# iPhone 3G - Hotspot Access?



## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

Anyone out there using an iPhone plan on FIDO or Rogers and using the free Wifi that's included with the iPhone plans at hotspots (ie: Starbucks, Second Cup, etc..) Just wondering how you get it to work and/or how useful it is?

Can you spoof you iPhone user agent on a Laptop per se, and get the laptop on the wifi as well? This is a big selling feature to me to get a 3G maybe - so I'd like to see how it works.


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## MomentsofSanity (Jul 9, 2008)

I was in a Chapter's with Starbucks in it yesterday and the iPhone immediately just prompted for the available WiFi signal and asked if I wanted to use it. Came up as '*_Bell' (Can't remember the first part).


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## Macaholic (Jan 7, 2003)

Is there a list of these free Rogers/Fido Hotspots?


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## Flipstar (Nov 7, 2004)

Macaholic said:


> Is there a list of these free Rogers/Fido Hotspots?


On the Rogers website.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

Try this.

Canadian Hotspots - Find Hotspots

Apparently a hotspot is a hotspot, whether it's Rogers, Bell or Telus. Not sure how Rogers monitors your unlimited use of WiFi hotspots when it's run by Bell or Telus. Somehow methinks the threat of high data charges without a data plan even at WiFi hotspots run by Rogers or any other company is simply not true.

Case in point: the Rogers wireless store I visited yesterday with my kids to try out the iPhone (which was very un-busy compared to the day before--they were also sold out of iPhones, but have more comin this week), well this store's demo model was running only on WiFi since they didn't have the 3G network up and running yet. And get this, it was WiFi from the business next door they were accessing! Now who pays for that, I wonder? :heybaby:


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## bringonthenite (Aug 7, 2007)

Macaholic said:


> Is there a list of these free Rogers/Fido Hotspots?


Techknight on HOFO created this MAP of hotspots.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

This may also be useful if you're a Fido customer.

http://www.fido.ca/web/content/faq/faq_hotspot

I don't know if anyone realizes this yet, but I think most hot spots are run using the 802.11b/g routers, not the 802.11n standard you'll find on all new Macs and the iPhone, as well as the Apple Extreme router and Time Capsule. Essentially WiFi access is just a wireless home router set up in a public place. My router at home can coordinate something like 50 devices, or so I'm told.

I certain;y don't feel like paying the per/use cost if these hot spots are running 802.11g.


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## Gene Rayburn (Jun 30, 2007)

Here's my question: are iPhones that aren't on the Rogers iPhone packages still allowed to access the hotspots for free? I'd try it but I'm nowhere near a Rogers/Bell/Telus hotspot atm.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

I'm in Starbucks now with my 2G iPhone and I can't access the wifi - it redirects me to the standard login page and then FIDO wants me to pay $40/month for wifi. I think I'll stick with my $10/month Boingo, thanks


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## Chealion (Jan 16, 2001)

FWIW, 802.11g runs at 54Mbps and your standard internet connection isn't more than 10Mbps depending on where you are in the country. So having a 802.11n connection (which the iPhone does not have - it has 802.11g) won't show much effect if at all on using the internet. However anything within the network (say another computer connected to the same base station wired or with 802.11n) will be considerably faster.

From someone I follow on Twitter they said after logging into the hotspot he was notified they are only free until January. Can anyone confirm this? If so that goes the only aspect of the "iPhone" plans that you couldn't create using the $30/6B data + voice plan route.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

I'm not totally sure "free hotpost access" is even totally free. You'd probably be expected to purchase a coffee or ice capp or something while you're there. Those things add up.

Another question: wouldn't _anybody's_ wireless router count as a hot spot, providing you have permission to use it or its unencrypted? Why limit yourself only to _commercial_ hot spots?


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## zlinger (Aug 28, 2007)

I wonder if someone can use a Wireless Service at Boingo: Wireless Internet, Wi-Fi, Wireless Access, Hotspot account for $7.95 on mobile devices, and then tether it to a laptop. 

I see it works in the US and in Canada on networks such as FatPort.

Even though there could be limits on transfer per month, it could be a good option for web surfing and emailing on the go.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

For those of us techno-neophytes, there is some good WiFi information here:

Wi-Fi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and here:

HowStuffWorks "How WiFi Works"

and here:

Hotspot (Wi-Fi) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And an excerpt here:

"During the dot-com boom and subsequent bust in 2000, dozens of companies had the notion that Wi-Fi could become the payphone for broadband. The original notion was that users would pay for broadband access at hotspots. Although some companies like T-mobile, and Boingo have had some success with charging for access, o*ver 90% of the over 300,000 hotspots offer free service to entice customers to their venue*."


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## beachboy_ce (Jun 25, 2007)

zlinger said:


> I wonder if someone can use a Wireless Service at Boingo: Wireless Internet, Wi-Fi, Wireless Access, Hotspot account for $7.95 on mobile devices, and then tether it to a laptop.
> 
> I see it works in the US and in Canada on networks such as FatPort.
> 
> Even though there could be limits on transfer per month, it could be a good option for web surfing and emailing on the go.


You can't tether with the $7.95 service, it's $22/month for laptop service. I suggest it for my fellow travelers, it's a great deal and works at most major airports in North America.


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## Malco (Apr 18, 2003)

fjnmusic said:


> I'm not totally sure "free hotpost access" is even totally free. You'd probably be expected to purchase a coffee or ice capp or something while you're there. Those things add up.


You don't need to be inside the store.
I can access the Second Cup 550 feet away easily.


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## adam1185 (Feb 16, 2005)

fjnmusic said:


> This may also be useful if you're a Fido customer.
> 
> http://www.fido.ca/web/content/faq/faq_hotspot
> 
> ...


The iPhone doesn't have 802.11n, only 802.11b/g. See here: Apple - iPhone - Technical Specifications

In fact, I don't think the 802.11n standard has even been finalized yet. Apple is still using the draft specs.


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

Is hotspot access only for those who chose the actual iPhone plans (i.e. chose Rogers $60-115 plans and did not chose a separate voice/data plan)?


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## zlinger (Aug 28, 2007)

fjnmusic said:


> I'm not totally sure "free hotpost access" is even totally free. You'd probably be expected to purchase a coffee or ice capp or something while you're there. Those things add up.





Malco said:


> You don't need to be inside the store.
> I can access the Second Cup 550 feet away easily.


You could also carry around an empty cup with you. This will allow to pretend to be a paying customer -- if they asked who you are, tell them you just stepped out of the store for a few minutes, and just returned back to use their internet while you finish up your coffee.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

zlinger said:


> You could also carry around an empty cup with you. This will allow to pretend to be a paying customer -- if they asked who you are, tell them you just stepped out of the store for a few minutes, and just returned back to use their internet while you finish up your coffee.


I like that one. You could even put a different beverage entirely in there and just pretend it's coffee. Jolt Cola, for example.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

adam1185 said:


> The iPhone doesn't have 802.11n, only 802.11b/g. See here: Apple - iPhone - Technical Specifications
> 
> In fact, I don't think the 802.11n standard has even been finalized yet. Apple is still using the draft specs.


Not standard until 2009. However, Apple has been using this chip in all their products, even the revised Airport Express. Why wouldn't they also stick one in the iPhone? The info on that page also says 802.11g/b, but I think that's a reference to the WiFi you're likely to find out there, not necessarily to the phone itself. If most of the world hasn't adopted the "n" standard yet, just imagine how speedy these phones could be on WiFi if they have the "n" chip inside. They'd blow BlackBerrys and all the wanna-be's away. I would think that would be His Steveness's plan.

IEEE 802.11 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## adam1185 (Feb 16, 2005)

fjnmusic said:


> Not standard until 2009. However, Apple has been using this chip in all their products, even the revised Airport Express. Why wouldn't they also stick one in the iPhone? The info on that page also says 802.11g/b, but I think that's a reference to the WiFi you're likely to find out there, not necessarily to the phone itself. If most of the world hasn't adopted the "n" standard yet, just imagine how speedy these phones could be on WiFi if they have the "n" chip inside. They'd blow BlackBerrys and all the wanna-be's away. I would think that would be His Steveness's plan.
> 
> IEEE 802.11 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The info on the tech specs page is a direct reference to the capability of the wifi chip in the iphone. Update: It can connect to an 802.11b/g or n network since n access points are backwards compatible with b/g. It just won't achieve the n speed.

I think you're misunderstanding something about wifi and the speeds you can get. Accessing the Internet from a wifi network will only be as fast as the actual internet connection itself, which is way slower than the internal speed on the wifi LAN.

As chealion stated above:


> FWIW, 802.11g runs at 54Mbps and your standard internet connection isn't more than 10Mbps depending on where you are in the country. So having a 802.11n connection (which the iPhone does not have - it has 802.11g) won't show much effect if at all on using the internet. However anything within the network (say another computer connected to the same base station wired or with 802.11n) will be considerably faster.


The only advantage 802.11n in the iPhone would bring is some increased range for 802.11n access points and increased speed between 802.11n-capable computers/devices on an 802.11n network. I'm sure the vast majority of access points out there are 802.11g and they probably will be for a couple more years at least.

The downside of having 802.11n may have been increased costs or power consumption. Or there may not yet be a small enough 802.11n chip to fit in a device the size of an iPhone.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

I'm thinking more along the lines of when I'm using an iPhone at home patched in to my home WiFi network, which is 802.11n (Apple Extreme). Really, it just turns your iPhone into a much smaller portable computer interface. I think that's what Steve Jobs is after--getting away from the whole desktop/laptop mentality. If it has an "n" chip, you should be able to tell by the network speed if you have an "n" router at home.


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## miniphone (Jul 24, 2008)

Macaholic said:


> Is there a list of these free Rogers/Fido Hotspots?


has Montreal hotspots; but kinda of buggy tho..
www.iphonehotspotsmap.com -   var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); docume


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