Filed under: iPhone
iTunes store over EDGE
Alex at iPhoneBlog.de (Germany) tipped us off to a simple "hack" they discovered while doing speed tests between EDGE and WiFi. It involves creating an ad hoc network with your computer or a hotspot and changing the default route of the network to point to the IP address of your EDGE connection. Accomplish that and you should be able to run applications over EDGE that are normally WiFi-only, such as the iTunes store.
I can't test it right now, but I'm sure that some of you will be eager to give it a shot. The speed tests in the video look decent considering the obvious handicaps. If you happen to sprechen Sie Deutsch you'll probably be able to glean more details from the post. You'll also want to check out the podcast on using Skype over EDGE.
Thanks, Alex!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christopher Price said 1:49PM on 5-26-2008
This isn't anything new really. This is the same trick as using a 3G phone to provide iPhone with a 3G connection using Wi-Fi.
iPhone doesn't (can't) scrutinize where the internet is coming from once it's being fed a Wi-Fi connection.
It's also well known that Apple is only satisfying the demands of carriers by making the iTunes Store Wi-Fi only. And, the carriers have a good point... imagine AT&T customers trying to stream movie rentals over 3G? Their network is already overloaded in many areas...
- Christopher Price
http://www.PhoneNews.com
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Kev Orng said 2:45PM on 5-26-2008
I can't buy or rent videos on the iPod Touch iTunes Store. Is there a difference?
DistortedLoop said 6:18PM on 5-26-2008
Hmmm...I don't think it's the same thing as tricking the iPhone into using a 3g phone's (or aircard's) connection.
What you're describing is just having your phone or laptop share their network connection over the WiFi port. I do this all the time with my sprint card and laptop and iPhone.
What this hack is describing is tricking the internal software within the iPhone to thing that it's EDGE connection is actually a WiFi connection.
I can't see a lot of reason why you'd want to do this, but some might find it handy. What's the scenario here...I'm out on the road and there's no public WiFi around, I don't have an aircard for my laptop, which I also happen to be lugging around, and I just HAVE TO buy some song for my iPhone just this second? Okay, if you're that desperate for a tune. ;-)
Are there scenarios I am missing?
Justin said 6:45PM on 5-26-2008
DistortedLoop: Apple won't let you use VOIP if you're not on Wi-Fi. Assuming you want to use an apple-sanctioned VOIP program (and not a jailbreak-app), then you'd have to also do this hack in order to make calls from the wilderness (read: no wifi).
I'd say this is more of a "look what we can do" hack than a "oh wow, this changes the world" hack.
Blaktornado said 2:48PM on 5-26-2008
No doubt Apple will plug it.
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Christopher Price said 6:25PM on 5-26-2008
My point was, Apple can't block it. This article is just pointing out using iPhone with Wi-Fi. The only twist is, the Wi-Fi is being powered by an unconventional source.
GrizzlyAdams said 9:34PM on 5-26-2008
Actually they can block this in a firmware update. They just have to enforce route and interface binding.
Alexander Olma said 3:15PM on 5-26-2008
Thanks for the article Brett!
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Adrian Fogge said 6:51PM on 5-26-2008
None of you obviously understand networking protocols in any way.
Allow me to explain this to you...
The iPhone will not allow you to connect to the iTunes Wifi store if you are not connected to a Wireless network.
You create an ad-hoc network. On the iPhone, you update your default gateway to require all traffic to take Edge over Wifi as your preferred path to the internet.
In the process, you are now connected on the iPhone to the iTunes WiFi Store over Edge.
It would be extraordinarily easy for either AT&T or Apple to block this as they could place a blacklist on the entire range of IP Addresses which are assigned to cellular internet connections.
Thorsten Philipp said 4:22PM on 5-27-2008
Adrian,
your mixing up things. The article isn't about blocking on provider site. You could simply use a VPN connection.
By the way. The iTunes store is just an example! You can also SIP/Skype over EDGE or in the future 3G.
starkruzr said 8:27PM on 5-27-2008
Am I the only one who has found it impossible to join an iPhone to an ad-hoc network after software version 1.1.3?
It simply does not want to connect. I have tried to do it to do the "pseudo-tethering" hack with my MBP and it will not connect to the MBP's ad-hoc network.
DistortedLoop said 10:08PM on 5-26-2008
@Justin-
I suspect it would be pretty trivial for AT&T to packet shape away, if not outright block, any network traffic they suspect as being VOIP.
They may be looking the other way on all these other applications jailbreakers are using right now that use ports other than the standard HTTP and Mail ports, but once the traffic starts flowing that cuts into their precious "voice minutes" revenues, you can bet they'll plug it up quick.
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Eric Taylor said 11:13PM on 5-27-2008
I had trouble getting this to work --
Could someone post a step-by-step using the commercial wifi method (as opposed to the ad-hoc network method)?
Cheers!
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Niiro13 said 5:46PM on 6-02-2008
The problem is that you're limited to the Wi-Fi range. Why not just use the internet on the Wi-Fi? (unless in the rare case that they don't have internet)
Though there's a glitch I've encountered that makes the iPhone think it's on Wi-Fi while really it's on EDGE. There is no range limitation as it has been tested along a good distance of a highway.
Even the EDGE symbol shows...but it allows iTunes access and YouTube high quality videos.
Of course for YouTube, it took ~10 minutes for 15 seconds of a 30 second video to load...so it's kind of useless =/.
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