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Unable to Access Password WiFi Networks?

Saturday June 30, 2007 12:49 pm PDT by Arnold Kim
One common area of confusion appears to be the ability to access Password Protected WiFi networks. Part of the problem is that the iPhone will gladly accept any password for the Wifi network without any particular error message if its wrong. Instead, you simply are unable to access Wifi, and the iPhone will keep defaulting back to EGDE.


Note the "lock" icon next to 021J8


Many routers use a Hex or ASCII string for the passcode to allow access to your Wifi network. This requires a small tweak in the settings. In my situation, my home network is run off an Actiontec router (Verizon FIOS) named "021J8". The Actiontec router has a Hex password which won't work on the regular iPhone WEP Password blank.


Instead of entering your Hex or ASCII code in to the password, you need to press on the "WEP Password >" to change the settings. This will bring you to this screen:



Check off" WEP hex or ASCII" and it will bring you back to the password screen:



where you can enter your Hex password (0-9, A-F characters).



The only recognition that the password was accepted is that the small "lock" disappears, and after a few moments, the iPhone should change over to your Wifi network.
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Frazzle
Posted: 64 months ago
If memory serves, the latest tools have been able to break WEP within 20 minutes using an everyday laptop. Therefore, WEP security is no longer a form of security.

Doesn't make this article less useful though. This works the same for WPA encryption? How's that work on the iPhone?
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Clix Pix
Posted: 64 months ago
I had no problem last night in accessing my password-protected wireless network (WPA).....
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technicolor
Posted: 64 months ago
Havent had any problems

So Arn you cant get on your home wifi at all?
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Chaszmyr
Posted: 64 months ago
No such problems here. If i type the wrong password, it pops up saying the password was incorrect.
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Lixivial
Posted: 64 months ago
Interesting notation. Silly WEP, but even sillier Actiontec. I have a mild hatred toward Actiontec; a pile of rubbish it be.

I had a problem with my 63-character WPA randomly generated pre-shared key. I tried it 8 ways from sunday and could not get it to work; I'm guessing I was making a typo somewhere -- it'd be nice if we could see what we were typing. I could have sworn I was typing it in properly, though. I temporarily lowered my key to a more manageable 21 characters and it's worked OK...

Once I saw the keyboard pop up for the WPA key, I thought "Oh boy, this is gonna be fun!" :D
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aaronjudd
Posted: 64 months ago
The first time I added the iPhone to my network I nearly I tore my hair out, until I realized the keyboard seemed to be starting out in uppercase, and my wep password was all lowercase (plus numbers). I found that once I figured out the case entry, the wep password worked regardless of the selections I made for (you have a choice of wep-ascii/hex, or just wep). The second time I added an iPhone to my network everything was flawless and easy (with the touch of prior knowledge).
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elistan
Posted: 64 months ago
Sigh, I wish it were that easy for me. Sometimes I can't even get a list of wifi networks. Often I can connect just fine, and every once in a while (only twice now!) have I been able to use Safari over the wifi connection. Both times, after using the connection for a short while, all transmissions ceased and I once again was unable to view a list of wifi networks...
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twalkabout
Posted: 64 months ago
i use an airport express as a base station, and my iphone would not accept the ASCII equivalent password, i had to input the hex key. annoying considering it does not show you what you type in the password field in iphone, so you really have to be careful with entering it.
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dr_lha
Posted: 64 months ago

If memory serves, the latest tools have been able to break WEP within 20 minutes using an everyday laptop. Therefore, WEP security is no longer a form of security.

Its not akin to having an unsecured network at all. If my network was unsecured then anyone could use it. With WEP encryption it means that only those who really wanted to could break in, and I'm betting that's nobody around my way.

Saying its not a form of security is rather like saying the locks on my house are not a form of security because someone with a brick can break into my house. Its all about stopping oportunists, rather than hardcore thieves (or hackers in the case of WiFi).
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Limey55
Posted: 64 months ago
Any wifi device I have ever used, will allow me to enter the wifi SSID name and the WEP password ( or ASCII key ) without my wireless signal being set to broadcast. If the two above are correct, the connection is made and I am online.

With the iPhone, if my router is not broadcasting the wireless SSID, then I do not get on. If I set my router to broadcast my wireless connnection, the iPhone sees it, I enter in the password and I am online. As soon as I turn brodcast back off on my router, the iPhone drops the signal.

This, in my opinion, is a flaw in the iPhone. It should maintain the signal. I have 1 PC and 2 laptops in the family that do so with no problem.
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