Wednesday 18 July 2007

iPhone may be disrupting the cisco based wireless network

On Duke's wireless network and iPhones


Duke University Office of Information Technology engineers have detected a series of wireless-network disruptions. They have reported nine such episodes since the problem was discovered late last week. Each event lasted no longer than 10 minutes and most users would have noticed no difference in their wireless service, though disruptions may have caused access delays or sluggish internet performance for isolated users.

Technicians have tracked the source of the disruption to people whose iPhones are registered to access Duke’s wireless network but cannot attribute the cause of the disruptions to the devices and are working with colleagues from Apple, makers of the iPhone, and Cisco, the vendor for Duke’s network equipment, to pinpoint the cause of the problem.

Their investigation continues. OIT will update this report as new information becomes available.

1 comment:

  1. NetworkWorld.com: Duke IT staff & their Cisco network confused by Apple iPhones; trade rags take bait

    Google news search: +iphone +duke +cisco

    Let me see if I can wrap my head around this -- some bored students figured out what the MAC address range is on the iPhones, and they styled an attack using a couple of Linux machines hidden somewhere on campus to masquerade as Apple 'troublemakers', and are sniggering at the resulting buffoonery created between the Duke 'network admins' and the press.

    Hello!?!??!? If these are actually the people responsible for Duke's network, they would have better communication skills -- what they are saying is happening is less unlikely than impossible (unless the iPhone and Cisco's routers' SuperPowers are being boosted by the Earth's yellow sun and are no longer hindered by their original design limitations).

    Why has this been going on for several days and yet no one has reported the same issue on another network?

    It's because: It's not happening on Duke's network, either. It's a hack. A scam. A ruse.

    By some students who can probably be identified by a duct-taped WiFi canon made from a couple of Pringles cans protruding from their backpacks.

    The 'reporter' should be ashamed for not doing his homework.

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