iPhone?!

[Nharsin]

Got my iPhone Saturday. Registered the MAC address on StudentLink. Of course, it doesn't work. I can hop on any wireless network I've been around town, except on campus (where I need it most). Anyone surprised?! I understand iPhone doesn't accept certificates (it shouldn't have to for basic browsing, CCIT should devise a solution for campus, no doubt will be getting lots of iPhone-related complaints), but even the UAPublic network won't allow me to access anything! I have full signal, but nothing loads. I know it's not the iPhone - as I said previously, I've been able to get on my own home wireless network (WPA2 secured, by the way) as well as hotspots around town all weekend. Please fix this, CCIT/OSCR - however I typically doubt it will be, given the UA's obsession with locking legitimate users out of nearly anything and everything they can.

[moser]

We could try to take a look at your phone and see what we could come up with, but as far as controlling the wireless around campus, OSCR actually doesn't actually control the wireless system or the campus network in general. If you would like, feel free to call us at the OSCR Underground at (520) 626-8324 and we would be glad to set you up with an appointment for one of us tech leads to look at the phone.

[Nharsin]

I appreciate the offer - but there aren't any real settings on the phone apart from joining a network. I'm getting an IP address of 10.198.1.118, a Subnet Mask of 255.255.240.0, and a valid DNS. For a few moments, I was able to browse the Arizona.edu site, but not anything else. Now it won't even let me do that. I may bring it in, but I'm a network guy and doubt there's much you could do (like I said, I am led to believe it's a problem with the network, as I can get on any other wireless network around town I've tried). And I doubt there aren't any plans to develop some type of certificate iPhone can recognize for UAWifi access. It's a shame that legitimate UA students can't join the network that was made for us (UAWifi) without a certificate-accepting device.

[dparm]

You should be able to use UAPublic for basic web browsing.


*edited* meant to say UAPublic.

[picch]

I think you mean UAPublic Dan?

[stoecker]

First off OSCR is not in charge of any campus networks, we are just a free service that tries to provide support for students and faculty.

Second, UAWiFi does not lock out legitimate users it protects them and makes their browsing secure. Those couple extra steps you have to go through to make it work are not that hard and they only lock out those who should not be using it, which keeps you secure and safe.

UAPublic should work fine on the iPhone and since the iPhone apparently runs OSX it may even work for UAWiFi, I have done a lot of work with Smartphones and the wireless network on campus and would be more then willing to take a look at your phone and see what we can do. Please give us a call at 626-TECH or feel free to stop by today as I am pretty free most the day!

**EDIT** One more thing, if you are having trouble accessing UAPublic then it is not a certificate error it would probably be either the way the software is set up or the wireless card itself.

[Unregistered]

I used the phrase "Locks them out" because not all legitimate devices can support certificates. I'll try to stop by tomorow, where in the Underground are ya? I looked around, didn't see any OSCR office...

[dparm]

It's room 136, between the big lecture halls 120 and 130. Look for the neon sign hanging from the ceiling.

[yount]

You may have walked to "Wilbur's Underground" (under the student union?) We are in the ILC (Integrated Learning Center), which contains the underground class rooms in the middle of campus. Once down the steps, we have a sign with an emblem pointing to the doors which will lead you to the "neon sign":) Happy Hunting!

[stoecker]

I used the phrase "Locks them out" because not all legitimate devices can support certificates. I'll try to stop by tomorow, where in the Underground are ya? I looked around, didn't see any OSCR office...

UAPublic was made for this reason, it is not secure but they understand that not all devices support the certificates so they made UAPublic to let those devices on, if your Phone is having problems with UAPublic it is either just something is being weird with the software, or UAPublic was having trouble during that time (this could be the case since they are doing a lot of work on the wifi this summer) or because the hardware in the iPhone is just incompatible which is not the Universities fault. There are some wireless cards that seems to not work with Cisco's wireless routers (the university uses Cisco routers)and Cisco has not figured out why and neither have the companies that make these cards.

[begay]

I joined UAPublic and found that I could not surf either... But, I looked into the WiFi settings for UAPublic and noticed that my DNS settings were still pointing to my Comcast Home WiFi. I replaced the DNS entry with "128.196.11.234" and all was well again.....

UA DNS Servers are : 128.196.11.233, 128.196.11.234, 128.196.11.235

[Nharsin]

Changing my DNS worked! Thanks all, I knew my hardware wasn't the problem (or at least hoped) as I've used Cisco routers at my job across town on the device with no problem. I wonder why the DNS didn't refresh automatically? I hope it will change when I switch to my home network, I would hate to have to type in the DNS manually every time I come on / leave campus. Anyway, THANKS!

[dparm]

You could always just set it to use OpenDNS.

Does the iPhone have any of the Cingular MEDIA Net stuff on it? If so, you have to use Cingular's DNS settings or else those resources are unavailable.

[picch]

True but it shouldn't be using cingular's DNS settings for the WiFi

[Nharsin]

There is no Media crap on it at all, which is great. I'm actually returning it because I am having some email issues, along with some gripes about AT&T (shame really, it's a fantastic device). Thanks for the help, Wildcats.

[Unregistered]

<Update> Finally got my POP servers syncing with this thing, I'm keeping it after all. I wish UA email had pop syncing... oh well. :D

[fischerm]

email.arizona.edu supports IMAP as well as POP. I've always liked IMAP better when I can use it, and the iPhone supports IMAP as well.

[Unregistered]

Really!? I've never seen POP/IMAP options on webmail before! *goes to check* Where are the settings?

[Unregistered]

OK, found settings in a forum post (though there should be incoming/outgoing server settings somewhere on the Webmail page, I couldn't find them). Thanks all.

[jharriso]

For future reference, email.arizona.edu settings can be found at http://ccit.web.arizona.edu/index.php?id=521.

[fischerm]

Really!? I've never seen POP/IMAP options on webmail before! *goes to check* Where are the settings?
Don't think of it as 'Webmail has IMAP settings', rather think of it as 'Webmail is a web-based mail client, that connects to the university email servers'. Eudora, Entourage, Mail, iPhone Mail, Webmail, Outlook, etc all serve the same purpose: clients that connect to the central UA email servers using a wide variety of protocols. IMAP just happens to be one of those protocols.

Since so many people use webmail as their mail client, there is a tendency to equate webmail to university email, which isn't quite true.

[dparm]

And if you're super old-school, Pine! I prefer a GUI, though.

I set up my smartphone to use POP, but it leaves the messages on the server. Entourage downloads them off the server for me later that day.

[begay]

$ mail .......... (text mail rules)

Pine was for the younger crowd that needed a menu!

Let's not all forget the Father of student email here at the UA, Brian Kennedy!

Clap, clap, clap, clap.......

[Nharsin]

POP?! After using IMAP for one day, I shall never return to POP. Especially when accessing eMail through multiple devices, it turns into a syncing nightmare.

[Unregistered]

Any reason I wouldn't be able to connect in the Union? In the Admin bldg everything is fine, and I never loose connection (I have full strength on UAPublic) in the union, but pages never load (nothing loads)! Ideas? Does the union have a different DNS (it shouldn't)....?

[dparm]

Is this everywhere in the Student Union? Or just some areas?

[begay]

Some areas!

I stood in front of the ADMIN building and was on "UAPublic" and could not do anything related to the INTERNET. I went inside the Student Union (by Chick-Fil-A) and was able to do INTERNET stuff again. Went back out to the front of the ADMIN building and was again INTERNET-ostrisized....

Walked through the Student Union and was passed from Access Point to Access Point, strange behavior from the iPhone Safari was that all pages seemed to load properly but the url bar at the top begged to differ. The "blue progress" bar never fully loaded, but the pages did.

I don't think all the "UAPublic" access points are setup the same. Maybe some older models, maybe newer updated firmware. Who knows?

As long as you setup camp in one location while on "UAPublic" and it works, then all should be fine. Start walking around and you could be entering "no-lans" land.....

If nobody beats me to it, maybe I'll walk around in the same locations with my MacBook and see if it behaves the same.

Bernard

[Nharsin]

I'm getting the same experience as Bernard. I set up my wifi in admin (where I work) and it's fine. If I walk to the union, around the mall, to my car behind La Paz dorm - nothing. I have full signal from UAPublic, but the pages won't load and time out. There is something seriously fishy with the UA wireless network. WHY CAN'T THIS JUST WORK?! >_<

[Nharsin]

Still having issues... perhaps it is a DNS thing, but it's completely sporadic. I'm always fully connected to UAPublic, but pages will rarely load. Why oh why is the UA network the ONLY one I have problems connecting to?!

[dparm]

Did you try setting the DNS servers to use OpenDNS instead?

[dparm]

BTW it could be worse, iPhones are DoSing Duke University's wireless network:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071607-duke-iphone.html

[Unregistered]

That's not an option on the settings - I suppose I could try just clearing the data in the DNS field. When I log into UAPublic, the DNS addresses that populate (UAPublic) are 192.245.12.56 and 150.135.236.25.

[Unregistered]

Ok, that was a bad idea heh. Nothing happened. I've reverted back to the ONLY thing that seems to work, 128.196.11.234 works in the Admin building (where I work and spend most of my time). Like I said though, when walking anywhere out of Admin (union, the mall, down Highland Ave, wherever) I get full signal, but nothing loads/connects. I'm going absolutely crazy, why is this only happening to me on campus?!

[picch]

BTW it could be worse, iPhones are DoSing Duke University's wireless network:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071607-duke-iphone.html

This is exactly why we have the security measures in place that everyone seems to hate.

[dcv]

BTW it could be worse, iPhones are DoSing Duke University's wireless network:

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071607-duke-iphone.html

Anyone else find it a bit hard to swallow that 150 iPhones on Duke's giant campus can monopolize 10Mbps of bandwidth? Moreover, that they can take out 30 separate WAPs at once?

Not to mention the fact that (and I'm just assuming here - feel free to correct me) the UofA is running a similar setup of Cisco hardware, and iPhones aren't bringing our network to a screeching halt?

I've got my money on a misconfigured network.

EDIT: Also
The built-in 802.11b/g adapters on several iPhones periodically flood sections of the Durham, N.C. school’s pervasive wireless LAN with MAC address requests
Anybody else wondering what a MAC address request is? :)
----------
I was walking around the SU today and found a few iPhone-on-UAPublic deadspots. I've switched to OpenDNS for UAPublic just now and will test these deadspots when I get off today.

[dcv]

That's not an option on the settings - I suppose I could try just clearing the data in the DNS field. When I log into UAPublic, the DNS addresses that populate (UAPublic) are 192.245.12.56 and 150.135.236.25.

You can set the iPhone to use OpenDNS servers by going to UAPublic's DNS field and enter these addresses:

* 208.67.222.222
* 208.67.220.220

Those are the OpenDNS server addresses. They're working for me over here in CCIT (except Gmail's pop server for some reason), and I'm going to give them a try in the Union on my way home and report back.

[begay]

Are you saying that this is a security issue? Just the facts please!

[dparm]

"MAC address request" probably just means something relating to ARP, or else it's a typo and they meant IP address requests.

[picch]

Anyone else find it a bit hard to swallow that 150 iPhones on Duke's giant campus can monopolize 10Mbps of bandwidth? Moreover, that they can take out 30 separate WAPs at once?


I don't. If the bandwidth is there the phone is going to take it (that pretty much goes for any wireless device). It's not that unlikely that 150 iPhones could be on 30 separate WAPs at the same time. Especially if your theory of them running similar Cisco hardware is correct. As an iPhone is taking out an AP it will bounce to another one, rinse, wash, repeat.

[dcv]

Except that the antennas in the iPhone don't seem powerful enough to see that many APs - if one goes down, depending on how close the next AP is, the iPhone won't see it. Though I haven't scientifically tested it, based on strength of reception around my house, I'd wager my iPhone has maybe half to 3/4 the range of my Macbook Pro.

I can see individual APs going down due to iPhone traffic, maybe even a few at a time because of the spread of iPhones across campus, but for 30 to go down at once seems hard to swallow unless the APs are forwarding the ARP requests around (if I go down, I'm taking you with me!!!), or the range of the iPhone's Wifi antenna is SIGNIFICANTLY greater than I think it is (or the iPhone owners do a lot of walking around, which is a pretty strong possibility too).

Also, no dice on using OpenDNS in the SU - until that gets fixed, looks like you'll have to stick it out on EDGE.

[dparm]

The access points would share information if they are using some sort of mesh networking, such as bridging mode.

So far I have not heard of any other instances of an iPhone crashing a wireless access point. My guess? Duke didn't configure something correctly in their network design, or it is totally unrelated to the iPhone.

[picch]

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/071707-duke-iphone-reader-comments.html

That explains Duke's situation in a little more detail.
So, no, I don't find it hard to swallow.

You couldn't even block the iPhones from doing this, because even if you block them from the network it still will be able to make that initial request to the core routers/switches.

I wonder if "breaking" the wireless network could fix it. Kind of like our initial problem, where Intel cards refused to work with the network. I wonder if Cisco could whip up some magic that they could release that would in essence disable the access points from being able to talk to that wireless card model.

The part that I find odd is that it's only taking 10mbits to crash the access point. The theoretical critical point where the access point would be unresponsive to an incoming wireless connection would be 54mbits (assuming it's a G network), actual should still be around 30-40mbits. Unless it's a B network, then that makes perfect sense, but I doubt Duke is that far behind the times.

[ssl]

The network world comments and story do give some good information. It is a fascinating problem. I really learned something just following the facts.

I especially found this interesting:
the iphone is sending (unicast) (many,many) ARP requests directed to (what appears to be) a home router gateway MAC address.

It is arping for the MAC address of a private IP (apparently a gateway IP) and requesting that the response be returned to (what appears to be) a end-station IP on the above private subnet. (it's own?) - as one poster notes, this is is consistent with a broken implementation of DNAv4 - this specification includes an allowance for sending a unicast ARP as part of a process of determining if a client has roamed.

Looks like an interaction between something quite broken going on with the iphone, coupled with a problem with how the Cisco wireless controller/APs are responding.

It is indeed curious that 10mbps unicast traffic from a single client would make not only one AP unresponsive, but also take down 20-30 neighboring APs. One would imagine that this has something to do with what the controller is doing with the traffic.

It is an interesting question as to why the ARPs aren't silently dropped, because the target MAC address should not exist on the university network.

Anyway, I hope this won't affect us... Hopefully the rate limiting on UApublic will help.

[ssl]

!doh! I dont know as much about the Cisco Airespace/controller LWAPP setup as I could. But maybe the way this unintentional DOS occurs is that every "bad" unicast ARP packet produced by the Iphone is forwarded out to other APs in the same broadcast domain.

The normal action for switches would be to flood a packet addressed to an unknown MAC address out all ports. But I have no idea about the Cisco.

Since the MAC address does not exist on the network, it is flooded every time?

[begay]

Riddle me this, riddle me that.....

While walking the mall with my MacBook I tried UAPublic:
10.198.20.xxx, 255.255.240.0, 10.198.16.1

Pulled out the iPhone:
10.198.0.xxx, 255.255.240.0, 10.198.0.1

Just FYI.

[ssl]

the issue seems to be that the evil iphone behavior occurs (sometimes) when it roams from a private network (home network or other) which is unreachable from the other (university) private network, in a short enough time to still hold a dhcp lease in the old (home) network.

It looks like scenario is
1) iphone gets dhcp lease on home network e.g 192.161.10.5
2) iphone roams to univ and successfully associates and receives a dhcp lease on that net eg 10.0.1.1
3) iphone roams again to new location on univ net... at this point the evil implementation of DNAv4 occurs. if the iphone still holds the dhcp lease from step 1) then some bug condition is hit (unknown?)and The iphone violates the protocol by sending thousands of unicast arp packets, instead of just one, to the MAC address of the gateway in step 1.

If I had an iphone to test with, like some people do. I would try the above scenario., together with a sniffer!:)

[ssl]

in step 1 - should be private IP.
eg 192.168.1.10

This is important, because since the net is unreachable from the univ network, the unicast arp "DNAv4" packets will be flooded to all of the layer-2 net.

If it were reachable, then there would be no flooding of packets after the first one.

[dcv]

http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2007/07/cisco_apple.html

As me and Dan suggested, the problem was on Duke/Cisco's end, and it has been fixed.

I'd like to know more about the specifics of the problems and conditions, though - like if my previous thought is right and the APs really were forwarding the ARP requests to other APs and taking them down concurrently or something.

[Unregistered]

http://blogs.business2.com/apple/2007/07/duke-mystery-so.html

"There's relief at Apple (AAPL) and a lot of red faces at Cisco (CSCO) and Duke University today."

[ssl]

hmm. yeah. well I can certainly believe, as I said before that a cisco bug caused the initial problem to take down 20 AP's - there is no way that should have happened.

But the strange part is that in the educause listserv, someone from Duke clearly posted a partial packet trace, and claimed that there were "thousands" of ARP packets a second sent from the iphone
http://listserv.educause.edu/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A2=ind0707&L=wireless-lan&T=0&F=&S=&P=2182

The packet traces he posted substantiate what he says. Either he maliciously crafted some erroneous traces, or the Cisco equipment was extremely broken and somehow re-transmitting a single initial packet - not impossible, I suppose.. but really unusual..

I am looking forward to the full explanation.

[fischerm]

It would be really interesting to get ahold of the logs from the offending iPhone if possible. Were the requests actually sent? Or were they just mysteriously received?

[UR DAD POOKIE]

Got my iPhone Saturday. Registered the MAC address on StudentLink. Of course, it doesn't work. I can hop on any wireless network I've been around town, except on campus (where I need it most). Anyone surprised?! I understand iPhone doesn't accept certificates (it shouldn't have to for basic browsing, CCIT should devise a solution for campus, no doubt will be getting lots of iPhone-related complaints), but even the UAPublic network won't allow me to access anything! I have full signal, but nothing loads. I know it's not the iPhone - as I said previously, I've been able to get on my own home wireless network (WPA2 secured, by the way) as well as hotspots around town all weekend. Please fix this, CCIT/OSCR - however I typically doubt it will be, given the UA's obsession with locking legitimate users out of nearly anything and everything they can.

chill sarah!!!! lol dad

[Nick]

I'm having the same problem as everyone else: My iphone gets a full signal to the UA WIFI, but doesn't load web pages. Should I enter the IP, DNS and Gateway myself? If so does anyone know what they are?

Thanks,
Nick

[begay]

I think we already established that UAWiFi and the iPhones are not going to happen. UAPublic is what we can use for now.

Go back to the previous pages of this thread to read what has happended and what is not happening.

[picch]

I'm having the same problem as everyone else: My iphone gets a full signal to the UA WIFI, but doesn't load web pages. Should I enter the IP, DNS and Gateway myself? If so does anyone know what they are?

Thanks,
Nick

The iPhone does *not* support WPA/WPA 2 Enterprise (for some dumb reason). Which is the encryption standard that the University uses on UAWiFi. The iPhone will simply not work on UAWiFi until Apple decides to support it.

Before the Apple fanboys jump on my case, WPA/WPA2 Enterprise is nothing new, these two standards have been around for years. This isn't anything new that we are using. Apple simply got lazy.

[dcv]

The lack of PEAP/WPA Enterprise support on the iPhone is rather frustrating - after all, I thought this thing ran a full OS X, which does have this support! Is adding this support somehow nontrivial?

After weighing the options, on campus, I stick to EDGE - one of the big boons of my iPhone is it fetching and sending my e-mail, which it can't do on UAPublic. It's not that great for heavy browsing of the intarwebs, though, but being able to send and receive mail is a bigger deal to me than browsing the web quickly.

[bgwinkel]

The lack of PEAP/WPA Enterprise support on the iPhone is rather frustrating - after all, I thought this thing ran a full OS X, which does have this support! Is adding this support somehow nontrivial?
I don't think that it runs full OS X, in the same way Windows Mobile/Windows Embedded is not the same as the Windows desktop product. However, if the limitation is the software, it's simply laziness as whatever the OS X environment may be it's certainly capable of handling WPA, however, a more likely scenario is that the hardware itself simply doesn't support it to cut costs and make more money/phone.

[picch]

I don't think that it runs full OS X, in the same way Windows Mobile/Windows Embedded is not the same as the Windows desktop product. However, if the limitation is the software, it's simply laziness as whatever the OS X environment may be it's certainly capable of handling WPA, however, a more likely scenario is that the hardware itself simply doesn't support it to cut costs and make more money/phone.

That was Apple's claim to fame on the iPhone though "that it ran full blown OS X". I have a hunch it's simply Apple being lazy. I'd be willing to be that the wireless chip that is in the iPhone supports Enterprise, and that it's just a lack of driver support for it.

[bgwinkel]

That was Apple's claim to fame on the iPhone though "that it ran full blown OS X".
I still think it's the same way that "Windows CE" is still "Windows".
I'd be willing to be that the wireless chip that is in the iPhone supports Enterprise, and that it's just a lack of driver support for it.
Eh, I still rather doubt it. WPA takes a lot more processing power out of a network chip, and thus, it's more expensive. So I can't see them spending money on it and then not even supporting it.

[dcv]

Eh, I still rather doubt it. WPA takes a lot more processing power out of a network chip, and thus, it's more expensive. So I can't see them spending money on it and then not even supporting it.

But the iPhone supports WPA-PSK without issue.

AFAIK (and somebody please correct me if I'm wrong), the main difference between PSK and Enterprise is that, for enterprise, you have an 802.1X authentication server to generate keys for your session, while PSK (pre-shared key) lets you pick your own key.

Seeing as the iPhone supports WPA-PSK, and in WPA Enterprise, key generation is server-side and not client-side, I'd really like to know why adding support to the iPhone is nontrivial.

//side note - I wish the iPhone did copy/paste - I HATE having to manually type in my 63 char WPA passphrase whenever I reset my iPhone for updates!

[Justin Miller]

The issues is not with the network. UAPublic is open to all devices pending that they have a web browser that can load at least a single frame to accept the policy. The iPhone has had numerous issues/complaints regarding its WiFi capabilities, but Apple is working on them. Patch 1.01 included unspecified "bug fixes", which blogs are reporting that their DNS now works. Patch 1.02 once again listed unspecified "bug fixes", and now users report that networks out of range now are in range and working. As with all first generation products it will take time for all of the bugs to work themselves out. So please update your iPhones and post reply s to keep me informed.

As for the iPhone in general I know we have had issues here on campus, I cannot remember the specifics but it dealt with the iPhone not wanting to leave the edge network and when you forced it to it tried to contact the initial WiFi setup typically the apple store.

[dcv]

The issues is not with the network. UAPublic is open to all devices pending that they have a web browser that can load at least a single frame to accept the policy. The iPhone has had numerous issues/complaints regarding its WiFi capabilities, but Apple is working on them. Patch 1.01 included unspecified "bug fixes", which blogs are reporting that their DNS now works. Patch 1.02 once again listed unspecified "bug fixes", and now users report that networks out of range now are in range and working.

I wish one of those two updates added PEAP/WPA Enterprise - #1 feature I'm waiting to be added.

Now that UAPublic is going to be rate limited to 256kbps, it'll be just as slow as EDGE (theoretical 384kbps, but more realistically in the 200kbps range). Until iPhones can get on UAWifi, just about everybody with an iPhone is going to be better off sticking on EDGE while on campus.

[dparm]

Something to remember is that there is extreme latency in the EDGE network, so even though data transfer is the same rate as UAPublic, it will feel "laggy". 802.11b should not suffer from that.

[Unregistered]

Also, it would be more benefitcial to use UAPublic then EDGE because when the iPhone uses EDGE it cannot send or receive phone calls. Thus, if you are browsing the web on EDGE and someone calls you, they will go straight to your voicemail. Whereas, if you were on wifi, your phone functionality would still work. This occurs because EDGE uses all the bandwidth possible, leaving no room for phone calls.

A little fun fact many people don't know...

[dcv]

^ Yes, that is (for the most part) true - around the U of A, all the towers are NOM2 (which can't take phone calls during EDGE transfers). There are very few locations across America where AT&T is using NOM1 (which can take phone calls during EDGE transfers). I've read a few posts of iPhone users connecting to NOM1 towers around Dallas Fort Worth - useful, eh? More info (and how to check) here - http://www.iphoneatlas.com/2007/07/27/iphones-in-some-situations-cant-take-incoming-calls-while-on-edge/


However, it should be noted that EDGE ties up your phone line only during data transfers - you can browse pages after they've loaded and still receive phone calls.

There are trade-offs abound - UAPublic will have less lag and won't tie up your phone, but it won't let you check your e-mail. EDGE will let you check your e-mail, but it won't take incoming phone calls while it checks.

My rationale is this - I value my e-mail very much, and EDGE only ties up my phone line for the 10-30 seconds it takes to load a page or check my e-mail. This is a small enough window-of-opportunity for me to accept in exchange for guaranteed delivery of my e-mail in a timely fashion. That is why I stick with EDGE on campus. If you value voice calls significantly more than e-mail, then surely YMMV.

/*and if Apple would just implement WPA Enterprise already, this would be a non-issue! Plus, it'd finally give me a viable reason to update my iPhone's firmware.*/

[viva]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.

[robertv1]

How about this for those of us with Jailbreaked phones. No one should ask questions about jailbreaks. If you don't know what it is you shouldn't do it.

http://www.thebetaplace.net/iPhone/iPhone.html


This is my first program I've written for the iPhone. I took a script I worked on with a friend (Thanks Zachary) and adapted it to work on an iPhone. My University uses a Cisco Authentication System located at "https://1.1.1.1/login.html". If your University uses a different system, you must change the login_url and post_data parameters. If you happen to attend Marquette University...enjoy!


Can we replace their login with a router address like I have now on UAWIFI 10.197.0.1 or do we use a different type of authentication than the system Marquette uses?


#!/bin/bash

username="username"
password="password"

# Don't change anything below this line
#================================================= =

post_data="buttonClicked=4&err_flag=0&err_msg=&info_flag=0&info_msg=&redirect_url=&username=$username&password=$password"
login_url="https://1.1.1.1/login.html"

curl="/usr/bin/curl -sk" #path to curl

#if we can ping google we don't need to run the script
if ping -t3 -o google.com &> /dev/null
then
#nothing - we have internet
echo "We have internet"
else
#logon
echo "Logging on..."
result=`$curl -d "$post_data" $login_url`
echo "Logged on"
fi

#restart the springboard
launchctl stop com.apple.SpringBoard.plist

exit

[justinm1]

Are you trying to use it for UAWiFi or UAPublic?

The issue with UAWiFi is that the Iphone doesn't support any of the new encryptions such as WPA2-ENT, but even then you still have to auth via a radius server and not a web page.

You may be able to set it up to work via UAPublic as it is a web portal to a CCA box. Seeing as the important frame that takes the username and password is loaded first it should be pretty strait forward. I would have to look more into the system that it was actually built for before i could say for sure that the script would work.

--Justin

[justinm1]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.

Your going to have to be more specific. What doesnt work?

You can't connect?
You don't have a signal?
Your connection drops?
Is it on UAPublic or UAWiFi?
Which driver are you using?
Which OS?
Is your computer updated?
Have you tried the instructions available online for setting up WiFI?
Which Library?

I find it very unlikely that it would only work in the basement as we have some 100+ APs (Main Lib). All of which run off of two wireless controllers with the same model of access points thus making it identical throughout the building and allowing your authenticated session to roam seamlessly.

--Justin

[richard5]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.

The University has one of the most advanced and largest radius wifi setups in the country. It's not exactly like going to best buy, buying a linksys router and plugging it in. Wifi card companies come here to test their equipment and advance their drivers.

[dcv]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.

I work in the Library too, and my iPhone and Macbook Pro (and my iBook before that) all have great reception down here and, really, all over campus - UAWifi/UAPublic covers about 2/3 of campus, after all.

Perhaps it's a problem with your hardware and/or software? Could you provide more specifics about your situation?

The UAWifi rollout is one of the largest and most complex wifi setups across the country - if you want more information about what your tuition cost is going to, I recommend you read this Cisco press release - http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/modules/ps2706/products_case_study0900aecd806657ea.shtml

Few universities have the kind of ubiquitous wifi coverage we have here at the UofA, and a majority of students are very satisfied with it.

This is a radically more complex operation than the small routers coffee shops have set up, so the comparison really isn't very valid - were a few thousand people all to show up at Coffee eXchange and jump on the wifi, it'd break very quickly (actually, I've seen Coffee eXchange's setup break with only about sixty people on - it sucked because I was working on an important group project).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Regarding the iPhone in particular, again, until it supports WPA Enterprise with PEAP authentication, it will not be able to get on UAWifi - only UAPublic. robertv1's script, while interesting, would not work for the UofA's setup.

[dparm]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.


Wow, this is going to start a storm.


I honestly think you're in the minority, as I see tons of people all over campus (including in the library) using their iPhones and Mac laptops.

Calling the university's technology "unreliable" and behind the curve is pretty insulting to the hard-working people who have devoted a lot of time into getting things running, and keeping them running.

[yvette]

I work at the library and find I can't use my iPhone or Powerbook anyplace else other than the basement/IC and it's hit or miss anywhere else on campus. It would be nice if the UofA could catch up with the rest of the US universities and get reliable technology since it's included in students' tuition costs! It's sad that places like coffee houses can offer better compatibility and reliability.


Not a very good argument indeed.

[cts1]

so im trying to set up my ua email account onto my iphone and im really confused if it is possible or not? if so can somebody please explain to me what i need to do!!!!

[Hosey]

I have my ua email set up on outlook and it just synced to my iphone.

[iPhone Wildcat]

What a total mess. iPhone can't log into UAWifi, and UAPublic doesn't work half the time or it won't check email. I'll be sticking to EDGE on campus, which is a total crime, considering I should be able to use my own campus's wifi connection.

At IU Bloomington and USC I have had *no* problems getting onto their campus wireless networks.

[richard5]

In my experiences UAPublic and webmail works fine with IMAP on the iPhone/iPod touch. If you're having trouble getting your mail on your device remember you need to first open safari and accept the license agreement just like with any other computer. If you're having issues connecting to UAPublic try upgrading your firmware as they have greatly increased wireless reliability with the past revisions. 1.1.3 is the latest and it's also been jailbroken and unlocked if you're worried about that ;)

[AWESOM-O]

So,
According to this guide http://www.usc.edu/its/wireless/winxpsp2.html USC's wireless is totally wide open with absolutely no encryption (hence the reason why you are able to connect your iPhone with no problems). At least this University cares about our privacy and goes to great lengths to encrypt/protect our data to prevent unauthorized parties from intercepting it.

[Unregistered]

so i synch the i phone to the uofa email using outlook, but im having issuse with the outgoing mail response.. i can get the email but i cant send any>>what im i doing wrong?? help please

[richard5]

so i synch the i phone to the uofa email using outlook, but im having issuse with the outgoing mail response.. i can get the email but i cant send any>>what im i doing wrong?? help please

You don't have the smtp server correct. It's smtpgate.email.arizona.edu, use your netid and password, then go to advanced and turn ssl on for outgoing settings and set authentication to password.

[gstoner]

The new iphone 2.0 software is suppose to support 802.x and in theory allow iphone users to finally connect to UA WIFI instead of UA Public.

Has anyone had success? I have the new software but I couldn't get passed the login.

[fischerm]

There's another thread (http://forum.oscr.arizona.edu/showthread.php?t=6086) that talks a bit about success with that. Basically it seems to not work in some cases, but moving to a different place and keep trying, most people have been able to get on eventually.

[maxcrupi]

i recommend just using UA Public as i do that for my Tmobile shadow andit works fine