wifi network password

[Jack Moore]

Got a weird problem with my daughter's iPhone 3GS. All the macs, iPhone 4, iPad can access the home hub for Wifi with the same network password, except her 3GS iPhone (its a bit old but working ok) The password itself is only 15 characters and involves letters , numbers and left and right chevrons. Her phone finds the network and have tried several times but 'incorrect password" keeps coming up. I have put a new device on the network just to check the password and it is valid.
I am beginning to wonder if it is the phone's keyboard. Any other ideas?
Thanks
Jack

[Dom Barnes]

Are you using WPA/WPA2 encryption? Alt/Option and Click the Airport menu to see the Security type on your Mac.

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Dom Barnes
http://about.me/dombarnes

[Drew Reece]

Reboot the router FWIW.
On the iPhone go to 'Settings > General > Reset > Reset network settings'. This will remove any old networks iOS has remembered & all the proxy configs etc, make sure she doesn't need them :)

Watch the characters as you enter the password, it should be clear that they are correct, iOS shows the last character for a few seconds before hiding it with • (dots).

The 3GS needs to use 802.11.b/g, so make sure that is allowed in the router settings (I wouldn't expect the iPhone to find the network if it wasn't the case, and the iPad may need the same protocol).
It's worth seeing if the router has any firmware updates available (check the vendor's site).

I guess you could change the password to see if that helps, Apple have some recommended setting for routers, however I don't think it is 3GS specific.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199

'Settings > About > Diagnostics and usage > Diagnostics and usage data' may have logs that give you something to google for. These logs get moved to the computer after a sync.

It's possible the 3GS doesn't support the encryption mode on the AP, but it's difficult to see a spec of what modes it actually supports.

[Jack Moore]

Hi Dom
It's WPA/WPA2 security
To get a printer to work on Wifi I had to make the channel selection #6 rather than auto. Would the 3GS be kicking up about that?
jack

[Drew Reece]

Jack,
The channel shouldn't matter, the 3GS should support wpa/wpa2, but the encryption type is another possible limitation, I can't see any actual spec for what it supports, is the 3GS up to date, what OS version is it?
Did you check if b&g networking is enabled on the access point? The Macs may be happily running on 802.11.n that the 3GS can't do.

System profile should tell you what the AP is broadcasting for its 'Phy Mode' e.g. n/b/g. (Apple menu > about this Mac, find Airport or Wireless in the Network section).

P.S.
You can share the internet from an ethernet connection to the 3GS if you need a way to get it online to update it - it's the internet sharing section of System prefs > Sharing, you need a wifi & wired connection. It's not ideal, but it can get you out of a pinch.

Re:co

[Jack Moore]

see below

On 10 May 2013, at 19:07, Drew Reece <dru...@gmail.com> wrote:

Jack,
The channel shouldn't matter, the 3GS should support wpa/wpa2, but the encryption type is another possible limitation, I can't see any actual spec for what it supports, is the 3GS up to date, what OS version is it? 

Yes did the latest software update today via the iMac iTunes . Did the network setting reset as your first mail. Still finds the network but rejects the p/w

Did you check if b&g networking is enabled on the access point?

Thats set to b/g/n see S/Shot

The Macs may be happily running on 802.11.n that the 3GS can't do.

System profile should tell you what the AP is broadcasting for its 'Phy Mode' e.g. n/b/g. (Apple menu > about this Mac, find Airport or Wireless in the Network section).

I looked this up on the iMac and Phy= 802.11.n
I can't see any settings like that on the phone

P.S.
You can share the internet from an ethernet connection to the 3GS if you need a way to get it online to update it - it's the internet sharing section of System prefs > Sharing, you need a wifi & wired connection. It's not ideal, but it can get you out of a pinch.

Yes I get  that - do I do the USB option for the phone, or wifi?

[Drew Reece]

It's probably easiest to share the internet from ethernet (or USB if that is where the internet comes from) to the wifi for the time being.
A bit like …
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/59660/Internet-sharing.png

Do you have MAC address filtering turned on for the AP?

Re:co

> <Screen Shot 2013-05-10 at 19.15.23.png>

[Drew Reece]

You may also want to try without the angle bracket in the SSID too, perhaps the 3GS doesn't like that, I thought you were referring to the password when you mentioned it earlier.

Re:co

On 10 May 2013, at 19:32, Jack Moore wrote:

> <Screen Shot 2013-05-10 at 19.15.23.png>
>

[Jack Moore]

The angle brackets crop up in both the password and the SSID. I didn't think it was that as the 3GS displays the characters of the network id ok in the list of them. All the characters display ok momentarily as you described so this would rule out the phone keyboard I suppose. We also tried the neighbour's AP which is set to default SSID and p/w (ahem!) and they only have letters and numbers. My iPhone4 connected ok but her 3GS would not. (incorrect password msg again) It does seem her phone is refusing to gain access to wifi networks.
Jack

[Peter Boynton]

Would it be worth restoring the iPhone? Would rule out software/hardware issues. I can't see that this is a software issue but then again if you are only able to install iOS 4/5 it might be but I doubt it.

Pete

[Drew Reece]

You may be right that it doesn't matter, however if there is some difference in encodings it's possible for characters to be different at either end, punctuation is higher up the tables AFAIK. It's 2 minutes to change & test it :^)

It does sound more like it could be a fubar'd phone, however I'd still suggest trying your own test network (setup from internet sharing). There is no telling on how the neighbours wifi could be setup. It could be running the same settings as your access point. Your iPhone 4 also supports 802.11.b/g/n so you still can't be certain the router isn't rejecting the b/g clients. Your neighbour could also be running a honeypot to trap pesky kids, be careful :^)

The access point should also have logs, you can usually turn on higher levels if you dig around - it may be another clue.

Otherwise as Pete suggested, nuke the phone & start over, just back it up in iTunes or iCloud first see if it fails before & after you restore her data.
Good luck,

R