections.)

The combined pipe (WiFi + high speed modem) supports at least 6.8 Mb/sec. Yet the iPhone WiFi never gets above 1.2 Mb/sec at either site.
 
Well IMO (no facts to back it up) the chip the the iPhone uses wouldn't be as powerful as one say a laptop uses, because of smaller size, design, antennas, etc. I'd say it's very possible that the iPhone has a bottleneck when it comes to internet speeds.
 
saladiro said:
ahhh...so the new iPhone with 3G is just basically going to have a faster mobil network connection....unless one stumbles upon a wifi spot


think I got now
Click to expand...

Let me see if I can help out more.

The iPhone now has EDGE, which is technically 2.5G and maxes out around 4x dial-up speed (about 200kbps). 3G is faster, but it's still nowhere near as fast as you can get from DSL or cable. I think right now you can probably get about 1Mbps (1,000kbps), but AT&T has talked of upgrading it to 20Mbps in the future.

WiFi is only as fast as the connection it's linked to. I would guess most businesses offering free WiFi will get you at least 768kbps. Some probably go up to 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps. But if other people are using it, you won't get the full speed of it. However, it's probably going to be faster than EDGE.

The iPhone switches between them to save network bandwidth (EDGE and 3G are limited much more than landlines) and to speed you up. You can only buy music from the phone via WiFi, and that's probably going to be the same with the App Store. I switch pretty seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi if I have already set up a connection, and sometimes when I haven't. You usually just have to put in a password once if it's a protected/secured network.

The one problem you will run into is sending mail. Some people, like BellSouth/AT&T, don't like you sending your e-mail from off their outgoing server. I basically have to send outgoing mail from that account using EDGE because I'd rather be able to send slower than have to switch crap around when I'm at home. I hope the next firmware allows you to have different server settings based on your connection. Anyway, that's the main complication you should know about.

/end brain dump/
 
Michael CM1 said:
Let me see if I can help out more.

The iPhone now has EDGE, which is technically 2.5G and maxes out around 4x dial-up speed (about 200kbps). 3G is faster, but it's still nowhere near as fast as you can get from DSL or cable. I think right now you can probably get about 1Mbps (1,000kbps), but AT&T has talked of upgrading it to 20Mbps in the future.

WiFi is only as fast as the connection it's linked to. I would guess most businesses offering free WiFi will get you at least 768kbps. Some probably go up to 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps. But if other people are using it, you won't get the full speed of it. However, it's probably going to be faster than EDGE.

The iPhone switches between them to save network bandwidth (EDGE and 3G are limited much more than landlines) and to speed you up. You can only buy music from the phone via WiFi, and that's probably going to be the same with the App Store. I switch pretty seamlessly between EDGE and WiFi if I have already set up a connection, and sometimes when I haven't. You usually just have to put in a password once if it's a protected/secured network.

The one problem you will run into is sending mail. Some people, like BellSouth/AT&T, don't like you sending your e-mail from off their outgoing server. I basically have to send outgoing mail from that account using EDGE because I'd rather be able to send slower than have to switch crap around when I'm at home. I hope the next firmware allows you to have different server settings based on your connection. Anyway, that's the main complication you should know about.

/end brain dump/
Click to expand...

in regards to your last point, if the new iphone has 3G, i can send email with out a problem,

if I am in a wifi zone, i have to switch back to 3G/EDGE inorder to send mail

thats not cool....

so this wifi, lest say at my local borders is basically only going to benefit my internet surfing....and will give me mail problems (possibly)

do i have this right?

(seems like a pain in the but, if I am on wifi surfing, then want to send an email)....then again...if the powers that be (AT&T) dont want email on their network, what can i do....

even at home, on my own network, that I pay for, i will run into this email problem?
 
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