Connecting Windows Mobile to Tikona

Hi friends,

In continuation of the post on connecting Desktop/Laptop PC to Tikona over wifi , here comes the promised part, on how to connect your wifi-enabled mobile to Tikona network and get access to the internet.

Before starting anything, let's make basic stuff clear. This method works with the Ruckus C-shaped Gateway that Tikona provides. This method connects your mobile directly to the Ruckus Gateway. No tweaking/hacking of the router is required. The mobile device should have the capability to add new hidden networks with WPA2 or WPA2-Enterprise security.

There are other methods also like sharing the available internet in a pc/laptop through wifi and then connecting to that wifi as Ad-Hoc connection. The scope of this blog is not to explore that, especially because that's a fairly simple method with a lot of inconveniences. Another method would be to connect a wifi router to the output of Tikona Ruckus/NanoStation devices and connect to that wireless network, effectively using it as a bridge. The advantage of the first is that the internet is already connected and no authentication is required. The second might require authentication in each connecting device, be it a mobile or a laptop or a desktop with a wifi dongle/adapter, but I haven't tried that yet.

So, coming to our topic of interest...

In the wifi settings of the mobile, Add a new network with these parameters:

Name and SSID:tikonawifi
"This is a hidden Network"

Security Type:WPA2
Encryption:AES
Network Key cannot be input, but that's OK coz it will be asked during the connection, first time.

Network Authentication Method: PEAP

When connectiong, it brings up a dialog box asking for
username:tikona userid
password:password
Domain:Leave Blank
Save Password

Maybe a few trials would be needed the first time, but after that it connects automatically, whenever it is in range and wifi is on. Also, it is better to try with no other MAC id devices connected. It would do good also to check if the MAC id list if full. In that case, remove one and try again.

It was that easy????
You bet :)

How to connect desktop to Tikona over WiFi (a.k.a Tikona all home configuration/settings)

Hello guys,
I've been using Tikona for quite sometime using the Ruckus Gateway/Router(better known as U-shaped modem). The subscription came with an all home option, but I've never been able to connect the desktop via wifi to it. Tried the latest dialer from Tikona, which is supposed to establish the connection automatically, with no progress. The service engineer checked it thoroughly and announced that either my USB wifi adapter's drivers are not proper or the wifi option is not enabled in the router and that I need to call the advanced support team to enable it. The advanced support team was not of much help. So, I just gave in and because the units are fully customized by Tikona, there's nothing that we can do to enable it or make some changes in the way they behave/connect. There's virtually no document anywhere as to how to do anything, either. I also contemplated exploring the option of using an Access Point cum Router in Bridge/Repeater Mode to wifi-enable my desktop and winmobile. This is still in my mind, and would be explored later.

Before spending on an AP, I just thought about having some more experiments with the unit. I wanted to see what exactly the dialer does, coz it is said to connect to some hidden network. Fired up the dialer, set the adapter to the wireless and asked it to connect using all home, all the while keeping a watch on the wireless networks in view. Voila! A new network by the name "TDN-Home" is added and later, it disappears and another one, "tikonawifi", comes up. But in any case, the pc is not connecting to the wifi network and so the authentication fails. The newly created networks are also deleted. I decided to explore it further and while it is there, opened up the tikonawifi entry and got out the parameters from it.

They are:
SSID:tikonawifi
Security Type:WPA2-Enterprise
Encryption:AES
Network Authentication Method: PEAP

With these, I added a wireless network to my desktop and it connected beautifully, after asking for the username and password. Once the wifi network connection is established, login page loads which can be used to connect to the Net. This way, I can connect using wifi to the router without any problems after that. If anybody faces problems reg this, I'm available for further discussion.

I also connected my HTC Hermes to the same gateway using wifi, but that's another post!! I personally think the way for mobile would be pretty same for any device, given they have those options. The only limiting factor is the number of authenticated MAC addresses you can have in any given time, but that's a limit imposed by Tikona.

Hope this helps anyone who's trying to get the all home working with their desktops/laptops.

Go Wirefree!!!