Indeed, losing or not being able to find a WiFi connection on an iOS device can be very frustrating. Most likely you’re right in the middle of sending an email or looking up important information. Here’s a list identifying the troubleshooting to go through to get the problem resolved as quickly as possible.

The first thing you should do is the most obvious. Go into the Settings on your device and make sure that WiFi is turned on. While you may be sure you didn’t turn it off, you have to eliminate that as a possibility first. It’s like checking to make sure a device is plugged in when it’s not working. If it shows WiFi as being on, turn it off and back on again, as sometimes doing something this simple will help.

While there in the Settings, look over the list of available networks. See if your network is listed. If it’s not, you’ve found your problem. It has nothing to do with the device. Check your router or other means of connection to the desired WiFi network. If it’s a shared network, either business or public, check with a network administrator or someone else in charge to see if it’s an isolated problem or network-wide.

Another way to check your network connection is to check your other devices, either iOS or computer. If you have a connection on your iPhone, but not your iPad, you know it’s a problem with your iPad. When I lost my connection recently on my iPad, I immediatley checked my iPhone, and found it didn’t have a WiFi signal either. I immediately went to check the router, knowing it was system-wide.

Sometimes the problem can be resolved by turning the device off and back on again. It happens periodically with my iPhone that I’ll notice I have no signal, either WiFi or 3G. It’s almost as if it’s frozen. Holding down the Power button on the device will bring up the Slide to Power Off message. Once it’s shut down all the way, turn it back on again and see if this resolves the issue.

If this is a network you previously haven’t had a successful connection with, check the network settings. In many cases you will need a password or key to be able to sign in. Make sure you have been given the proper password or key. Also be sure that you are within proper range from the router or base station and that it’s turned on. Try resetting the network settings by choosing the “General Menu” under “Settings”, then choosing “Reset”, and finally “Reset Network Settings”.  This will reset everything in the network, including all settings and passwords.

Knowing all of this beforehand should help to not have that instant panic set in the moment the WiFi signal is lost or can’t be found. While it may still take you away from your email or getting that important information for a few moments, it should be resolved quickly, unless it is a problem with your network. And in that case, it will help to at least know what the problem is to begin sorting that out with your network.

Image credit: BigStockPhoto

Know Where You Stand

One bad thing, at least with AT&T for that matter, is that you have to check yourself to see how much Internet you have used up. You get a text alert after using up 65% of your data; however, you’re left in the dark after that. However, there are ways to see how much data you have used up. The easiest way is through text message, and here’s how:

Go to “Phone” on your home screen.

Go to your “Contacts” and find “View Data Usage”.

Click on the number *3282#, click dismiss, and wait for the message to appear.

You’ll get a message in 30 seconds at most with the total number of MB you have used. If you didn’t know, GB = 1 thousand megabytes. If you have a cap of 2GB, you should stay under 2000 MB (or 2048 MB to be exact).

There are then the individuals that are entering a new contract. These individuals don’t have the choice of an unlimited data package and must understand how to budget their data. If you are one of these users, you can guesstimate how much data you will in fact need with AT&T’s data estimator. Here’s how to use it:

Go to AT&T data estimator website.

Understand each module of the estimator. Adjust according to if you’re finding plans for your smart phone, laptop, or net book under the “Select Your Device” tab at the top right. You are able to adjust according to how many emails, number of hours, amount of apps, posts, and minutes by sliding the module. You can adjust accordingly by day or month using the drop down menu.

As you adjust, pay attention to the “Estimated Monthly Usage” tab at the bottom. If you are intending on paying $15/month, stay around 200MB a month. If $25/month is more in your budget, then 2GB is more of your limit.

Take Advantage of WIFI

WIFI is one of the best data conservers for your iPhone and iPad. The average user won’t use up all of their 2GB of data just during commuting to and from work or school. Not taking advantage of WIFI at home, at a local coffee shop, or other WIFI connected place can also heavily affect data usage. When taking advantage of WIFI, keep your device with the WIFI lever always on. For added safety, have your device ask you before connecting. This will prevent you from connecting to mysterious, “open” networks. Here’s how to enable this:

Go to “Settings” and click “WIFI”

On the lever that says “Ask to Join Networks”, click “ON”

Whenever your device tries to connect with an unknown network, you’ll be asked before you automatically join. This will prevent your device from being a victim of bugs, stolen information, and data.

Control Your Device

If you want to conserve data based on what you already have, then there are many ways of saving on those MB by making adjustments in your iPhone. With the iOS 5 update, more applications and services than ever are taking advantage of your data. When at home and using WIFI, consider turning off cellular data all together. Instead of searching for the fastest connection, your iPhone will automatically go to WIFI. Here’s how:

Go to “Settings” and “General”

Click “Network”

Turn the “Cellular Data” lever off.

The Money Issue

Having a better control of your data not only prevents you from overages, but also can allow you to know when you might even need to extend your data package or lower the allowance. Some users find that they are frequently in WIFI networks and can find having a 2GB allowance to be more useful. The best way to assess this is to pay attention to your cellular bill for about two months. Monitor how often you use your data.

On the other hand, current economic situations may force you to lower your data allowance. 4GB of data for $45 a month is a huge difference from $25 a month for 2GB, a $20 savings. The tips above can allow you to make the most of your data squeeze. In addition, knowing how to crunch your data well can be a great money saver for individuals interested in an iPad. The WIFI+3G iPad is close to $200 more than the WIFI only iPad. Being able to know how to take advantage of WIFI only will allow you to allocate your money somewhere else.

Conclusion

With many carriers limiting the amount of data their users use, it becomes even more important to find alternatives to using your cellular data. In addition, users with unlimited data will find a capped data plan to be more cost effective. With more and more users having a cap, they will see it as a cost effective alternative to cutting costs in other ways.

Despite these advantages, there are some disadvantages to a capped data plan. If you go over, even just a MB, you will automatically get charged $10 with AT&T for an extra gigabyte. In addition, once you change over to a capped data plan, you can’t go back to unlimited when with AT&T. These are the factors to consider before making the big decision of switching over. Using online resources, including AT&T’s data estimator will help you with this decision.

Samsung Galaxy S WiFi is an Android device that has the same functionality as all Android phones, except making call, sending SMS and connect to 3G network. In short, it is the iPod Touch equivalent for Android. The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi comes in two different sizes, mainly the 4.0 (4-inches screen) and 5.0 (5-inches screen).

Hardware Specification

As you can see, the hardware specification is pretty up to the mark. It has a 1GHz processor and an internal memory of 8GB, extensible to 32GB via MicroSD card. There is a 3.2 megapixel camera at the rear and a VGA camera on the front. The 5.0 version comes with a flash in the rear. Since it doesn’t come with any sim card slot, you won’t be able to use any 3G connection on it. Instead, it comes with Wifi 802.11 (b/g/n) and Bluetooth 3.0. The 1200mAh battery can last up to 36 hours of music playback or 5 hrs of continuous video playback.

Android OS

The device is running Android 2.2 – Froyo. The press release does mention that there is a possibility to upgrade to Gingerbread (Android 2.3), though there is no mention of the dateline. Seriously, I am rather disappointed that it is shipped with Froyo rather than Gingerbread, since Gingerbread has already been around for quite some time and Samsung has not been known for providing prompt upgrade.

Functionality

If you have used any Samsung Android device before, you will be familiar with this Galaxy S Wifi as well. The clear LCD screen is one feature that I like most. The screen is bright and is able to display vibrant color well. It is always a joy to surf web and watch videos with this screen.

The applications that come with the device include the Samsung own Appstore (Samsung App), Qik video, ThinkFree Office, Samsung Social hub, Task Manager, AllShare (for sharing file to other devices), Skype and an FM radio. Of course, there is those default Google apps such as Gmail, Gtalk, Youtube, Calendar, Maps etc.

The Samsung Social Hub app is a central place for you to connect your various social networks together. You can simultaneously post message and pictures to Flickr, Facebook and Twitter and it can syncs your personal contacts and calendar.

One surprise addition is the inclusion of Qik and Skype. Both seems to be a replacement for the missing calling feature in the device. As long as you are connected via WiFi, you can still make VoIP calls and video calls.

Conclusion

The price of Samsung Galaxy S Wifi in Singapore is S$328, the same as the 8GB iPod Touch. If you are looking for a lightweight device wtih full web surfing capability, able to serve as a great media player or even as a portable camera or HD video camcorder, but without the hefty 2 years contract (and you are not an Apple fan), Samsung Galaxy S Wifi is a great choice.

Fortunately, iPhone comes with an Internet tethering feature. It converts your device into a modem and shares your Internet connection with your other devices. The bad news is, not all carriers offer tethering option which is a good reason why you should jailbreak your iPhone to be able to share your connection.

I have used two apps which can turn your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot. To cut the story short, here they are:

TetherMe Installation

Sbingner and Cirdan developed this app which supports jailbroken iPhones only. It has been tested to work efficiently with iPhones running iOS 3.0 to 4.0.1. I was wondering if this app will also work with iOS 4.1, so I tried to search for reviews of TetherMe but I never found a clue. The good thing is, TetherMe is worth $1.99 only so everybody can afford it.

To install TetherMe to your iPhone, you just have to:

1. Launch Cydia and query “TetherMe.”

2. Purchase the App for $1.99 and install.

3. You have to reboot your iPhone after the installation to set TetherMe into effect.

4. Navigate through Settings -> General -> Network and set Internet Tethering to “On” to enjoy its function.

TetherMe works perfectly on iPhone 4 running iOS 4.1 jailbroken using Limera1n.

MyWi Installation

If TetherMe turns your iPhone into a modem, MyWi will turn it into a router allowing other devices to connect to the Internet simultaneously. Since it is also a Cydia app, only jailbroken iPhones would be able to enjoy its features. Moreover, it is stable and has been tested to work perfectly on iPhones running iOS 3.0 and up. Well, the bad news is, it is worth $9.99. It may sound so expensive but the price is just right if you want to turn your place into a WiFi hotspot using your iPhone. You can try out its trial version and see for yourself if it is worth your money. Without further adieu, here are the steps on how to install MyWi.

1. Launch Cydia app and query “Rock App“, then tap on “Install” button.

2. You will be able to find a Rock icon on your Springboard, tap on it to launch.

Note: If you have already installed the Rock App in your iPhone, proceed to the following steps without performing the first to steps. Otherwise, you have to create a new Rock account if it is your first time launching the application. Rock account is free so you don’t have to worry.

3. Once the app is open, you can see MyWi among the options, tap on it to start installation. Click on “Start Trial” if you want to test it out first. However, should you decide to purchase the app directly, click on “Purchase” button. In this case, we will try out the trial version.

4. Installation will take a while to complete. After which you will be prompted to soft-restart your iPhone, just proceed as instructed.

5. Look for MyWi icon and tap on it to launch. You will, then, be prompted with an agreement which you are entitled to accept to be able to use the app.

6. That’s pretty it. You will now be able to enjoy its features. To increase security of your connection, or to avoid others to use it without your knowledge, you can enable WEP security and choose your own WEP key.

7. Switch “WiFi Tethering” On and MyWi will automatically convert your iPhone into a WiFi hotspot.

So far, these are the best apps you can use to share your Internet connection from your iPhone to your other devices. It will not take so much of your time to complete the installation. But you have to remember that these apps work only on jailbroken iPhones; if you haven’t done so, try these tutorials here.

Image credit: Yutaka Tsutano

Android Manager WiFi makes this task surprisingly easy.

Set-Up

First, install Android Manager WiFi app (market link) on your Android phone and configure the PIN to connect to your PC. From here you can also set the idle timeout time for your WiFi.

Once you have setup the PIN, ensure your phone is connected to your wireless network and your Android phone will start broadcasting a IP address.

Keep a note of the WiFi IP.

Next, navigate to the Android Manager WiFi homepage and download and install the application to your Windows PC. Once it is installed and running, you will see the main dashboard.

The first thing you must do is select “Settings -> Connection” to connect the Android Manager WiFi app on your phone to your computer.

On the connection page, input your PIN and your phone’s WiFi IP.

If you have entered the details correctly a small icon will appear on the bottom of the dashboard indicating that the connection is successful.

On your phone the app will say that you have connected.

Additionally, a new section will appear on the dashboard, showing the files on your phone.

Usage

After your phone has connected to your computer, you have the option to sync your contacts, messages, photos, videos, music, applications and all other data files. Unfortunately, I was unable to sync my photos, videos, or music files, but the rest worked fine.

Contacts

The contact sync simply copies all your contacts from your phone to the computer. If you make changes to your contacts on the computer, the changes will be synced back to your phone as well. 

The contacts dashboard displays the full list of contacts along the left panel and detailed information on the right panel.

You can create a new contact by clicking on New.

From here you can add a variety of information.

You can also edit the contacts by clicking on Edit.

Finally, you can delete or create a copy of any one of your contacts.

Messages

Similar to the contacts display, all the messages on your phone are synced and displayed in a threaded conversation view.

You can even send messages directly from the dashboard by adding a contact (or replying to one), typing a message and hitting the yellow mail icon. This is useful for those who prefer to type messages on a keyboard rather than on the phone.

Applications

Syncing your applications with Android Manager WiFi is similar to using AppBrain. All the apps on your phone appear in the applications dashboard and you are able to uninstall them by clicking a check-box.

Files

You are also able to view all your files and copy them from your computer to your phone and vice versa.

Sync Settings

From the Sync menu, you can choose the items you want to AutoSync.

Back-Up

You can backup all your data (contacts, messages, calendar and files) to a single file using the backup tool.

Select “File -> Backup & Restore“. This will launch the backup menu.

You can also use this tool to restore your data.

Conclusion

With so much digital data floating around between your computer and phone it is difficult to keep it in sync. Android Manager WiFi solves this problem by automatically syncing the data whenever your phone is running.

Download Android Manager Wifi

Download Android Manager mobile app: AppBrain | Market

Creating the network

Apple makes it surprisingly easy to create a quick wireless network. The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure you’ve got Wifi enabled. Even if you’re used to connecting to the internet over ethernet, or hard-wired, you’ll need Wifi enabled in order to create the network. To enable Wifi, or check if it is enabled, just click the Wifi icon in the top right corner of your screen (pictured below, left,) and make sure it says “Airport: On“. If it’s already on, perfect! If not, click it to turn it on. Then, click that same icon, and near the bottom of the menu, choose “Create Network…”  like pictured below, right.

You’ll be greeted with the following window:

Leaving the channel as automatic will generally work fine, but depending on how long you plan on leaving the network active, you may want to set a password. If you do click “Require Password“, the dialog box will expand, and all you need to to is enter the password of your choice for the network, along with the type of security. Both are WEP, and so for the most part the default is fine.  (If only setting up most Wifi networks were this easy!) Security enabled or not, this is pretty standard, and when you’re finished, just clicking “OK” will set up everything up for you.

Connecting to the network

To be sure your network is now active, you can visually check where your Wifi icon used to be in the Menu bar, as it should now be replaced with the Ad-Hoc network icon, which looks like this:

Seeing this icon means you’ve successfully created your network. You can click on it, and you should see under Devices, the name you assigned to the network when you created it.

Now this may be the best part of this whole process. To connect your wireless device, be it an iDevice, Android smartphone, blackberry, or netbook, you don’t need to do anything different than you would with a normal Wifi network, be it heading over to your iPhone/iPad/iPod’s settings screen, hitting Wifi, and selecting your network, or just going to your Windows taskbar and selecting your Wifi network through the contextual menu. All you need to do is sign on to the network, and you’ll be on the internet, by way of your computer!

Additional Uses

Now that you’re on a network with your computer, you can use it in ways aside from browsing the internet as well. On iDevices, you can use your device as an iTunes remote with the Remote app. You can also sync apps with the cloud that you normally couldn’t.

Have another creative use for this, or want to know if it can be used for something specific? Hit up the comments!

Months later I learned that there is a way to install your favorite Cydia Apps in the absence of WiFi. I discovered that there is this little application called “Cyder” which serves as file manager for your iPhone and uses USB to transfer files to/from your iPhone. Cyder is for Windows only and it is free. Alright, here’s how to install those apps using this application

Install Cydia Apps Using Cyder

Just before anything else, you have to take note that this program will work only for jailbroken iPhones. If you are one of the people who do not want to take the risk to jailbreak their iPhones, then this is NOT for you. And for the braver ones, read on…

1. The very thing to do is to get what you really need. Download Cyder HERE. Once you’re done, simply unzip it.

2. Before doing anything, connect your iPhone via USB. After which, you are set to do the following steps.

3. Launch Cyder either by double-clicking it or right-click and click on “Open.” When Cyder runs, you will be welcomed by this screen.

4. As you can see, there are available repositories in the window. These are just few of the many repositories where you can download Cydia apps. Just in case you know some more, feel free to add them up. If you cannot see them, simply add these ones:

http://apt.bigboss.us.com/repofiles/cydia/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages
http://apt.modmyi.com/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages
http://apt.saurik.com/dists/tangelo/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages
http://cydia.zodttd.com/repo/cydia/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages
http://repo.smxy.org/cydia/apt/dists/xena/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages
http://www.zodttd.com/repo/cydia/dists/stable/main/binary-iphoneos-arm/Packages

5. When you are done adding the sources to download apps from, hit the “Refresh” button to simply load Cydia’s list of apps. It will take some time to load the list of applications. A little patience will really do you good this time.

6. Now click on the “Packages” icon to the left.

In here, you can select the apps you want to download for your iPhone. You need to check the box of the corresponding apps you wanted to download. Highlighting an item will give show the description to the right.

7. If you think you are ready to download what you’ve checked, just click on the “Download” icon. Downloading may also take time depending on how fast your connection is.

8. Once done, click on the “Synchronization” icon to the right. You will be brought to this window.

9. Highlight the app you want to install then click on the Green Arrow beside AutoInstall Folder; doing so will add up the app you selected to that folder for auto installation.

10. If you are done putting all the apps you want to copy to your iPhone, it’s time to click on the Green Arrow, as shown in the screenshot below.

11. You should wait until all the apps have been copied to your iPhone, then quit Cyder. After which, reboot your iPhone. You should be able to find the Cydia apps you just installed after that.

Now, what do you think? Does Cyder work for you as it did for me?

Image credit: Digitalmarketingtalk

At least that’s what I used to think till about last month when I found myself in a hotel with no WiFi and just one Ethernet port that I was expected to share with two of my friends. Now, we could all do what others at the venue were doing. Sharing the Ethernet port, finish up our work in a given time and hand over the port to the next in line.

Or we could just make one of the computers act as a WiFi hotspot and let the other PCs access the Internet through the first one.

It isn’t too difficult to guess the option that we chose, and for our little setup we decided to use my Mac as the router, since the setup was the easiest on the Mac.

In this post today, I’m going to detail the steps that are needed to share the Internet connection on a Mac effectively turning your Mac into a WiFi router.

Setting up custom network

First of all, you need to create a network of all the computers that are going to share the connection. In networking terms, this is called an adhoc network.

The good thing is that you don’t need to do anything special to create an adhoc network in OS X. OS X will prompt you when it needs to create one, if you’re using the Airport Card (WiFi) for sharing.

To enable Internet Sharing, open System Preferences (Apple -> System Preferences) and click Sharing.

Select Internet Sharing from the list of Services.

From the Drop down menu, select the Interface which is connected to the Internet source and from the list below it, select the interface which you want to share with the other computers. In my case, that was the Ethernet and the Airport (WiFi), respectively.

The third and final step is to create an adhoc network which the other computers can connect to.

Click on Airport Options.

OS X will then prompt you to type in a name for the new network.

Unless you want all the freeloaders in the neighborhood to piggyback on your network, I’d suggest that you select the Enable Encryption option and provide a password for the network.

That’ all there is to it. Click Ok and OS X will enable Internet Sharing on your Mac, from the Ethernet to the Airport Interface.

The only thing left now is to search for a new networks in all the other computers that you want to connect, and our adhoc network should show up in the list. Select and join this network.

All the client machines should now be able to browse the Internet as if they’re directly connected to the Internet over WiFi.

After about two weeks meddling with the latest Mac OS X: 10.6 Snow Leopard, I found several nice little improvements that might be useful for other users. I’ll keep on looking because I’m sure that there are more, but let’s see what we’ve got in our treasure box so far.

1. Date in Menubar

Not everybody will care about this, but for those who’s been longing to be able to glance at the menubar to see date and day, your wish has come true.

2. WiFi Signal strength indicator

While this is also not for everybody, those hotspot hunters will appreciate the new ability to know which spot has stronger signal. There’s also the indicator to show secure (password protected) or non-secure (free) spots.

3. Automatic Time Zone

Still related to WiFi, Mac users can set their machine to adjust the time zone automatically by determining the location of their current WiFi location. So if you travel a lot around the world and use WiFi to connect to the internet, you don’t need to manually go back and forth to the “Date and Time” settings in System Preferences.

4. Undelete the trash

People do “accidental deletion” all the time. And because the accidentally deleted files will be kept in the “Trash” folder until you really delete it, you can drag the files you still want to keep back to their original folder. But doing that manually over and over again can be annoying. Now in Snow Leopard, you can right click (or Control + Click) on the poor files, choose “Put Back”, and everybody will be happy again.

5. Better (Image) Drive Eject

Sometimes you can’t eject the (image) drive because it’s still in use or one of the content of that drive is in use by other application. You can fix this problem easily by closing the application and then you can eject the drive. Problem is, you don’t always know which application is using the drive. Snow Leopard makes it easy for its user to solve the problem by showing which application prevent the drive to be ejected.

6. Enlarged Icon

When you are using Icon view (Command + !), there’s a slider in Snow Leopard’s finder. The function is to adjust the size of the icon. So what? You might ask. Big icon, big deal. Actually, the cool things about this is you can actually “see” the item in the icon view. Image’s icon is the image itself, text’s icon is readable (if you set the view large enough), and you can even flip the page of a document’s icon.

7. Delayed Screensaver Password

One of the easiest way to secure your computer from the prying co-worker’s eyes is to set a screensaver password. But if often leave your computer in a short moment only to repeatedly type the password, this simple security system could be annoying. Snow Leopard let the users decide how long should the screensaver (or sleep mode) run before you need to type in the password. So if a user goes for a glass of water in the dispenser, he/she can continue right away.

I know seven is just a tiny part of Snow Leopard whole improvements. But I’ll add more along the way. Do you know other useful little things in Snow Leopard? Share using the comment below.