[inzane]

After spending more than an hour with T-Mobile and RIM, I finally was able to connect my new 8320 to my WRT54G router. It seems that through the "Wifi Setup" program on it's own, you can not configure the 8320 for Static IP on a router. Below are the steps for giving your 8320 a static IP for a given network configuration.

First, go to Set Up Wifi and Scan or manually set up for your router (name, security, etc). Don't worry if you get a connect error.

Then go to Manage Connections in the main menu.
Click on Wi-Fi Options.

Scroll down to your saved WiFi Profile of interest and hit the Menu Key and then Edit.

There you can "uncheck" the "Automatically obtain IP address and DNS" and enter in your Static IP, DNS, Gateway, etc.

I noticed that there is also a checkable box for "Allow inter-access point handover" which seems like it would be useful for UMA and switching back and forth between routers/systems or protocol. I'm not sure.

It seems really odd and frustrating to me why RIM would put these editable options very hidden away from the WiFi Setup wizard. I wouldn't be surprised if they were there to discourage people from using WiFi for phone outside of the Tmobile router (selling more minutes or routers).

This might be useful to add to the FAQ. It would have saved me some time setting up.

[NJBlackBerry]

Just wondering - why would you want a static IP?

[John Clark]

Believe it or not, I actually had to do it today at the hotel where I'm staying for the next 4 days. They're system is having issues assigning IP's but they gave instructions for how to enter the IP's, etc. in Windows. I simply entered them using the same method as above and got wifi going on my 8320 at this hotel.

For some reason though, wifi here is really sucking the life out of my battery. Wifi at home gives good battery life.

[flar]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

Just wondering - why would you want a static IP?

I assign static IPs (through address reservation on my router) to all my internal devices so I can administer them (web config, telnet, etc.) without having to look up their IP address.

For my 8320, I originally reserved it a static IP out of force of habit, but when I went to investigate QoS it helped that I could define some QoS and WISH rules based on the known IP address of the phone...

[flar]

Originally Posted by John Clark

Believe it or not, I actually had to do it today at the hotel where I'm staying for the next 4 days. [...]

For some reason though, wifi here is really sucking the life out of my battery. Wifi at home gives good battery life.

They probably don't have WMM PowerSave mode. They may not even have WMM in the first place for that matter.

[John Clark]

That was my guess as well. I can't believe how it hammered the battery, though. Wow.

[flar]

Well, I guess the good news is that my non-TMo router must have the PowerSave feature. All it has is a WMM checkbox, but that doesn't mean it supports powersave - since my battery life seems pretty reasonable I'll assume that it does support it...

[jeremyckitching]

I actually noticed that at home, when I set my 8320 to have a static IP address, it seems to connect to UMA faster. When I reboot my device and only have the WiFi radio enabled, it can take about a minute or two to show the UMA symbol (sometimes it won't show until I enable the Mobile Network radio). With my 8320 assigned a static IP address (outside of the DHCP range so no conflicts will come up) it connects to UMA almost immediately.

[cwichura]

Originally Posted by John Clark

For some reason though, wifi here is really sucking the life out of my battery. Wifi at home gives good battery life.

Most likely, given it's a hotel and they are notoriously cheap when it comes to infrastructure, they have the bare minimum of WiFi access points and coverage. Thus, the phone is probably cranking up the transmit power to maintain it's connection. This will dramatically shorten the battery life, and also tends to make the phone get rather warm. I've had this numerous times in hotels, and it can kill the battery in as little as an hour (usually more like two). And on the laptop, the signal strength will also be very poor and experience frequent disconnects.

If the hotel offers a wired connection, I always use that. I have a little pocket D-Link wireless travel router that I carry around and hook up to the hotel's Ethernet. I then use my laptop to sign in via my private WPA-passworded SSID, after which any of my WiFi devices (e.g., the 8320) are able to connect and get service and I don't have to worry about poor signal strength as the AP is now right in my own room.

[John Clark]

Originally Posted by jeremyckitching

I actually noticed that at home, when I set my 8320 to have a static IP address, it seems to connect to UMA faster. When I reboot my device and only have the WiFi radio enabled, it can take about a minute or two to show the UMA symbol (sometimes it won't show until I enable the Mobile Network radio). With my 8320 assigned a static IP address (outside of the DHCP range so no conflicts will come up) it connects to UMA almost immediately.

Jeremy, I decided to give this a try tonight. I gave it a static IP and will see how it works.

Originally Posted by cwichura

Most likely, given it's a hotel and they are notoriously cheap when it comes to infrastructure, they have the bare minimum of WiFi access points and coverage. Thus, the phone is probably cranking up the transmit power to maintain it's connection. This will dramatically shorten the battery life, and also tends to make the phone get rather warm. I've had this numerous times in hotels, and it can kill the battery in as little as an hour (usually more like two). And on the laptop, the signal strength will also be very poor and experience frequent disconnects.

If the hotel offers a wired connection, I always use that. I have a little pocket D-Link wireless travel router that I carry around and hook up to the hotel's Ethernet. I then use my laptop to sign in via my private WPA-passworded SSID, after which any of my WiFi devices (e.g., the 8320) are able to connect and get service and I don't have to worry about poor signal strength as the AP is now right in my own room.

Yeah, I bought a Linksys travel router and really like it for use at hotels. I sign in with my laptop (on systems that have to be signed in first--especially pay-for-use systems) and then plug in my travel router with my laptop's mac address cloned. Voila! One paid for internet connection and all my devices connected flawlessly with a strong wifi signal in my room. I'm usually travelling with someone who is usually in a room next door or across the hall and they can use my connection as well. The travel router is a great accessory for the 8320 user who travels alot.