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How to Connect an iPhone to a Wi-Fi Network

mcone — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:31:05 +0000

If you're a new iPhone owner, one of the first things you'll want to learn how to do is connect your iPhone to a wireless network. That's because there are certain times when your cellular data connection just won't cut it, even if you're lucky enough to have an unlimited data plan. Using Facetime, downloading content from iTunes, and even surfing the web can be painfully slow without a wi-fi connection.

Fortunately, it's a relatively simple process to connect an iPhone to a wi-fi network. Just be sure to commit this process to memory, because it's something you'll need to do over and over again, unless you set your iPhone to automatically detect and prompt you to connect to wi-fi networks.

Here's how to connect an iPhone to a wi-fi network:

From the home screen, tap Settings.
Tap Wi-Fi. The window shown below appears.

Verify that the Wi-Fi slider is in the On position. This allows your iPhone to detect and connect to wireless networks.
Tap the wireless network you want to join. If the network is not password protected, the iPhone will connect immediately.
If the wireless network you selected is protected with a password, you will be prompted to enter a password, as shown below. Enter the password and then click Join to connect to the network.

If the wireless network you selected is protected with a captive portal, you will be prompted to enter a password, or a username and password combination. These are increasingly common in hotels, airports, and on college campuses.

Congratulations! Your iPhone is now connected to the wi-fi network. From now on, the iPhone will automatically connect to this network when it is in range. If you accidentally selected the wrong wi-fi network, you can tell your iPhone to forget it.

How to Tell if Your iPhone is Connected to a Wi-Fi Network

There are several indicators you can use to verify that your iPhone is connected to a wi-fi network. The easiest way to visually check to the status bar in the upper-left corner of the iPhone's screen. The wi-fi symbol is displayed when you are connected to a network, as shown below.

If you're curious about which wi-fi network the iPhone is connected to, open the Wi-Fi settings. The network name is displayed in the sidebar, and a checkmark is also displayed next to the connected network, as shown above.

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Matt Cone, the author of Master Your Mac, has been a Mac user for over 20 years. A former ghost writer for some of Apple's most notable instructors, Cone founded Macinstruct in 1999, a site with OS X tutorials that boasts hundreds of thousands of unique visitors per month. You can email him at: matt@macinstruct.com.

Make Your iPhone Ask to Join Wi-Fi Networks

mcone — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:04:59 +0000

By default, your iPhone automatically connects to known wi-fi networks. (To stop an iPhone from automatically connecting, you can tell your iPhone to forget a wi-fi network.) But what happens if you take your iPhone to a new location? You'll need to manually connect your iPhone to a wi-fi network.

That's a hassle. But if you have the foresight and inclination, you can save yourself time in the future by making your iPhone ask to join wi-fi networks when no known networks are available. Instead of having to open settings to join a network, you'll be able to easily select a network from an on-screen prompt.

Here's how to make your iPhone ask to join wi-fi networks:

From the home screen, tap Settings.
Tap Wi-Fi. The window shown below appears.

Move the Ask to Join Networks slider to the On position.
The next time you're in a location with no known networks, your iPhone will prompt you to connect to an available wi-fi network, as shown below.

In the future, this prompt will be displayed when no known networks are available. (To actually see the prompt, you'll need to do something that requires network access, like try to check your email or open a webpage.) To connect to a wi-fi network, select a network and enter a password, if one is required.

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Tell Your iPhone to Forget a Wireless Network

mcone — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:08:54 +0000

When you connect an iPhone to a wi-fi network, the iPhone remembers that network and will automatically attempt to connect to it in the future. This is a great feature for wi-fi networks you trust and use frequently. But mistakes happen. If you connect to the wrong network at a coffee shop, your iPhone will automatically attempt to join that network every time you visit the coffee shop in the future. And if the password for a known network changes, your iPhone might have trouble connecting to it.

What's the solution? Telling your iPhone to forget the wi-fi network. Forgetting a network will remove the network's password and prevent your iPhone from joining it automatically in the future.

Here's how to tell your iPhone to forget a wireless network:

From the home screen, tap Settings.
Tap Wi-Fi. The window shown below appears.

Locate the wireless network you want the iPhone to forget, and then tap the blue arrow next to the network name. The window shown below appears.

Tap Forget this Network. The iPhone will forget the wireless network.

You have successfully told your iPhone to forget the wi-fi network. The iPhone will not attempt to connect to the network in the future. And if the network required a password, that password has been forgotten.

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Controlling AirPort Network Access with Time Limits

mcone — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:39:03 +0000

If you own an AirPort base station, you can use the Timed Access feature to control the days and times when users access the Internet. This could come in handy in a variety of situations. For example, if you own a cafe and provide free wi-fi access, you can configure the AirPort to block all access to the Internet when your business is closed. And if you have children, you can set time limits for specific devices in your home.

There are two ways to use the timed access feature. You can create a default allow policy to allow all devices to access the Internet at any time, and then specify custom schedules for specific devices. Or you can create a default deny policy to prevent all devices from accessing the Internet according the schedule you specify, and then exempt specific devices by creating custom schedules.

Here's how to control AirPort network access with time limits:

Open the AirPort Utility application. (It's in Applications → Utilities.) The window shown below appears.

Click the AirPort Extreme's icon. The status pop-up window appears.
Click Edit. The settings window appears.
Select the Network tab. The window shown below appears.

Select the Enable Access Control checkbox.
Click Timed Access Control. The window shown below appears.

Select the Unlimited (default) option. By default, this allows all of the devices connected to your AirPort to access the Internet all day, every day, but you can change this to block Internet access for all devices (except the ones you specify later) during the times you set.
If you'd like to limit the days and times that a specific device can access the Internet, click the + button under the Wireless Clients field. The window shown below appears.

Enter a name for the device in the Description field.
Enter the device's MAC address in the MAC Address field. You can use the following tutorials to find the device's MAC address.
Use the + button under the Wireless Access Times field to create a schedule for this device's Internet access.
Once you've added all of your devices and customized the schedules, click Save.
Click Update. The AirPort will restart to apply the changes.

Congratulations! You have successfully set time limits for the devices connecting to your AirPort network. The schedule you created is effective immediately.

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How to Change Your iPhone's DNS Servers

mcone — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:10:34 +0000

Just like in Mac OS X, you can change the DNS servers on your iPhone. This can significantly speed up Safari and other iPhone apps that use the Internet. For a general introduction to DNS, and to learn why you would want to change the DNS servers on your iPhone, see How to Change Your Mac's DNS Servers.

Before we start, you should know a couple things about how iOS handles DNS. First, these instructions only work for Wi-Fi connections - iOS does not allow you to change the DNS servers when connected to cellular networks. Also, the changes are network specific, so you'll need to change the DNS servers every time you connect to a new wireless network. The good news is that iOS remembers the settings, so you won't have to do anything the second time you connect to a network.

Here's how to change your iPhone's DNS servers:

From the iPhone's home screen, tap Settings.
Tap Wi-Fi. The screen shown below appears. The available wireless networks in range of your iPhone appear, as shown below.

Find your wireless network in the list, and then click the arrow. The screen shown below appears.

Tap the DNS field.
Delete the current DNS servers, and enter the new DNS servers. (If you enter more than one DNS server, be sure sure to separate the servers with commas.)
- To use OpenDNS, enter 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
- To use Google DNS, enter 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Test your new DNS servers to make sure they're working.
- If you're using OpenDNS, visit the OpenDNS test page.
- If you're using Google Public DNS, follow these testing instructions.

That's it! You've updated your iPhone's DNS servers!

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Macinstruct - The place to learn about your Mac

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