Wi-Fi

[CSO]

Ok, am new to Wi-Fi with cell phones. Hope to be getting the Bold, so am wondering: why would one use Wi-Fi vis a vis the Bold's net browser?

Is it faster?

[Emboldened]

Yes wi-fi is always faster, and if you have a limited data plan, then it will save you from using that up. It's useful at home, or if you are if you go somewhere like mcdonalds or a coffee shop or at university that tends to have free wi-fi. I'm sure there are many wi-fi hotspots around, especially in cities.

[lacroixn]

WI-FI provides a "cell tower" in your home, that is if reception is poor at home this will solve your problem. If your provider provides hotspot (a $10 a month plan) like tmobile all calls off wi-fi will be free and all calls from wifi connections that gives you uma. I have this at the office and at home, I can talk and download the whole day with no minutes coming from my wireless mnutes.

good luck

[JG in SB]

WI-FI provides a "cell tower" in your home, that is if reception is poor at home this will solve your problem. If your provider provides hotspot (a $10 a month plan) like tmobile all calls off wi-fi will be free and all calls from wifi connections that gives you uma.
good luck

They operative word here is "UMA". T-mobile gives you this. AT&T does not. So if you are getting an AT&T Bold you will have WiFi data, but not WiFi voice calling. Eventually I think they will have this, and it will be awesome. In the meantime, you need to be on T-Mobile to get UMA, but then you won't have 3G. On AT&T you will have 3G but not UMA.

[Emboldened]

I forgot to mention that WiFi is useful when going on holiday and needing internet access. Many hotels have wi-fi.

[NJBlackBerry]

WiFi is also very useful in areas where you don't have an AT&T (or any carrier) signal, but do have a WiFi signal.

[DrjonesUSA]

WiFi is also very useful in areas where you don't have an AT&T (or any carrier) signal, but do have a WiFi signal.


If you are in a place that doesn't have cell coverage, how are they going to have WiFi? :???:

[NJBlackBerry]

It's not that uncommon. My sister lives in a valley. No cell coverage. But she has Wifi in her house. Same thing with a lot of people who live in areas with poor cell coverage. Office buildings in Manhattan. Terrible in building cell phone reception; great WiFi.

Cell phone coverage has no relationship to the availability of WiFi.

[soupandsandwich]

If you are in a place that doesn't have cell coverage, how are they going to have WiFi? :???:

This is the most short-sighted question I've seen in a long time.

[TBone2k]

They operative word here is "UMA". T-mobile gives you this. AT&T does not. So if you are getting an AT&T Bold you will have WiFi data, but not WiFi voice calling.

Same for Rogers. No wifi calling, but everything else work. I turned off the cell and left the wi-fi on just to be sure.

As an alternative, I think I saw elsewhere about a skype application for Blackberry?

[ksundar]

Can we receive emails thro' wifi?

Can wifi directly connect to BB service bypassing the plans?

Or WiFi is only for browsing?

[soupandsandwich]

Can we receive emails thro' wifi?
Yes, but you still need a BlackBerry Data Plan.

Can wifi directly connect to BB service bypassing the plans?
No.

Or WiFi is only for browsing?
No, it's not just for browsing.

[TBone2k]

Can we receive emails thro' wifi?
Can wifi directly connect to BB service bypassing the plans?
Or WiFi is only for browsing?

I guess I should be more clear about what I tried. I am on Rogers and using BES. If I turn off the mobile network and leave Wifi on, I can send and received email through BES and also browse, which would allow anything else web-based, such as GMail, yahoo, Facebook, whatever.

So what you can and can't do may be based on what your service provider allows.

[ksundar]

[QUOTE=soupandsandwich;1145719]Yes, but you still need a BlackBerry Data Plan.


Thanks for your reply,

Suppose if I have limited plan,will Wi-Fi save me from bills?
As I'm charged for 15p/KB,by downloading mails thro wifi,will it help saving my money?

Plz help!

[perlfather]

JG in SB,
If I understand you then with Bold on AT&T one cannot use WiFi for voice? Correct? Do you have any guess as to when At&T will enable this? This is obviously a key differentiator for many of us trying to decide to switch from a 8310 on AT&T.

[apovey]

A WI-FI QUESTION:

My network provider is Vodafone UK and I have Wi-Fi here at home for my Internet connection and I ahve this evening managed to set it up to work on my Blackberry Bold 9000.

When I switch off the Mobile Network Vodafone UK I can surf the web on my Blackberry Bold as I'm connected up using my Wi-Fi.
Now when I switch the Mobile Network Vodafone UK back I can still obviously surf the web ok on the Blackberry, but my question is: What actual connection am I surfing with?
Does the Wi-Fi automatically overide the Vodafone UK connection?

If so, then that would be superb as then I wouldn't have any data charges whilst surfing the web at home, or when using another Wi-Fi hotspot.

[TBone2k]

Supposedly if you set your default browser to hot spot (options, advanced, browser) it will use wi-fi first, but I don't know if I trust it. That is why I would love to have an applet that runs on my BB that can tell me how much data has gone over the cell and wifi connections.

[CSO]

Ok so in summary it appears the answer to my question is that WIFI is faster than 3G; WIFI can be used for free where WIFI is available: airports, at home on wireless network, and certain other establishments. is this all correct?

Now AT&T has come out with "free" WIFI (appears to be misnomer) since you gotta pay for something to get it free, right?

Why then would you pay extra for wifi, if it's already free at various places?

And today an AT&T rep told me wifi is not faster than 3G; True?

[braambo]

I think 3G is pretty much set to a certain speed and depends on coverage.
Wi-Fi is internet broadcast wirelessly, so it can be any time of internet once you connect to it (T1-Cable-DSL) etc... am I close with this?

[JG in SB]

JG in SB,
If I understand you then with Bold on AT&T one cannot use WiFi for voice? Correct? Do you have any guess as to when At&T will enable this? This is obviously a key differentiator for many of us trying to decide to switch from a 8310 on AT&T.

Oh I wish I knew the answer to THAT!!! :smile: This is the single coolest new technology I have heard about in a long time, and it actually has been around for nearlya year now. I wouldn;t count on it anytime soon unfortunately. However, this might really help them with their bandwidth problems, because every user that is connecting (data OR voice) through their own equipment at home, is a user that is not taking up available 3G bandwidth via AT&T's towers. I don't know what sort of back-end infrastructure they need to support UMA, but it is certainly feasible, and assumably profitable, since T-Mobile has been offering this for a year at this point. My advice, don't hold your breath.

[JG in SB]

I think 3G is pretty much set to a certain speed and depends on coverage.
Wi-Fi is internet broadcast wirelessly, so it can be any time of internet once you connect to it (T1-Cable-DSL) etc... am I close with this?

Nope. Your connection speed is limited to the maximum data rate of your WiFi connection. If you connect to a 54mbps wireless access point (a.k.a. 802.11g or "Wireless G") than that is the max data speed you can get. Doesn't matter if the acess point is directly connected to a T3 line, because the access point is the bottleneck in the data pipe.

Beleive me, a 802.11g connection is plenty fast. This is what you are using at most WiFi Hotspots when you connect your laptop, so it should be plenty good for connecting your Bold.

[JG in SB]

Why then would you pay extra for wifi, if it's already free at various places?

I called to check on this today. You are not paying extra for WiFi. It is included in the data plan that any BlackBerry user signs up for. Why would you want it if there are already "Free" hotspots around? Well, it is true that there are some "free" hotspots around, but they are not ubiquitous, and in many cases, you have no idea what sort of security protocols are in place, if any at all.

On the other hand, At&T WiFi is available in nearly every single North american Starbucks location, most Coffe Bean and Tea Leaf locations, and countless other places like hotels and airports. And they provide a very secure network.

Unless you plan to use your BlackBerry solely as a phone, which defeats the purpose of having one, than you will want the unimited data plan that AT&T offers specifically for BlackBerrys. The WiFi is now included for free as part of this plan if you are purchasing a Bold. You don't get charged extra for it. This is not something I was expecting them to do, and I was THRILLED when I found out about it today.

[dbltap]

AT&T is also WiFi is also at most US based McDonalds. The infrastructure for all this is being run by Waveport.

[soupandsandwich]

Nope. Your connection speed is limited to the maximum data rate of your WiFi connection. If you connect to a 54mbps wireless access point (a.k.a. 802.11g or "Wireless G") than that is the max data speed you can get. Doesn't matter if the acess point is directly connected to a T3 line, because the access point is the bottleneck in the data pipe.

Beleive me, a 802.11g connection is plenty fast. This is what you are using at most WiFi Hotspots when you connect your laptop, so it should be plenty good for connecting your Bold.

Your post is sort of backwards and the analogy you use is poor.
The WiFi connection is typically MUCH faster than the Internet pipe that sits behind it.
The bottleneck in recognized user connection speeds is due to the speed of the actual internet pipe behind the AP, not the speed of the WiFi access point itself.

A T3 is the equivalent of 28 T1 pipes... roughly 45mbps. Even a 54mbps WiFi-G access point wouldn't be a bottleneck when connected directly to an underlying T3.