WiFi questions, Please explain
 

Good morning! About the Wi-Fi, I just want to get a clear understanding. When I am at home, I have a wi-fi icon under the signal icon and besides "Rogers Wireless" - my home wi-fi name appears next to it. Does this mean, that I am automatically connected to my home Wi-fi and when i surf the net ( to check the lousy Canucks scores etc. ), the Bold uses the Wi-Fi connection instead of the data plan?

So when I leave my home, the wi-fi icon should disappear and then the data plan usage kicked in correct??

It this is so, I should connect to my office wi-fi as well as a few other locations that I visit the most so when I am in that vicinity, the Bold would use wi-fi instead.

I hope it makes sense :-)

Thanks

Bruce

Wirelessly posted (Curve 8900)

Yep you got it right. There is no sign of wifi when you are not associated to an access point. But your wifi is still on, unless you manually disable it.


F

My WiFi appears to be working great as well. It connects to AP's as I enter the respective locations.

My question is,"What services are utilizing WiFi?" I've found that the browser is NOT using the WiFi connection, no matter where I am. I've gone through all of the obvious browser config options, etc. to no avail. In the browser I went to whatismyip.com after being a little concerned about the inet speeds. I verified that the IP address that I was on was definitely an AT&T address, not the ISP of my WiFi... Why don't you guys try doing the same and let me know what you find. Also, if you have more info as to what I might be doing wrong here, that would be great as well. - THANKS, Cam.

The easiest way to tell what your browser is using, is to look in the upper right corner of the browser window. If it says "WiFi", then you're using WiFi. If you can't see the top bar in the browser window, press U and it will display.

I would think that to be true, but going to a site that reveals my IP address shows that I am not coming from my ISP, but from AT&T... Any ideas? Try it and see for yourself - whatismyip.com.

Well, going to that site on my phone says "Your IP address is Unknown, unknown".

So I cant help. However, the wi-fi address from my router, and the IP address that the Blackberry Infrastructure uses (i.e. you cant surf the net without Blackberry Infrasctructure connecting [at least i cant]) are different, and perhaps that is the IP you are getting from that site?

Interesting. With only Mobile a connection, I get on the web and go to whatismyip.com and get an ip address (206.x.x.x)

I connect to my WiFi, and get on the web, and the top line still says EDGE. If I turn off Mobile Networks, it says, Off, but I am still on the web, through my WiFi. Checking whatismyip.com gives me the same 206.x.x.x IP address.

Note that the WiFi Icon is on the second line of my home screen.

What kind of default browser are your using ?
If you use the internet-browser and not the hotspot browser as default when connected to a WiFi network, the data sent from your device will be sent from the BB via WiFi to the Blackberry Server Data Center. Therefore, your IP will still be like surfing via GPRS/3G.
If you use the Hotspot browser as default, the BB should behave like a normal PC inside the network and your IP should be different.
If you cannot select the Hotspot Browser, you have to ask your Blackberry Service-provider or the Admin of your BES server to remove the Rule which blocks access to the Hotspot Browser.

Note, that stored links and history in the BB also store the network you used when creating the link. If you made a bookmark using the internet-browser, and later launch it from the bookmarks, the BB will switch to the internet-browser, regardless what kind of default browser was choosen.

see also this post:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...h-problem.html

I had some tricky problems setting up my Wireless, but now its working, and when i walk in range or my router/house it pops up with "BTHOMEHUB" so its all good :)

Boy.. I think I like Corey's explanation the best :-)

When I am at home at get onto the BB browser and goto canucks.com. On top right hand corner, I see bright white Wi-Fi logo/ unlock logo/ etc.

So I think its working fine. But the main question is that I am NOT using my data plan when I am in this mode, correct? Corey??

I am not a sophisticated techie at all so bear with me :-)

Thanks guys!

Bruce

Ok.. ok... I just went to the store and get some stuff... this is what I found.... when I am at the gas station and goto canucks.com I saw signal bar/bb logo/3G/unlock icon... and on the home screen.... Wi-Fi was greyed out. So... yep... my Wi-Fi works ok... :-)

Thanks

Bruce

Yep, I was set to default to the internet browser. Learning more every day.

Thanks

ummm...any way to use the email function via wifi???

Sorry to jump in on this post but I'm also having wireless issues -

If I set my default browser to hotspot it uses my wifi connection at home but if I leave that area I have to manually switch the default back to internet browser otherwise it just tells me there is no connection. Is there a way to get it to do this automatically i.e. set the preference as wifi but if no wifi connection is present to automatically use the internet browser?

Also my wifi keeps switching off - every couple of days. The only way to activate it again is to take the battery out and restart the handset, then it turns back on. Any other people with this problem?

thanks :)

then set your browser to internet browser all the time and it will use your home wi-fi, and when not in wi-fi, will still be the internet browser.

so trying ti reactivate it by going to manage connections and re-ticking wi-fi doesnt work?

Ah ok - so if I set it to internet browser will it definitely use the wi-fi connection in preference if available? I was worried it used the data plan regardless. How do I check if it is indeed using wifi?

correct - if I try to re-tick wireless it thinks about it but then can't turn it back on. I just have to rip out the battery and reboot, then it's ok again. Any ideas?

Wow I did not know that about bookmarks...intriguing!

Just a small thought.

The way I undersatnd it you activate wifi..it find a wifi. Then attempts to make a connection to rims data servers directly(by-passing 3d/edge data networks). If the wifi turns "white" or hightlight a successful connection has been established.

Keep in mind that BIS servers are basically huge ...BES servers with less "sync/push" ability.

Your IP still shows itself as being part of att as Rim's data servers still funnel all data to blackberries(albeit very very compressed) which is why stuff loads fast.

No, if you are connected to wi-fi and your wi-fi icon is bright not dim, then you open to browser, it will be connected to wi-fi. above the browser it will have a line that shows wi-fi icon or edge/3g/gprs. if it shows wi-fi your connected to wi-fi. if you dont see a line above the browser page i.e.google, press U and it will show it.

erm...its unusual, could be an OS glitch...but would have to see if someone who knows more about blackberrys knows the problem.

Depending on which os version your using on your blackberry, as well as the router/wireless protocols and security settings it can take a minute or two or several to get the "bright" icon. I know .167 was rather fast but .190 was slightly slower but .234 for me seems to connect about 50% faster then .190 but slower then .167