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Israel Blocks iPad Imports, Citing Wi-Fi Transmission Regulations

Posted by timothy on from the we're-looking-for-droids dept.

unixcrab writes with this excerpt from The Mac Observer: "Apple's iPad is proving to be popular everywhere — except Israel. The country's Communication Ministry is refusing to let people bring the multimedia tablet into the country because it hasn't tested and approved the Wi-Fi technology used in the device, according to Haaretz. Ministry officials commented, 'The iPad device sold exclusively today in the United States operates at broadcast power levels [over its Wi-Fi modem] compatible with American standards. As the Israeli regulations in the area of Wi-Fi are similar to European standards, which are different from American standards, which permit broadcasting at lower power, therefore the broadcast levels of the device prevent approving its use in Israel.' The government seems serious about its iPad import ban. Customs officials have already confiscated ten iPads and told their owners to ship them overseas."

3 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Simple solution by zero_out · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those who are unaware, you can click on the Prefs button at the bottom of this page, and change your settings to not display signatures in comments. I know that the parent was just trolling, but I think this is a handy piece of information that some people don't know.

  2. 802.11a - 5.5Ghz and up is no go in Israel by RichMan · · Score: 4, Informative

    5Ghz is where a lot of military radar like stuff operates. In particular Israel has specific 802.11a restrictions
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels

    5.5Gz up is a not supposed to be used in Israel, but is open for use in US, Japan and Europe.

    Here is a good, but not current, discussion of the various issues around wifi.
    http://wifinetnews.com/archives/2007/01/5_ghz_or_bust.html

  3. Not different standards, different laws by dingram17 · · Score: 3, Informative
    The actual mechanism of 802.11a/b/g/n is a standard -- nothing wrong with that.

    Things get interesting internationally because the 2.4GHz ISM band is defined differently in each country (but loosely based around the three ITU regions). There is a good reference list on Wikipedia. For example, most of the world can use channels 1-13, but North American users are limited to channels 1-11 at full power (12 & 13 can be used at reduced power -- but that's too complicated for most people so the channels are restricted). Spain used to be limited to channels 10 & 11 and France to 10-13, but this has been changed as the two countries harmonise with the rest of Europe.

    The nice database at Linux Wireless lists frequencies and power levels. Israel is listed as having a 2.4GHz band of 2402.000 - 2482.000 MHz with a max power of 100mW. The US band is 2402.000 - 2472.000 (narrower) with a maximum power of 500mW (much higher). If the iPad is actually running 0.5W at 2.4GHz I can see why the Israeli authorities will be a bit cranky. Australia & the UK have the 100mW limits, but people in NZ with iPads (such as @lisatickledpink) will be fine since the power limit is 1000mW (woo hoo!)

    If Apple had been sensible and limited the power output to 100mW across the board then there would be no trouble with WiFi across borders, and perhaps that is what most laptop manufacturers have done (to avoid the wifi cards being ripped out at Customs)?