IPhones Flooding Wireless LAN At Duke

coondoggie sends us to a Network World story, as is his wont, about network problems at Duke University in Durham, N.C. that seem to be related to the iPhone. "The Wi-Fi connection on Apple's recently released iPhone seems to be the source of a big headache for network administrators at Duke. The built-in 802.11b/g adapters on several iPhones periodically flood sections of the school's wireless LAN with MAC address requests, temporarily knocking out anywhere from a dozen to 30 wireless access points at a time. Campus network staff are talking with Cisco, the main WLAN provider, and have opened a help-desk ticket with Apple. But so far, the precise cause of the problem remains unknown. 'Because of the time of year for us, it's not a severe problem,' says Kevin Miller, assistant director, communications infrastructure, with Duke's Office of Information Technology. 'But from late August through May, our wireless net is critical. My concern is how many students will be coming back in August with iPhones? It's a pretty big annoyance, right now, with 20-30 access points signaling they're down, and then coming back up a few minutes later. But in late August, this would be devastating.'" So far, the communication with Apple has been "one-way."

Comments

Economic class and higher education

[delirium of disorder]

The terminal preppies DDoS their own LAN with toys that their rich parents bought them. Boo Hoo!

Does anyone else see the fact that so many students at this elite school can afford this expensive luxury an insult to the rest of us? So many capable young adults would love to have the resources available to Duke students (not just iCrap, but genuine empowering technology and knowledge), yet only those with wealthy families* can get in. We need a fair and democratic school system including free universal higher education. Private schools that help perpetuate wealth and power (and, moreover, further class stratification!) should no longer be respected. It's OK to be selective and aim for an intelligent student body, but why should tuition be a barrier for anyone in a society as wealthy as ours?

(*or the obedience necessary to create a squeaky clean scholarship worthy image)

Re:Interesting problem

[Basehart]

My pleasure.

Every device on Earth has what's known as a MAC address, which is short for My Address on my Computer, and it's a pretty long string of numbers that help other devices know which device is being seen, heard or sensed across a network. Once the Nads in the master device sense these numbers they instantly tense up and freeze. It takes a few moments for the Nads to unfreeze and release your My Address in my Computer number ready for other Nads to sense.

Hope that helps.

Wow, way to go Admins

[fat_mike]

Its Duke, its rich kids, its rich kids who buy toys. The iPhone and its wireless capability was announced a long time ago.

Maybe, just maybe you would thought a little bit ahead and realized that a whole bunch of students and faculty would be coming back to campus with one? Then you could have, I don't know, prepared for it? You're Duke. You have the head of the Comp. Sci. department (who, I'm sure has a contact at Apple) get you non-competitive specs on the wireless capabilities.

You prepare for said capabilities or ban the phone from campus.

Expect the best but always plan for the worst. But then I forgot, you college admins have your little fiefdoms that nobody is allowed to intrude on.

Good Luck!

Cheer up

[dedazo]

Well twitter, I'm sure you'll find a way to blame this on Microsoft as well, or at least bring them into a discussion that has absolutely nothing to do with them. And use words that make you feel cool, like "shit" and "fuck".

Oh, you already did. Never mind.