oops: IPhones flooding wireless LAN at Duke University

[GijsZePa]

http://www.macworld.com/news/2007/07/17/iphoneduke/index.php
:embarassed:

[Scandiman]

If I read this correctly, only 2 iPhones are responsible for taking down 20-30 wifi access points at Duke university. They better sort out the problem before school starts again in the fall.

.

[Gerry]

The requests are for what is, at least for Duke’s network, an invalid router address. Devices use the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to request the MAC address of the destination node, for which it already has the IP address. When it doesn’t get an answer, the iPhone just keeps asking.

“I’m not exactly sure where the ‘bad’ router address is coming from,” Miller says. One possibility: each offending iPhone may have been first connected to a home wireless router or gateway, and it may automatically and repeatedly be trying to reconnect to it again when something happens to the iPhone’s initial connection on the Duke WLAN.

They’re still sorting out what that “something” is. On two occasions, one last Friday and one today, Monday 16 July, both users seemed to be behaving completely normally, yet both iPhones started flooding the net with ARP requests. In both cases, the user first successfully connected to the WLAN at one location, and then moved to another building, where the ARP flood began. “It may have something to do with the iPhone losing connectivity and then trying to reconnect in a new location,” Miller says.

This is simply incredible. You are right Scandi...it mentions only TWO PHONES! Cisco says it is not their routers so it has to be with the accessing codeing or something in the iphone. Or it may be just poor memory if going from one location to another causes it to continually search for a connection.

Imagine, you're in downtown Sacramento walking down the street for miles and as you are walking you keep changing wi-fi points all along the way and shut down the entire internet for Sacramento.

Homeland Security would be looking for a plot or conspiracy. But it's just Scandi...walking along talking on the phone, "Hey, something's going on. There are SWAT people with machine guns running every where!"

[Scandiman]

Imagine, you're in downtown Sacramento walking down the street for miles and as you are walking you keep changing wi-fi points all along the way and shut down the entire internet for Sacramento.

Homeland Security would be looking for a plot or conspiracy. But it's just Scandi...walking along talking on the phone, "Hey, something's going on. There are SWAT people with machine guns running every where!"
Yea, they are currently working on a metro wifi network here in downtown Sac. And with the Capitol in the middle of it, our police force can mobilize pretty quickly.

Seems like this article just educated some techie on how to bring down a wifi network. Way to go!! :laugh:

[dentalpro]

Yea, they are currently working on a metro wifi network here in downtown Sac. And with the Capitol in the middle of it, our police force can mobilize pretty quickly.

Seems like this article just educated some techie on how to bring down a wifi network. Way to go!! :laugh:


very true...dont forget "its not the mobile internet" :hmmmm2:

[Scandiman]

very true...dont forget "its not the mobile internet" :hmmmm2:And apparently it is not the internet at all for some:laugh::laugh: