iPhone-Related Questions for MIT Users:
• What is the state of iPhone support at MIT?
• What are the biggest issues for using an iPhone at MIT? What will and what won't work?
• Features that work well here
• Features that DON'T work at MIT
• My department is exploring the purchase of iPhones for use by the staff, but I can't seem to find the iPhones listed on the Apple purchasing pages available through the MIT ecat purchasing pages. Why not?
What is the state of iPhone support at MIT?
Officially, it's not fully supported yet, although the settings necessary to get an iPhone to work in the MIT environment are actively being documented (as of 11/07), and IS&T will provide some best-effort help with many iPhone-related problems now. Send a note to mobile-help@mit.edu for more information. It's expected that IS&T will provide full support for specific features of the iPhone early in 2008.
A preliminary version of the iPhone documentation being compiled can be viewed here:
What are the biggest issues for using an iPhone at MIT? What will and what won't work?
Features that work well here:
- The iPhone is able to connect to the campus Wi-Fi network quite easily. Instructions detailing how to do that can be found here:
https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/iphoneeval/MITnet+Setup+%28Wi-Fi%29
- The iPhone's built-in Safari web browser displays most of MIT's unprotected web pages very nicely. Unfortunately, it can't access MIT's protected web pages (see below).
- Sending and receiving email through the MIT mail servers works very well. Instructions for configuring it can be found here:
https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/iphoneeval/MIT+Email+Setup
Features that DON'T work at MIT:
- The Safari web browser does not support X.509 certificates. The means the iPhone cannot access most of the protected web pages at MIT.
- The iPhone does not support SyncML, which is required to access the TechTime calendars over the network. There are some partial work-arounds which provide some limited syncing capability outlined here:
https://wikis.mit.edu/confluence/display/iphoneeval/Calendar+Synchronization
- The iPhone is not compatible with the Cisco VPN system used at MIT. This does not affect the security of email being read or sent on the iPhone, as email messages travel over encrypted connections to and from the iPhone (be sure to configure the iPhone as outlined in the link above), but any information that you enter into (or view on) an unsecured web site (one that does not use the prefix "https") could be viewed as it travels over the network.
- Most commonly-formatted audio email attachments can be played on the iPhone without problem. There is, however, an incompatibility in the MP3 and WAV attachments that are generated by the new VOIP-based voicemail system that prevents them from being playable on the iPhone. The attachments will play without problem when received on a Mac or PC, but will result in a "This movie cannot be played" error when opened on the iPhone. This seems to be a problem with the iPhone's Quicktime software, and Apple has been notified of the problem.
- The AT&T network, which is the only network that the iPhone can use in the US (without hacking it, anyway), has very inconsistent coverage across the MIT campus. It is quite common for the iPhone to drop calls as the user moves about the campus (even outdoors), and the interior of many of the MIT buildings has such poor signal strength that the iPhone is unable to make and receive calls. IS&T is currently working with AT&T to investigate what can be done to improve signal strength across campus.
My department is exploring the purchase of iPhones for use by the staff, but I can't seem to find the iPhones listed on the Apple purchasing pages available through the MIT ecat purchasing pages. Why not?
Apple and AT&T have not made the iPhone available through corporate (or educational) accounts. Currently, all purchases of the iPhone must be made through a personal account. An MIT credit card can be used to make this purchase, as well as to pay the monthly service fees, but the staff member who purchases the iPhone will be required to use his or her social security number to activate the iPhone, and will be signing him- or herself to a 2-year committment. Hopefully, Apple will allow corporate purchases of the iPhone at some point in the future, but all questions to Apple and AT&T about this to date have elicited a "no plans to do so" response.