We live in a connected world. Wireless Internet (Wi-Fi) access has become the rule, not the exception—and chances are you’re already using Wi-Fi at your home or office. You can use it to connect your iPhone to the Internet. And, since your iPhone also has a 3G cellular radio, you can also connect to the Internet anywhere you have cellular data coverage—a much wider area than Wi-Fi networks.
In this chapter, we’ll talk about the differences between the two types of connections for your iPhone: Wi-Fi (wireless local area network) and 3G (cellular service—the wide area data network used by your mobile phone). We’ll show you all the ways to get connected or disconnected from these two types of networks. For example, there will be times you will want to disable or turn off your 3G connection and only use Wi-Fi to save money in data connection charges.
We will also show you how to get ready for traveling internationally with your iPhone—what you need to do before, during, and after your trip so you don’t get surprised with a very large phone bill when you return home.
We will also show you how to use Internet Tethering, the ability to make your iPhone become an Internet hub for your laptop, whether it’s a PC or Mac. This is a great feature to use when you don’t have any other way to connect your laptop to the Internet.
Finally, if you work at an organization with a VPN (Virtual Private Network), we will show you how to get connected to that network.
Here are some of the things you can do when connected to a Wi-Fi or 3G network:
Every iPhone comes with Wi-Fi capability built in, so let’s take a look at getting connected to the Wi-Fi network. Things to consider about Wi-Fi connections include the following:
NOTE: iPhone has support for the faster, longer range 802.11n standard. However, it only supports 802.11n on the more crowded 2.4 MHz band, not the less crowded 5 MHz band. If you want to use iPhone with your 802.11n Wi-Fi router, make sure it’s either a dual-band router or set the router to 2.4 MHz.
To set up your Wi-Fi connection, follow these steps:
In some locations where they offer free Wi-Fi networks, such as coffee shops, hotels, or restaurants; you will see a pop-up window appear as soon as your iPhone comes into contact with the network. In these cases, simply tap the network name. You may be brought to a Safari browser screen to complete your login to the network:
NOTE: Some places, like coffee shops, use a web-based login instead of a username/password screen. In those cases, when you click the network (or try to use Safari), your iPhone will open a browser screen, and you’ll see the web page along with your login options.
Some Wi-Fi networks require a password to connect. This is set when the network administrator creates the wireless network. You will have to know the exact password, including whether it is case-sensitive.
If the network does require a password, then you will be taken to the Enter Password screen. Type the password exactly as given to you and press the Enter key on the on-screen keyboard (which is now labeled Join).
On the Network screen, you’ll see a Checkmark icon showing that you are connected to the network.
TIP: You can paste into the password dialog; so for longer, random passwords, you can transfer them to your iPhone (in an email message) and just copy and paste them. Just remember to delete the email immediately afterwards, so you can keep things secure. Tap and hold the password in the mail message, select it, and then tap Copy. In the Wi-Fi network Password field, tap and then select Paste.
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At times you may want to change your active Wi-Fi network. This might occur if you are in a hotel, apartment, or other place where the network selected by the iPhone is not the strongest network, or you want to use a secure network instead of an unsecure one.
To switch from the currently selected Wi-Fi network, tap the Settings icon, touch Wi-Fi, and then touch the name of the Wi-Fi network you want to join. If that network requires a password, you’ll need to enter it to join.
Once you type the correct password (or if you touched an open network), your iPhone will join that network.
It is easy to see if you are connected to a network (and which one) by looking next to the Wi-Fi setting in your main Settings screen. Follow these steps to check your Wi-Fi connection status:
Sometimes you may not be able to see the network you want to join because the name has been hidden (the SSID is not being broadcast) by the network administrator. Next, you will learn how to join such networks on your iPhone. Once you have joined such a network, you will join that network automatically the next time you come into contact with it—with no prompt from your iPhone. You can also tell your iPhone to ask every time it joins a network; we will show you how to do that, as well. Sometimes you may want to erase or forget a network. For example, perhaps you were at a one-time convention and want to get rid of the associated network—you’ll learn how to do that, too.
Sometimes, for security reasons, people don’t make their networks discoverable (they hide the network name, called the SSID), and you have to manually enter the name and security options to connect to it.
As you can see, your list of available networks includes Other.
When you have the information you need, enter it along with the proper password, and this new network will be saved to your network list for future access.
The nice thing about the iPhone is that, when you return to an area with a Wi-Fi network you previously joined (whether it was an open or a secure, password-protected, network), your iPhone will automatically join the network again without asking you first. However, you can turn off this automatic-joining feature, as described in the next section.
There is a main Ask to Join Networks switch, which is set to ON by default. Known networks are joined automatically, but this only takes effect if no known networks are available. With this switch set to ON, you will be asked to join visible Wi-Fi networks. If networks are available that are not known to you, you will be asked before being connected.
If the switch is set to OFF, you will have to manually join unknown networks.
Why might you want to turn off this feature?
Doing so could be a good security measure if, for example, you don’t want your kids to be able to join a wireless network on the iPhone without your knowledge.
It can also be annoying if your iPhone is continuously popping up the Join Network connector screen in areas where you don’t want to join Wi-Fi, such as when traveling through a place with many hotspots.
Sometimes, you may find that a particular Wi-Fi network has additional switches that override the main Ask to Join Networks switch. Tap the little blue Arrow icon next to the network name to see details about this Wi-Fi network. Auto-Join and Auto-Login are set to ON by default.
To disable Auto-Join or Auto-Login, tap each switch to set it to OFF.
If you find that you no longer want to connect to a network on your list, you can Forget it—i.e., take it off your list of networks. Follow these steps to do so:
Your iPhone can also connect to the cellular data network—the same network you connect to with other mobile phones. Here are things to consider about cellular data connections:
NOTE: Check with your local wireless carrier for iPhone data plan pricing in your country.
When you purchased your iPhone, you had to select a cellular data plan from your wireless carrier. For the iPhone in the US, you can currently choose between AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. If you selected one plan and now wish to try another plan, contact your carrier—you may be allowed to switch data plans.
TIP: Saving Money on Data Charges
You might be able to save yourself some money with cellular data plan charges by doing the following:
You may find that you can live with the lower cost plan if you use Wi-Fi for most of your data needs.
Follow these steps to check your current cellular data usage:
NOTE: The iPhone will notify you when you have 20%, 10%, and 0% left on your monthly data plan. It will also give you the option of renewing that plan or upgrading to a higher data plan, if available.
Depending on which country you are visiting and your current iPhone voice and data plan, you may be well prepared for international travel. However, it is quite likely that your basic iPhone data and phone plans will either not work or cause you to spend a lot more money on data and voice roaming charges.
We always recommend that you call your phone service provider well in advance of a trip to see whether there is an international feature you can turn on for your iPhone as you travel.
One thing you want to avoid when traveling is returning home to an unusually high voice or data roaming charge phone bill. For example, we have heard of people who returned home after a trip abroad to find a phone bill totaling $1,000 or more in a single month’s data and voice roaming charges. In the sections that follow, we will show you how to take steps before, during, and after your trip to help avoid surprise charges.
These simple steps can help you ensure that your iPhone will successfully and economically connect to the local country’s network—no matter where you might be in the world.
You should contact the phone company that supplies your iPhone before you leave home. When you call, you should check the following things:
You might be able to find some information on your phone company’s web site, but usually you need to call them.
In some cases, your iPhone wireless company won’t offer special deals on international data roaming plans—or its rates will be unreasonably high. In these cases, you may want to ask your phone company to unlock your iPhone, so you can insert a SIM card purchased in the country you’re visiting.
NOTE: Apple sells an unlocked, SIM-free iPhone in many countries, including the US, Canada, and the UK. If you are a frequent traveler, an officially unlocked iPhone might be something to consider.
Inserting a local SIM card will eliminate or greatly reduce data and voice roaming charges. However, you should carefully check the cost of placing and receiving international calls on that SIM card.
Using an international SIM card might save you hundreds of dollars, but it’s best to do some web research or try to talk to someone who has recently traveled to the same country for advice before settling on that approach.
TIP: If you are going to a country without a good rate plan and your carrier will not unlock your iPhone, you might want to consider renting or purchasing a local cell phone. You may be able to rent a phone for about US $30 / week with much lower voice calling rates. Many cell phone rental companies exist, such as Travel Cell, Mobal, and Cellular Abroad. (Do a web search for “International Cell Phone Rental” to find more information.)
You may also want to do a web search for traveling to countries X, Y, and Z with your iPhone.
TIP: Put a paperclip in your luggage—if you lose the SIM removal tool that came with your unlocked iPhone, you will need it to remove and replace the SIM card in your iPhone.
You should do all your data-intensive activities before you leave your home country, if possible. If you have a lot of apps that need updating, do that before you leave. Also, look for and add any apps that you might need before your trip. You should also download any large files, such as movies, videos, or music before you leave.
Often when you are flying on an airplane, the flight crew will ask you to turn off all portable electronic devices for takeoff and landing. Then, when you get to a certain altitude, the crew will say that “all approved electronic devices” can be turned back on.
If you need to turn off your iPhone completely, press and hold the Power button on the top-right edge, and then Slide to Power Off with your finger.
In order to enable Airplane Mode, follow these steps:
TIP: Some airlines have in-flight Wi-Fi networks. On those flights, you may want to turn your Wi-Fi back ON at the appropriate time.
You can turn your Wi-Fi connection OFF or ON by following these steps:
Once you’ve completed the steps described so far to prepare for your trip, you will need to address some additional issues when you get to your destination. The next sections explain the things you need to keep in mind after you arrive at your destination.
When you arrive, you will need to make sure your iPhone is displaying the correct local time. Usually, your iPhone will auto-update your time zone when you arrive at a new destination. If it doesn’t, you can manually adjust the time zone (see the “Setting Your Date and Time” section in Chapter 1: “Getting Started”).
NOTE: This step will only work if the carrier in the country you’re visiting offers an iPhone, and your iPhone has been unlocked. Currently, the US carrier AT&T will not unlock iPhone devices. Your fallback plan, especially if you need to make a lot of local in-country calls, is to rent or buy an inexpensive pre-paid mobile phone and reserve your iPhone use for Wi-Fi connections only.
If you have determined that you can use an international SIM card, then you should purchase and insert it when you arrive. We show you how to remove the SIM card tray in Chapter 1. You need to use Apple’s SIM removal tool or a paperclip to remove this card.
CAUTION: The iPhone uses a MicroSIM, where as many other phones use a MiniSIM. This means you’ll most likely need to find an international carrier that also has the iPhone available on their network.
As soon as you land, you should reset your data usage on your iPhone. This will allow you to keep close track of the amount of wireless data you are using overseas. For example, if you purchased a 20 MB plan, you want to make sure you don’t go over that amount. A brief test using Maps for about 1 minute in the car resulted in almost 1 MB of data usage. So be careful and try not to use extremely data-intensive apps such as Maps while roaming.
We explained exactly how to reset your usage earlier in this chapter’s“ Select and Monitor Your Cellular Data Usage” section.
TIP: Once you reset your usage, you will want to return to this screen from time to time to see your current usage. You have to add the Sent and Received values together to get your total usage. If your data usage was 417 MB total—that would cost $8,340 at the $20/MB rate in effect without an international data plan!
If you were unable to find an international SIM card—or if you were unable to find the cost of data roaming from your local phone company—then you might want to turn off the data roaming altogether.
This won’t stop you from using Wi-Fi; however, it will make sure you don’t get any nasty surprises from checking email or accidentally launching a data hungry app while you’re away.
NOTE: Data Roaming is usually set to OFF by default, but it always makes sense to double-check—just in case—before you leave on a trip.
Follow these steps to set Data Roaming to OFF:
Setting the Data Roaming value to OFF should help you avoid any potentially exorbitant data roaming charges. (You still need to worry about voice roaming charges, but at least you can control those by watching how much you talk on your phone.)
The nice part about setting the Cellular Data to ON and Data Roaming to OFF is that you can still enjoy all your data services until the time you leave your home country and immediately when you return—without making any other changes. Of course, you can also use your Wi-Fi network connection any time.
One good way to save money on cellular data plans is to use local Wi-Fi networks whenever possible, especially when you are going to browse the Web or download large amounts of email or large apps.
TIP: You may be able to find free Wi-Fi networks at Internet cafés, regular coffee shops, public libraries, some hotel lobbies, and Apple retail stores.
As you did when you arrived at your travel destination, you will need to make a few changes to your iPhone’s settings once you arrive back home before your device will work as expected.
When you return to your home country, you will need to verify your iPhone is displaying the correct local time. Usually, your iPhone will auto-update your time zone when you arrive back home. However, if it doesn’t, you can manually adjust the time zone (see the “Setting Your Date and Time” section in Chapter 1: “Getting Started”).
The final step is optional. If you have activated some sort of special international roaming rate plan with your iPhone wireless company, and you do not need it anymore, then contact the company to turn it off to save yourself some money.
Using all the steps we describe before, during, and after your trip should help you be able to use your iPhone successfully and economically as you travel internationally.
One of the nice features on your iPhone is that you can use it to connect your laptop—PC or Mac—to the Internet. This feature is called Personal Hotspot, and it’s very useful if you happen to be traveling away from a Wi-Fi network, but are still within wireless cellular data coverage with your iPhone. This greatly expands the places that you can use your laptop to connect to the Internet.
Connecting your laptop or other device to the Internet over your iPhone’s data plan used to be called tethering, and it only worked via Bluetooth or by plugging in the USB Dock cable.
Personal Hotspot is similar to tethering; but instead of using Bluetooth or USB, it turns your iPhone into a small, portable Wi-Fi router that can connect multiple devices to the Internet. For example, you might connect your laptop, your friend’s laptop, and your iPad. (The exact number of devices that can connect over Personal Hotspot will depend on your carrier, but it’s typically four or five.)
TIP: Old-style tethering over Bluetooth and the USB Dock cable are still available options if, for some reason, you don’t want to use the Personal Hotspot feature.
Internet tethering may require a separate plan to be purchased and activated from your phone company. Call your phone company or check on its web site to turn on the Mobile Hotspot or Tethering plan.
TIP: You may be able to save yourself some money by turning off the Personal Hotspot or Tethering plan when you no longer need it. Check with your phone company to find out if there are any penalties or hidden charges for turning off the Tethering plan at a later date.
After you have purchased or activated the Personal Hotspot or Mobile Hotspot from your phone company, you are ready to set it up on your iPhone:
Your iPhone is now a small, mobile Wi-Fi router; and you can connect your Mac or Windows PC, your iPad, or any other Wi-Fi enabled device to your iPhone exactly as you connect to your home, business, or school Wi-Fi network. Follow these steps to do so:
If everything works properly, you’ll see a blue bar appear on the top of your iPhone, along with the number of devices connected.
After you have connected your iPhone to your computer, your Windows or Mac computer should recognize your iPhone as a new Internet connection and help you set it up automatically. If your computer does not recognize the iPhone immediately, then go into your Network settings on your computer and look for the iPhone as an available connection type.
Your organization may have what is called a VPN, or Virtual Private Network. A VPN allows you to securely connect your iPhone, laptop, or other device to the corporate network.
In order to get connected, you need to determine the type of VPN and specific login instructions from your organization’s help desk or network administrator. Then, you will type these login details into the VPN area in the Settings app on your iPhone.
TIP: You can probably save yourself a call to the help desk and skip Step 1 if you have already set up your computer to connect to the VPN. This is because your iPhone will most likely use the same VPN login credentials as your computer.
Also, some carriers may require a business account in order to use a VPN over their 3G network. If all your settings look correct and the VPN is still not working, check with your carrier.
You need to ask your help desk or VPN administrator for the details about how to log into the VPN. Your iPhone can currently connect with the following types of VPNs: L2TP, PPTP, and IPSec (Cisco). You also need to know if your VPN uses a Proxy and whether the configuration is manual or automatic.
Armed with the login instructions and type of VPN connection, you are ready to connect with your iPhone:
You will see a small VPN icon just to the right of your network connection status display. You will know that you are securely connected to the VPN network only when you see this icon.
You may have several VPN networks to which you need to connect. You can select between different VPN configurations on your iPhone by following these steps:
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