Tagged: Verizon

Glitch Causing iPhone 5 to Ignore Wi-Fi Connections and Use Cellular Data Instead

Wi-Fi icon

You’ve heard about Apple Maps and Scuffgate, but the iPhone 5’s real problems so far have revolved around boring old Wi-Fi. Today it’s been confirmed that the Verizon iPhone 5 is suffering from a strange software glitch that is causing the iPhone 5 to ignore some Wi-Fi connections and instead use cellular data.

Frustrated customers are reporting a surprise jump in cellular data usage despite being connected to Wi-Fi networks most of the time. In some cases, customers have been billed for data overages. This forum thread and numerous others at Apple’s discussion boards are quickly growing in size with user complaints.

Both Apple and Verizon have confirmed the error involves the iPhone 5 ignoring Wi-Fi connections, and Apple has released an update to fix the problem. Click here for the official support page for installing the update. Verizon released a statement to The Loop saying customers will ultimately not be charged for the data usage.

The issue, however, may not be limited to Verizon customers. Glenn Fleishman from TidBits has published reports from AT&T and Sprint users who are experiencing Wi-Fi/cellular data-usage issues as well. AT&T and Sprint have not yet commented.

Strangely enough, in a beta version of iOS 6, Apple briefly included a new feature called “Wi-Fi Plus Cellular” in the iPhone’s settings that, when turned on, would revert to cellular data usage when Wi-Fi performance was poor. That toggle was eventually removed from the final version of iOS 6. However, it seems that this is exactly the problem that customers are experiencing.

For customers wanting to quickly and easily check on their monthly data usage, check out our handy tip here.

iPhone Tip: How to Check Monthly Data Usage for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint By Dialing a Number

Now that the iPhone has LTE, your monthly data cap can be used up much, much quicker. It’s now more important than ever to be able to track exactly how much data you’ve used up so far during the month. You can check your monthly data usage fairly easy. Just dial one of the numbers below, and you’ll receive a free text message back with your data usage:

  • Verizon dial #DATA (#3282)
  • AT&T: dial *DATA# (*3282#)
  • Sprint: dial *4

You might event want to create an iPhone contact so you’ll not have to remember the number in the future.

Below is a screenshot of my data usage just after a few days of AT&T LTE usage on my new iPhone 5. Sheesh! That’s about what I’d use in a month on 3G.

Data usage iPhone text-message from AT&T WIreless

Tip: Check Your iPhone 5 Verizon, AT&T, & Sprint Subsidized-Pricing Upgrade Eligibility, All In One Place

Apple Store Wireless Carrier Upgrade Eligibility Tool

Apple’s iPhone Eligibility Tool is a handy all-in-one place to check if you’re eligible for subsidized “upgrade” pricing for the iPhone 5 from all of the big 3 carriers: Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint. It’s fast and easy.

Just select your current carrier, then enter your number, zip code, last 4 digits of your social security number, and billing password (if you have one). It will show what the price of each iPhone iPhone 5.

ATT Upgrade Fields at Apple

iPhone 5 pricing for me

My last iPhone was the iPhone 4, bought at launch, so I’m good to go. $399 64GB Black AT&T iPhone 5, here I come. Wahhh!

iPhone 5: Check out the 4G LTE Maps for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint Before Making a Buying Decision

If you’re planning on buying an iPhone 5 for its expected superfast 4G LTE compatibility, your choice of carrier will be important for taking advantage of those 4G speeds. Below are the 4G LTE maps for Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint, pulled from the carrier’s official websites at the time of this writing (September 10, 2012). Of course, the process of choosing a carrier should include weighing other factors, but if you’re hardcore into 4G LTE and speed, speed, speed, the maps below should help.

Verizon LTE Map

Verizon LTE 4G Map

Green dots = 4G LTE.

Verizon: Verizon has the biggest LTE footprint by far of the big 3 carriers. It is available in 371 cities across the US with around 30 more coming by the end of 2012. Click here for Verizon’s official page for its LTE map. On Verizon’s LTE map page, you can enter in specific addresses or zip codes to find if you’re covered by LTE.

AT&T LTE Map

Orange dots = 4G LTE. Yellow = coming soon.

AT&T Wireless: AT&T comes in a distant second with only 53 markets with LTE coverage. It plans to to add on 40 more markets by the end of 2012, bringing the total to around 90. Compare this to Verizon’s 400 total planned markets by the same time, and it’s not very impressive, but keep in mind AT&T does have that HSPA+ 3G network, which is faster than Verizon’s 3G. AT&T’s official LTE map is a bit harder to find. You’ll need to go to their Network page and click on the Coverage tab toward the bottom. A list of cities can be found here.

Sprint LTE Map

Orange dots = 4G LTE.

Sprint: Sprint has a mere 19 markets that offer 4G LTE. Sprint bet on another 4G technology called WiMAX, which is available in around 70 markets but will not be compatible with the iPhone 5. Sprint’s network map can be found here, just make sure to select 4G LTE and not 4G WiMAX. Sprint just announced that they plan on adding 100 more markets by the end of 2013.

Review of the new iPad’s LTE Connectivity and Personal HotSpot Feature

iPad Personal Hotspot

Although the Retina Display has deservedly received most of the attention for the new iPad, LTE is, to me, an almost-as-exciting addition to Apple’s growing tech arsenal. Apple’s introduction of LTE has implications not only for current new iPad owners but possibly for inclusion in the next iPhone as well, assuming Apple can improve battery performance enough. The sheer speed of LTE could change the way people use bandwidth-intensive services like streaming video that currently choke and sputter on 3G networks.

I’ve been giving the new iPad with Verizon LTE a spin the fast few days, and below are my observations and notes about LTE performance and the iPad’s Personal Hotspot feature that allows you to share that bountiful LTE bandwidth with others.

How Fast Is Verizon LTE?

When it comes to advertising the speeds of their networks, the wireless carriers like to either be vague or exaggerate about the speed of their networks. Well, the good news for Verizon LTE is that, here in Chicago at least, I’ve been averaging 10 Mbps. This is the fastest Internet connection I’ve ever had, and I’ve been using Clear’s 4G WiMax technology in Chicago the past two years, which sporadically gives me a disappointing 1-3 Mbps connection. Verizon’s LTE is, as you can see in the image above, much faster.

CNET, who tested both the AT&T and Verizon LTE iPads in San Francisco, found even faster speeds than I did.

Upload speeds have been more erratic, ranging from a poor 0.5 Mbps up to 2.6 Mbps. My tests were conducted both in central downtown Chicago (aka, the Loop), and in Wicker Park, a residental area just northwest of the city.

Overall, LTE is a huge step up in performance over not only 3G wireless networks, but also over most home wire-based Internet services. Granted, my tests are only for one city, and those speeds could change once LTE networks become more clogged with, say, the introduction of an LTE iPhone. But for now, the speeds are smoking fast.

The iPad as Personal Hotspot

The Personal Hotspot feature allows the new iPad to share its LTE/3G Internet connection wirelessly over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or via the iPad’s USB cord. But wireless carriers have to allow it. In the US, currently only Verizon allows the iPad to function as a Personal Hotspot (AT&T is still “considering” it).

Verizon offers the Personal Hotspot feature for free—with free meaning at no additional cost over the basic data plan fee. This was a nice surprise given that, for their iPhone data plans, Verizon charges an extra $20 to turn on Personal Hotspot.

Here are a few things I observed about Personal Hotspot:

Easy Setup. Getting the Personal Hotspot setup is a breeze. In the Cellular Data settings, you simply slide the Personal Hotspot switch to On, and that’s it. The iPad will supply you with a default network password to give to others in order to sign in. You can also create your own password.

Connecting to the iPad’s Personal Hotspot feature works just like connecting to any Wi-Fi network. For example, with my iPhone I went into Settings–>Wi-Fi and tapped on Alan’s iPad, which was the name Personal Hotspot assigned. I typed in the password and was connected.

Multiple Connections. I had 5 Wi-Fi devices simultaneously connected to the new iPad before I ran out of devices, so I can’t confirm the limit, nor could I find any documentation about a maximum amount of connections. But 5 is pretty good.

A Big Downside. One of the problems with using the iPad 3 as a hotspot is that you have to maintain an active connection with another device or else the hotspot will shut off. For example, if you’re using the iPad’s LTE connection to listen to online radio on your iPhone but you stop for 5 minutes and your iPhone goes to sleep, the personal hotspot will shut off. You must then go to your iPad and turn it off and on again. A huge annoyance. This means you can’t, say, turn on the hotspot, put it in your bag, then walk around and use the hotspot off and on throughout the day. Every time you stop using it, you must restart the hotspot.

iPad Personal Hotspot vs Verizon’s MiFi LTE Hotspot

Verizon also sells portable LTE hotspot devices called MiFi’s (or Jetpacks). MiFi’s run around $269 without a contract (or free with 2-year contract). I don’t own and have never tested a MiFi, but a little research shows that iPad does have a few advantages over the MiFi:

Better battery life. The guts of the iPad are mostly battery, so you’re looking at around 8-9 hours of LTE web browsing (Update: Website AnandTech discovered the iPad’s battery will last approximately 25.3 hours while functioning as an LTE HotSpot), while the Mi-Fi offers around 4 hours.

Cheaper data plans. Verizon’s iPad LTE plans start off cheaper than the MiFi, with a $20 for 1 GB/month plan and $30 for 2 GB plan. After that, the iPad and Mi-Fi plans match: $50 for 5 GB and $80 for 10 GB.

The main advantage of owning a MiFi over the new iPad is that the MiFi can fit into a shirt pocket. The 10-inch iPad, not so much.

A Tale of Two LTE iPads: AT&T vs Verizon

I’m a longtime AT&T Wireless customer, but I went with the Verizon iPad because their LTE network is currently more widespread and mature. The Verizon iPad’s other advantages are that there is no fee to use the iPad’s Personal Hotspot feature (heck, AT&T doesn’t even allow the Personal Hotspot feature yet) and the fact that an AT&T sim card can fit into the Verizon iPad and allow it to connect to AT&T’s 3G service.

The AT&T iPad does have one advantage over the Verizon version: cheaper data plans and better value on a per-gigabyte basis.

Below is a table showing the new iPad’s LTE data plans for both Verizon and AT&T (pulled from Apple.com).

Conclusion

While the iPad’s LTE data plans are too expensive on a per-gigabyte basis for LTE to be used for regular home Internet purposes like Netflix and YouTube, the speeds, which averaged over 10 Mbps in Chicago, are pretty much as advertised: fast. This makes the LTE iPad perfect for small bursts of Internet usage, say, if your regular Internet goes down or you’re a traveler.

This was my first experience with LTE, and it’s definitely made me hungry for an LTE iPhone. If LTE can maintain these speeds with tens of millions of iPhones connecting to it, and the carriers make LTE data cheaper on a per-gigabyte basis, then the iPhone, iPad, and the mobile universe in general can be taken to the next level. Let’s just hope that an LTE iPhone won’t destroy network performance. I could get used to these 10 Mbps speeds.

Note: Updated article 4/9 with details about how the personal hotspot shuts itself off after a few minutes if not being used.