Story - HTC Wizard controversy : is it 802.11g?

Story - HTC Wizard controversy : is it 802.11g?

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sgeary

Nov 21 2005, 22:48

Post #1

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Found this interesting story.

Story

Now i have a 9100 and thought OH CRAP!!

So i tested it on both a B only Network and a G only network, thank God it connected on both!!!

What are your thoughts and discovery especially you vario users!!!

xspyda

Nov 21 2005, 22:59

Post #2

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Qtek 9100 here - connects on an 802.11g only network no problem ... phew!

radiator

Nov 21 2005, 23:20

Post #3

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K-Jam here...connects to my 'forced' G WiFi network no probs...

--------------------

Get Firefox / Get Thunderbird

bennish

Nov 21 2005, 23:31

Post #4

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QUOTE(radiator @ Nov 22 2005, 09:20)

K-Jam here...connects to my 'forced' G WiFi network no probs...

it's in the rom. If one incarnation has an old rom, no g. simple as that, nothing to worry about.

--------------------

threedot

Nov 22 2005, 08:47

Post #5

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Can anything be done to the Vario to enable it for 802.11g?

This is stopping me getting one at the moment.

Pondrew

Nov 22 2005, 21:35

Post #6

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Device(s): MDA Vario II

Bizarre. Can anyone with a T-Mobile MDA Vario and Wifi G network check this?

Ditto to XDA Mini S owners (I know there aren't many out there yet)...

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 13:46

Post #7

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Device(s): MDA Vario

I've been keeping an eye on that msmobiles.com article myself. Hopefully it's just a ROM issue and not a hardware difference, although not knowing what the actual components are inside the Vario (other than the OMAP 850) it is possible it could be B only. (I think the 850's 54Mbps WiFi "interface" still needs a controller chip connected to it, so it's possible that only a B capable chip has been used, although unlikely.)

I can confirm that my Vario will not connect to my WiFi network when it is set to G only mode.

Unfortunately I have another device that only works in B mode, so I have to have my network setup to use B/G mixed anyway

Noo

Nov 23 2005, 14:01

Post #8

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QUOTE(lekus @ Nov 23 2005, 14:46)

I can confirm that my Vario will not connect to my WiFi network when it is set to G only mode.

Unfortunately I have another device that only works in B mode, so I have to have my network setup to use B/G mixed anyway

I'll try and test mine, tonight, after work. Pretty sure my WiFi is on both B&G. But I'll try flipping it to G only and will post what happens.

tdodd

Nov 23 2005, 14:22

Post #9

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QUOTE(Noo @ Nov 23 2005, 15:01)

I'll try and test mine, tonight, after work. Pretty sure my WiFi is on both B&G. But I'll try flipping it to G only and will post what happens.

My Vario will see a "g" network but refuses to connect. It is quite happy connecting to "b/g" or "b" only network using WPA-PSK encryption.

T-Mobile told me they have deliberately chosen to disable "g" access. Whether that's achieved in hardware or software I do not know. What we need is some input from someone who has reflashed their Vario to 9100 or K-Jam image.

p.s. I have tried a hard reset without the T-Mobile customisations and that failed to get "g" working. I have also scanned through the registry and haven't found anything that I can recognize as a b/g bit switch or anything like that. That doesn't mean there isn't one, simply that I haven't spotted it. If it's not in the registry and not in the customisations at all then I'm not sure where the solution is to be found

(post edited per forum rules)

This post has been edited by Pondrew: Nov 23 2005, 23:42

Noo

Nov 23 2005, 19:17

Post #10

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Have just tested my Vario and got the same. B only. So why have T-Mobile turned off G....

I think i've found out why. Their "T-Mobile Hotspot" service is based on B only. Not G, so why should they bother. Maybe I'm being paranoid, but if that's the reason it's rather poor.

Evidence on this page then click the link for "6. T-Mobile UK HotSpot Terms & Conditions apply." Where it then says:

2.1 You are responsible for providing all hardware and other equipment required to access and use the service (a “unit”). We recommend an 802.11b-compatible computer, computer card, and/or device to access the service.

Anybody else care to join my conspiracy club on this one?

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 20:26

Post #11

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The site I bought my Vario from actually says the phone has WiFi 802.11b/g. To me this implies it works on both B and G networks, which at this stage for a G only network is clearly not the case. Don't know if that would hold up if anyone were to complain about the lack of G support.

I really hope this isn't a hardware issue :?:

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 21:02

Post #12

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Device(s): MDA Vario

I've found some stuff in the registry that may be the settings to control the Vario's WiFi mode.

Check out the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\TNETWLN1

Both the "Parms" and "Parms\Tcpip" subkey's have information which I think is for the built in WiFi. I know it refers to the device as an "SDIO WLAN Wireless Adapter" but on my Vario the settings under the "Parms/Tcpip" key were that of the built in WiFi.

I'm going to change some of the values to see if I can enable G transfer mode.

I predict not

Could anyone with a K-Jam or 9100 report what values they have for the following parameters under this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\TNETWLN1\Parms

Parameters to check:

dot11DesiredTxRate
dot11SupportedRateMask

For anyone interested, it looks like the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\TNETWLN1\Parms\Tcpip

Allows for more manual control over your TCP/IP settings for the WiFi connection. For example, it appears you may be able to turn off some sort of auto configuring WiFi options (parameter "AutoCfg") and even turn off the Vario's requirement for DHCP via the "EnableDHCP" parameter.

I'm about to mess around with some of these myself. I just hope this is for the built in WiFi.

TomaHawk

Nov 23 2005, 21:07

Post #13

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^ i have heard the inbuilt wifi is sort of on an SD card inside the device.

so i rekon thats the right stuff.

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 21:38

Post #14

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It does seem to be affecting the WiFi, although not exactly how I wanted it to

I've made it connect at 1mbps (apparently) to my router and have turned off what I think is the Vario's requirement (does anyone else find that?) for having DHCP enabled on my router.

Searching for dot11DesiredTxRate and dot11SupportedRateMask in google brings up driver inf's for various wireless networking devices.

Possible values are things like dot11DesiredTxRate set to 13 for 54mbps, although the values seem to vary from inf to inf.

adchaffey

Nov 23 2005, 21:44

Post #15

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QUOTE(lekus @ Nov 23 2005, 22:38)

It does seem to be affecting the WiFi, although not exactly how I wanted it to

I've made it connect at 1mbps (apparently) to my router and have turned off what I think is the Vario's requirement (does anyone else find that?) for having DHCP enabled on my router.

You're could be on to something here! Keep it up!

Thinking about it though, what is the difference between b and g? Surely they use a different protocol to acheive such different data rates??? And if so, i wouldn't have thought changing a value in the registry for data rate would do the job???

Don't know though, I'm no expert!

This post has been edited by adchaffey: Nov 23 2005, 21:49

--------------------

Anthony Chaffey
Ballyhoo Commerce

Phone History:
Philips Savvy (C12) - Nokia 3210 - Nokia 3310 - Samsung A300e - SPV E100 - SPV E200 - SPV C500 - MDA Vario - MDA Vario III

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 22:04

Post #16

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QUOTE(adchaffey @ Nov 23 2005, 21:44)

Thinking about it though, what is the difference between b and g? Surely they use a different protocol to acheive such different data rates??? And if so, i wouldn't have thought changing a value in the registry for data rate would do the job???

I think the hardware looks to the registry to decide what speed (among other things) it should try to connect at.

The PCI WiFi card in my PC for example, can be set to connect to my router at various speeds (24mbps, 36mbps, etc). I can change this if I wanted too and the settings are stored in the registry.

In fact, having just lowered my PC's WiFi card speed, the dot11DesiredTxRate setting in the registry on my PC just changed from 13 (54mbps) to 12 (48mbps).

So I presume the WiFi in the Vario reads the same value to determine what speed it will try to connect at (especially as the value's already present).

I've messed something up at the moment as I can only connect at 1mbps, can't even get it to go back to "Auto" speed.

^^ Soft reset fixed that...

This post has been edited by lekus: Nov 23 2005, 22:12

lekus

Nov 23 2005, 23:01

Post #17

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Unfortunately I haven't been able to connect with my router in G only mode

I've tried various combinations of registry settings, including adding a few parameters that weren't even present in the hope of forcing the Vario to use G mode.

Given that there are some HTC specific params it may be that the WiFi is controlled in another way, K-Jame or 9100 users might be able to shed some light onto this by listing the parameters and their values held under the "Parms" registry key I mentioned a few posts ago.

[Edit] I noticed while testing the throughput of the connection between the Vario and my PC (via the router in B/G mixed mode), I was only getting ~1.4Mbps max. Even with the Vario transmitting in B mode, it shouldn't be this low I think. (wireless PC -> PC file copying on my network has much higher throughput). Maybe this supports the point that the Vario's CPU isn't fast enough to handle high speed WiFi transfers, although I'm not convinced about that yet.

This post has been edited by lekus: Nov 23 2005, 23:10

adchaffey

Nov 24 2005, 09:33

Post #18

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QUOTE(lekus @ Nov 24 2005, 00:01)

Given that there are some HTC specific params it may be that the WiFi is controlled in another way, K-Jame or 9100 users might be able to shed some light onto this by listing the parameters and their values held under the "Parms" registry key I mentioned a few posts ago.

Hmmmmm....

Come on you K-Jam/9100 owners! We need your help here!

--------------------

Anthony Chaffey
Ballyhoo Commerce

Phone History:
Philips Savvy (C12) - Nokia 3210 - Nokia 3310 - Samsung A300e - SPV E100 - SPV E200 - SPV C500 - MDA Vario - MDA Vario III

neils

Nov 24 2005, 16:11

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QUOTE(adchaffey @ Nov 24 2005, 09:33)

Hmmmmm....

Come on you K-Jam/9100 owners! We need your help here!

Connects fine with my Vario. Router is G , though it is possible it servers both B and G. However, I read a review of Vario/K-Jam saying it's first of the pocket devices to work with G ! So right now I'm guessing I have a G connection.

Neil

DeanJ

Nov 24 2005, 16:29

Post #20

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QUOTE(lekus @ Nov 23 2005, 21:02)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\TNETWLN1\Parms

Parameters to check:

dot11DesiredTxRate
dot11SupportedRateMask
For anyone interested, it looks like the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Comm\TNETWLN1\Parms\Tcpip

On my K-jam

TxRate = 0x0 (0)
SupportedRateMask = 0x1 (1)

let me know if you want any other settings

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