Apple Mobile Devices & 526WLC Issues

tdao · ‎07-22-2009

We've recently deployed an express wireless configuration involving a 526WLC and 5 AP521s at a customer's site. The wireless system work fantastically well with one exception -- it does not play well with Apple mobile devices. This includes iPhones and iPod Touches.

What happens is when the mobile device in question attempts to connect, the connection simply fails. It will stall for a minute and error out saying it was unable to connect. I've tried several different types of security from WEP to WPA to WPA2 to no security at all! -- no avail.

The only pattern that I've seen is that older version'd devices (1st iPhones, 1st Gen iPod touches, etc) are able to connect just fine. My iPhone 3G S as well as newer iPod touches seem to fail.

Has anyone experienced a similar issue or have any insight as to what may be going on? Any help is much appreciated

Regards,

Thanh

b.smeets · ‎08-13-2009

The problem with iPhones/iPods is that you cannot change most wireless settings manually, in case its automatic connection mechanism fails. We solved this in the standard Apple way: make a so-called .mobileconfig file containing the correct wireless parameters, send it to the iPhone and install this file on the iPhone. Making a .mobileconfig file for the first time requires a Mac or a PC with a certain Apple utility (see somewhere on apple.com). Once you have a working .mobileconfig, you can adapt it manually (if necessary) with a text editor (because it is plain XML code) and distribute it to iPhones. Hope this helps.