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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."

2 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