AT&T WiFi Made Easy With 3.0

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://9to5mac.com/ATT-802.21-protocol-wifi-3G-apple-iphone' target='_blank'>http://9to5mac.com/ATT-802.21-proto...3G-apple-iphone</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"It looks like AT&amp;T might be using the 802.21 protocol to relax the pressure put on their 3G network by the iPhone. The new iPhone 3.0 OS software contains the ability for iPhones to autoswitch from 3G to Wifi when an AT&amp;T Wifi network is in range, without user intervention."</em></p><p><em><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1245289604.usr105634.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" />&nbsp;</em></p><p>Once you have visited an AT&amp;T hotspot, the next time you won't have to go through the normal two-step sign on process. With the iPhone 3.0, after you have visited the network at any of the 20,000 AT&amp;T hotspots, it will "seamlessly" switch you from cellular to the Wi-Fi the next time you stop by the same location. It started yesterday for anyone that has the 3.0 software installed. AT&amp;T has posted a <a href="http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&amp;cdvn=news&amp;newsarticleid=26865" target="_blank">news release</a> outlining all the details.&nbsp;</p>

[ptyork]

This is supposed to be a generic feature that offers "automatic wi-fi login" to hotspots with HTML based authentication systems (i.e., you have to enter a user ID and password on a web page to gain access after you've connected). Well, great idea! Too bad it not only doesn't work (doesn't remember user id or password and doesn't do anything approaching automatic login), but it breaks other automatic login solutions. This was the #1 reason for my purchasing this as it would have made it possible for me to use my touch at the university without the pain of logging in every 15-20 minutes. Now it broke even the BlueSocket authenticator app. One step backwards, no steps forward, at least for me in the wi-fi department.

"Log in to a Wi-Fi hotspot and iPhone automatically logs you in when you connect again." Piddle! :(

[Jeff Campbell]

I was so looking forward to this because our system at work is the same way. We get directed to a web page where you input id and password to get internet access via wi-fi, but this program isn't working to help with that. In fact we cant even log in the old way via the website as the program takes over, looking for a way to turn this feature off, if anyone knows if that is possible? :mad:

[ptyork]

Best I can tell, there is no way to turn it off. The auto-join setting does nothing for me (presumably it would if it could figure out how to actually automatically join this simple network), and certainly doesn't eliminate the essentially broken, quasi-safari window that pops up every time you attach to a hotspot. Talk about an untested feature! Here's a good article on this:

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/macworld/20090618/tc_macworld/iphone30excelsatwifihotspots

Really, this is a pretty shameful issue. They've completely broken Wi-Fi for many people. Mine's not broken as yours is, but it is actually far less usable than before since my auto-login app now doesn't work. I'd expect a fix soon, but then again, it took a LONG time to get a fix for broken Audible.com support in 2.1...

[Jeff Campbell]

Thanks for that link that is a great article on what is happening, I hope they get right on this issue! what a pain!