Ricky Says

According to Apple only a "very small number of iPad users have experienced issues with Wi-Fi connectivity", and that a patch is on the way, yet I see articles all over the web that indicate the problem is much wider spread.

Sure enough, the iPad I brought home just yesterday was also having problems connecting to the same Wi-Fi network that my other devices and computers have connected to for months without problems.

The only reliable, guaranteed fix for connecting my ipad to my Linksys home wireless network was to disable security.

At first I was able to get my ipad to connect to my Linksys WRT120N Wi-Fi router without problems, but not when I tried it again after the iPad had been on stand-by. It recognized the wireless network and would appear to connect, but then would lose the IP address within a few seconds (instead giving me a bogus address of 169.254.108.158).

You can check your ipad's network settings by tapping Settings -- Wi-Fi and then tapping the blue arrow next to the Network you're connecting to. You will typically see an IP address that starts with 192.168 instead of 169.254, and most of the other network fields should have values (Subnet Mask, Router, DNS, etc).

I tried several things that I've listed below, but the only thing that really worked was to turn off wireless security for my Linksys router. It's not as big of a risk as you might think, because my wireless router signal hardly even makes it out to the edge of my small backyard.

To turn off wireless security, you'll need to log into the administration web page for your wireless access point (http://192.168.1.1 for my Linksys from a computer that's connected to the router). Once logged into your Linksys, click "Wireless" and then "Wireless Security" and choose "Disabled" as the security mode. Be sure to save that screen before moving on.

I bought a Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G this week and used it on the way into work to watch a streaming movie with Netflix.

Don't worry - I wasn't WWD (watching while driving). I commute about an hour into downtown Portland on the bus, and having wifi internet access on the trip is a must for me since I have an iPhone 3GS, a Macbook Pro, and an iPad. The Sprint Overdrive supports up to 5 wifi connections at a time, so I'll be wired no matter which device I'm using.

I use the wireless access for more than just watching movies too - I actually get quite a bit of work done during my commute, and now I'll be able to get even more done, thanks to the fast (and unlimited) 4G speeds of the Sprint Overdrive.

Sprint unfortunately caps their 3G data plans at 2 GB a month, but 4G connectivity is unlimited and way faster too. Even at a low 20% signal strength I was able to watch a streaming Netflix movie with no pauses or frame drops, and without having to worry about exceeding the 2 GB limit that Sprint places on 3G connectivity.

The trick is to ensure that you're only connecting to the 4G network, which is fortunately one of the settings that can be easily configured on the Sprint Overdrive.

Here's how to force your Sprint Overdrive to only connect at 4G:

1. Open the Overdrive's admin console.

The admin console for the Sprint Overdrive 3G/4G is a web page located at http://192.168.0.1. You can open this link in a web browser from any device that's connected to the Overdrive's wifi network.

2. Log in as Admin.

Enter your admin password and click OK to access the Overdrive's setup screens.

Hopefully you wrote the password down somewhere when you first configured your Overdrive, or you can also find it in the original contract you received from Sprint (which they also sent to my email address).

3. Set WAN Mode to "4G only".

I upgraded my wireless home network this weekend from an old Netgear 802.11b router to a shiny new Linksys WRT120N router sporting the latest 802.11n technology, and a much sleeker design.

The network speed difference is very noticeable and significantly faster on the newer router, and the units were on sale for only $39 at Fry's so it seemed like a steal of a deal... until I tried to install it.

I have Comcast internet at home with a standard-issue Motorola cable modem, and it turns out that Linksys routers don't naturally connect directly with these modems.

The Network Magic software that comes with Linksys routers failed on the first setup screen with an "Error 321", claiming it could not detect my ethernet network adapter. Apparently the Linksys routers require you to connect through a separate router that sits between the Comcast modem and the Linksys router (or at least that's what I found hidden somewhere in the documentation) - and in fact, it worked fine if I connected through my old Netgear router to the Comcast modem.

I was also able to connect directly from my computer to the Linksys router, which I was able to verify by running ipconfig and seeing the IP address assigned by the router. I was also able to log into the router's admin console screens by opening a web browser and entering the IP address of the router - http://192.168.1.1 using admin/admin for the username/password.

I'm enroute to Dallas, TX right now and it's a wifi flight with American Airlines. I'm typing... I mean tapping this post on my iPhone 3GS, after paying a nominal $7.95 fee.

The Internet speed on the in-flight wifi connection is plenty fast to download a music album from iTunes while updating 4 apps, browsing the web and checkng email, without any noticeable slow down.

GPS looks a little confused though - it thinks I'm still at the airport even though we've been traveling for a couple hours, probably because that's where the signal is coming from:

SMS also doesn't work, so don't plan on texting on these flights. You also can't share a connection between a laptop and mobile device - you have to pay an additional connection for a laptop or mobile device (iPhone, Blackberry, etc).

I'd love to see wifi be free on flights, but all things considered, I felt it was still a great value since I was able to get a lot of work done (and play) instead of wasting a few hours in the air.

Question: Is there a way to get a wifi signal to your itouch from either your cell phone or connect an aircard to the touch?

Answer: I haven't found a way to do this, but a couple readers indicated that it might be possible using a Blackberry.

Anyone up for creating an itouch app for this? :-)