This is the first time I've had a phone with wifi on it as I just got this Bold as a replacement for my Tour. This sounds like (and might be) a dumb question but what should I be doing with wifi that I couldn't do on my other phones that didn't have it? How is wifi going to change my BB experience?
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I use mine at home where I don't have the best data. It is faster. You can be on the phone and still use data. I can turn my husband's soccer reports in if we are in an area without data if we go somewhere with free wifi.
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The biggest advantage to Wi-Fi is that you can talk on the phone and use data at the same time. The data goes through on Wi-Fi, while the voice goes through the mobile network.
1. Can access the internet while the phone radio is off or while in a low signal area like a basement. Sometimes I like to use the internet but keep the phone off cause I don't want phone calls or sms.
2. May experience a richer media experience. I use it to stream audio and media over ORB.
3. While abroad and having I don't know if it's possible but perhaps there is a way to use skype, nimbuzz or other voip service using wifi for voice calls and data.
4. If you had ATT, it would come useful to circumvent the 2 gig data cap / month!
5. If you get creative you can might be able to find a way to control your home's media center using your blackberry sorta as a remote.
6. Lesser latency on a wifi network than 3G so you'll find your browser will make requests faster.
I have wifi at home and at work, so I leave my wifi radio on all the time, and it switches flawlessly where ever I am. I find the browser and media streaming much faster.
I was excited to get this phone and one of the reasons was for wifi. I use wifi at home and I got to be honest, I dont notice web pages loading any faster at home with wifi than they do when I am away from home on the 3G network. My ipod touch blazes through the internet with wifi and I was hoping the BB would do the same but that is not the case. Maybe webkit will be the answer?
wifi is great in area's where 3g service seems a bit to slow/iffy to go online. I have wifi at work and wifi at my house, and my 3g is a little iffy in both spots. So its helpful
I have wifi at work and home. I have found if I leave wifi on, it goes through the battery much faster. If wifi is on, I sometimes go through 2 bars of battery overnight. If it is off, I go through maybe 1/2 a bar. Both locations have great signal too.
I have read on here that some people have saved battery using wifi when it's available. It's strange that I am experiencing the opposite.
I've found that it saves my battery when connected to WiFi, too. I work in a bad-reception office, but it has a WiFi connection and that's been great for being able to send and receive messages in a timely manner.
I'll also admit that it is a hoot to "Scan for Networks" and see what some people name their WiFi connections...
Well, a week or so ago I discovered that I can watch YouTube videos better over the data network vs. Wi-fi. And now, I just discovered that downloading an app was faster and more successful over the data network. Other downloads just flew! Don't understand what's up with that, but, oh well!
Other than these two issues, I'm impressed with Wi-fi and use it all the time. Has no adverse effect on battery life - quite the contrary!
Ok..so I have some questions. When you open the browser, does it default to data or wifi? How do you tell the BB which to use, or can you? Do you have to manually turn off data or wifi to surf with one or the other? Thanks
I am on the rogers social plan therefore I cant connect to the internet over data other than facebook, twitter myspace which are all horribly slow and bad ! WIFI IS BETTER PERIOD
If you leave you wi-fi on all the time you'll probably notice a little better battery life. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but because of the way the radios handle traffic the wifi works less than the cdma radio. I know a week or so I saw a thread around here about that. I know I'll never own another blackberry that doesn't have wifi.
As all of the other posters have said, this will allow you to use the phone and data concurrently: Mobile Network for Phone and wifi for data transfers.
Noticed that downloads are much faster through wifi as well...
Ok..so I have some questions. When you open the browser, does it default to data or wifi? How do you tell the BB which to use, or can you? Do you have to manually turn off data or wifi to surf with one or the other? Thanks
Go into your browser, hit the menu key, then go to Options. In Browser Configuration, select Hotspot Browser.
The phone will switch to Internet Browser when no WIFI signal is detected or useable. If WIFI is enabled and available, data will automatically use it over 3G.
Go into your browser, hit the menu key, then go to Options. In Browser Configuration, select Hotspot Browser.
If you select hotspot browser in Browser Configuration, you're only allowing yourself to change to various settings within that environment. If you want to change your default browser, you have to either change it in General Properties or go to: OPTIONS > ADVANCED OPTIONS > BROWSER > DEFAULT BROWSER CONFIGURATION. Browser Configuration simply lets you configure the settings for each of your browsers, e.g., JavaScript, Browser Identification, Start Page, homepage, etc.
Wifi has also helped my battery from draining as fast. At work we get crappy coverage so when the radio was being used to update facebook/twitter/weather or getting texts/bbm.. it would really kill the battery.. now with wifi, that goes over that radio instead of the cell radio and my battery lasts like twice as long.
I used to take my phone off the charger at 7am and by 9pm it would be low (20-30%)... now by 9pm I will still have 50-60%.
I just leave the wifi enabled all the time now, the battery savings outweigh the battery drain of the wifi radio (for me atleast).
I agree with the posts above (faster, supplements/replaces poor service, saves battery in low-service areas, etc.), but something I've found is interesting:
Some sites (i.e. Yahoo! Fantasy Sports) will serve higher-content versions of their sites when they detect Wi-Fi (traditional ISP's) versus 3G/EDGE.
I'm running into this (sorry to duplicate) with Yahoo! - the mobile (non-JavaScript) page is ~150-180KB, whereas the page delivered over Wi-Fi (with JavaScript set to off in the BB browser config) is 250KB-300KB. Yes, my location data is off and I've tried to duplicate settings between Internet Browser and HotSpot Browser, but it doesn't seem to matter...
Works great!
