Cisco access point at fault for Duke's wireless issues (Was Re: [LINK] iPhones & Cisco)

[Scott Howard]

On Sun, Jul 22, 2007 at 05:21:02PM +1000, Adam Todd wrote:
> >IIRC, the problem arose when thousands of iPhones joined the network
> >within a small time interval. Perhaps this was an untested case
> >for Cisco.
> 
> What so CISCO has to write special code to deal with iPhones?

No, Cisco has to write a bug-fix for what is now understood to be a
bug in the Cisco code.  The problem has nothing to do with iPhones
other than the fact they happen to trigger the bug (as can other
devices)

> Protocol is protocol, it is defined and a standard.  Who is at 
> fault?  Well it depends more clearly on what the fault actually was.

>From all accounts at this stage the bug is in Cisco code, and only
shows itself under specific conditions - based both on the configuration
of the network (which is why not all Cisco customers are experencing
the problem) and on a specific action of the device (in this case the
iPhone, but it could be any other device).

Without going into any detail the issues is basically a corner case -
what the iPhone is doing is valid within the 'protocol', but not
necessaily something that any other vendors does, which is why only the
iPhone is triggering this bug in the wild.

It's a bug.  It has a Bug ID, a workaround, and a fix. Nuff said?

In a more general sense it's not exactly surprising that such a bug has
been found, and I'd be surprised if it's the last that the iPhone plays
some part in (across all vendors of network hardware).  The iPhone has
resulted in a significant increase in the number of very mobile WiFi
devices connecting to networks. Sure, notebooks may be popular, but the
majority of notebook users are not roaming between base stations all day
as iPhones do.

Sure, phones with WiFi aren't new, but they have never been as popular
as the iPhone.

  Scott
  (Speaking for myself, not Cisco)