Wi-Fi Connectivity for your PDA

This page has help and advice for those looking to connect their PDA, Windows Mobile device or mobile phone to a wireless wi-fi network.

 

Wi-fi on your mobile device

Some mobile phones and PDAs either have Wi-fi built-in, or it’s possible to enable them for wi-fi. With a handheld device that’s wi-fi enabled, you’ll be able to get Internet access from your home or work wi-fi network, or from one of the thousands of wireless hotspots.

This page contains some of the basic info you’ll need to get up-and-running.

If you’re looking for general information on wi-fi, or how to enable your PC or house for wi-fi, see our Wi-fi page.

 

 

Connecting
to a Pocket PC (Windows 2002 software)

The following
section details how to connect a Pocket PC to a PC, and use the connection
to surf the Internet from the Pocket PC via the PC’s modem. In this
case, we’re using a Pocket Loox 600 (With Pocket PC 2002 software),
a Netgear MA701 wireless CF card, connected to a PC that’s using a Belkin
54g Wireless Desktop Network Card. Onward connection to the Internet
is via a broadband USB modem

• Install the
  wi-fi card drivers on the Pocket PC
• Insert the wi-fi CF card
• Go to Start
  | Settings | Connections | Network adapters. Select your wifi
  card, and press Properties
  

  

• For most cases, it should be
  OK to work with "Use server-assigned IP address", unless you
  have set your PC use specific IP addresses, or have a more complex setup
  (in which as you’ll have to enter the IP address, subnet mask and default
  gateway that your PC network card is using). To find out information
  about your PC’s IP configuration, go to Start, Run, type in "cmd"
  and press Enter. You’ll be at a DOS prompt (black background). Type
  in "ipconfig" and press Enter.

• Press OK, and OK again to close
  the Network Adapters dialog
• Now go to Start | Settings
  | Connections | Connections and change the "My network connects
  to:" option to "The Internet".

• Press OK, and OK again to close
  the Network Adapters dialog

The remaining steps require
you to use the application that is installed on the Pocket PC when you
installed the software supplied with your wireless network card. We’re
using a Netgear MA701 802.11b Wireless CF card, and the MA701 Config Utility
(version 2.1.0). Steps may differ depending on your card and config application

• Open the WiFi utility. For
  the MA701, this is in Start | Settings | System
• Move to the "AP Browser"
  tab, and scan for wireless networks in your area. When you find the
  one you want, select "Join"

• Using a secure
  connection is always recommended, and assuming the PC you’re talking
  to is also secure, then you’ll need to enter an Encryption key. If
  joining, you’ll be taken to the Security screen, otherwise, scroll
  to the Security tab.
• You’ll need
  to select a WEP encryption method. Select the method that is being
  used by the PC. Note that standard security uses a 64-bit encryption
  key. You’ll need to enter the WEP key that’s being used on the PC
  (the keys must match, so if you don’t know the key, you can’t get
  in. For more on WEP keys, see the FAQ below. Assuming a 64-bit key,
  select a "Key type" of HEX, and for "Key ID: Key 1",
  in the Key box, type this in (e.g. "4C72F08AE2"). When complete,
  press "Apply"

That should be enough to get you
going. The status tab should provide a confirmation that you’re connected,
as should the light on the top of the CF card. Now try going to Internet
Explorer on the Pocket PC, and try surfing!

Connecting
to a Pocket PC (Windows Mobile 2003 software)

Things get considerably
easier if your Pocket PC is running the Windows
Mobile operating system. In 2003, Microsoft introduced "Zero
Configuration Wi-Fi", which makes setup a doddle. You don’t need
to do much in the way of setting up the Wi-Fi hardware, as when you’re
in range of an 802.11 network, a box pops up and asks you if you want
to connect. You may then be prompted for the WEP key.

Zero-config wi-fi

Problems
connecting

If you’re having
problems with your wi-fi connection, try the following:

Some general things to check
Disable Security	Try disabling security (WEP) at both ends, at least until you can establish an unsecure connection. As soon as you get the connection working, remember to re-enable WEP, for security purposes. On the PC, this can be set from Control panel | Network connection | <wifi card icon> | Wireless Network tab | Properties. Remember to re-enable WEP for a secure connection.
Check your Firewall	Temporarily turn off any firewalls you may have to see if that solves things. On our test network, we had a copy of Norton Security’s firewall, and although we’d configured the firewall to allow our PC to connect to the Internet, the firewall saw the attempt by the Pocket PC to connect to the PC as an intrusion and blocked it. The workaround for Norton Personal Firewall is to allow the IP address of the Pocket PC through (Personal Firewall | Configure button | Networking tab | Add trusted | IP address). Remember that turning off your firewall presents a risk of others accessing your system.
Check your mode	Check that both ends are using the same mode: Ad-hoc (two computers) or Infrastructure (larger network, or access point)
Some specific Pocket PC / Windows Mobile things to try
Unable to surf?	Seeing the message "The page you are looking for cannot be found"? If you find that you’re able to establish a connection to your PC or router, but can’t surf, then there are a couple of things to try: Firstly, try disabling the firewall and WEP security (see above) on the PC, then disabling WEP on your Pocket PC. To disable WEP on a Pocket PC, go to Start > Settings > Connection > Network Card > [yourwifidevice] > Network Key > Data encryption. If not, then it could well be that there’s a problem with your IP address, gateway or DNS addresses. These are controlled from the Start > Settings > Connection > Network Card > [yourwifidevice]. If your network router uses a service called DHCP, an IP address and subnet mask can be automatically assigned to your device. If not (or if in doubt), then you need to enter an IP address (in the range supported by your router), the subnet mask used by your router, and the IP address of the router itself (the router software should display that information. You also may need to check the DNS address – Websites have an IP address and web browsers use a DNS (Domain Name Server) to convert from a web address to the IP address. It could be that your Pocket PC can’t find a DNS server, so is failing to look up pages correctly. On the ‘Name Servers’ tab, enter the primary and secondary DNS server addresses of your Internet Service Provider (see their support website). The iPAQ rx3715 has a useful diagnostic tool that can help … Start > Settings > System > Self test > wi-fi . You can use this to test whether you have connectivity to the Internet, and let you "ping" a website, to see if you can make a connection.

Need some help with wi-fi? For specific technical questions, ask in our forum. If it’s a general question, ask us.

 

Links:

• AximSite
  Wifi guide – Information on setting
  up a Dell Axim Pocket PC for Wi-Fi
  access, including help with printer sharing and ActiveSync
• JiWire
  Access Point Locator – Huge database of access points