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View Full Version : Nokia 6086 and Data on Wifi...


Scooby214
07-01-2007, 05:14 PM
I've been hesitant to post this as it has been widely reported that the Hotspot @Home service only works for voice, but I've been using the 6086 since Friday and I believe I have some evidence that the phone may actually be using Wifi for data. Bear with me while I share my experiences and let me know if it makes sense. :)

I usually use my phones to browse WAP sites while sitting next to my trusty AM radio, with the radio turned on. I have become accustomed to hearing the GSM buzz through the radio speakers when my phones are loading WAP pages. It happens every time, until I tried my 6086 while it was connected to my Wifi router. I can load my WAP pages while the phone's Wifi is turned on, and I hear absolutely no GSM buzz through my AM radio. I then close the browser and turn off the Wifi on the phone. While still sitting in the same position, with Wifi turned off, I then started loading WAP pages. The GSM buzz was immediately back! I have tried it quite a few times now, with the same consistent result.

Another thing I have noticed... While the phone loads most WAP sites quickly whether the Wifi is on or off, my local TV station's WAP site is slow to load on most phones. (In particular, the animated weather radar is rather slow to load.) On the 6086, it is noticeably faster to load the animated radar if the Wifi is turned on than if the Wifi is turned off!

Based on these two things, I am beginning to believe that the 6086 does use the Wifi for data, even if T-Mobile didn't intend for it to work that way.

Does my reasoning make sense, or am I missing something? I invite any observations or input from any of you who have the 6086. :)

Scooby214
07-01-2007, 11:40 PM
Wirelessly posted (Nokia6086/2.0 (13.51) Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

I have an update. I an posting on my 6086 from my father in law's basement. We get on GSM signal down here, but his Wifi comes in well. Data is working great, using only a Wifi connection. When I turn off the Wifi, I get on signal at all, and can't use voice or data.

redwildebeast
07-02-2007, 09:16 AM
easy way to check. goto http://dslreports.com/mspeed and do the speed test. anything over 250 is wifi speed.

Scooby214
07-02-2007, 10:01 AM
easy way to check. goto http://dslreports.com/mspeed and do the speed test. anything over 250 is wifi speed.
That's a great tool. I've never used it before.

Here are my results using Wifi:
5k test: Too fast a result (0.845s) please choose a larger file.
50k test: Too fast a result (2.733s) please choose a larger file.
100k test: Phone error message: Memory Full.

And now for my results when Wifi is turned off:
5k test: 50 kbit/s
50k test: 60 kibt/s
100k test: Phone error message: Memory Full.

I did these tests at home, where I do have a GSM signal, though Compass shows me to have only one bar of signal. I won't be back at my father-in-law's house for a few days or weeks, so it will be a while before I can try any other tests in his basement.

I have decided that I don't really like the browser on the 6086. I have discovered two occasions where the browser can't open sites with a forward slash and word on the end of the URL. Examples: http://dslreports.com/mspeed, http://t-mobilesignal.com/mobile. To get the dlsreports.com one to work, I left off the /mspeed. Once the site opened, it gave me the option to try a lo-fi version of the page with my WAP browser. I was also able to get the t-mobile signal one to work by writing down the bookmark for the site from my 6030 and typing it in.

EDIT: The WAP browser now seems to let me enter the two URLs above as listed. Maybe I wasn't holding my tongue right the first time. :)

redwildebeast
07-02-2007, 01:30 PM
well it would appear you are using the wifi. the response you got "too fast a result" is what i always get on anything less than 600 megabytes.

Scooby214
07-02-2007, 04:07 PM
It's a shame the phone's browser can't handle can't handle larger pages. It would be fun to see what the Wifi speed is on this phone!

Just for fun, I tried the speed test on my 6030. It could only do the 5k WAP test, and it scored 7kbit/s. I expected it to score low.

Thanks for brainstorming this with me!