Sequence of Connections
The iPhone isn't online all the time. To save battery power, it opens the connection only on demand: when you check email, request a Web page, and so on. At that point, the iPhone tries to get online following this sequence:
First, it sniffs around for a Wi-Fi network that you've used before. If it finds one, it connects quietly and automatically. You're not asked for permission, a password, or anything else.
If the iPhone can't find a previous hot spot, but it detects a new hot spot, a message appears. It displays the new hot spots' names, as shown at left on the facing page; tap the one you want. (If you see a
icon, then that hot spot been protected by a password, which
you'll have to enter.)If the iPhone can't find any Wi-Fi hot spots to join, or if you don't join any, it connects to the cellular network: 3G if it's available, and EDGE if not.
Silencing the "Want to Join?" Messages
Sometimes, you might be bombarded by those "Do you want to join?" messages at a time when you have no need to be online. You might want the iPhone to stop bugging you—to stop offering Wi-Fi hot spots.
In that situation, from the Home screen, tap Settings→Wi-Fi, and then turn off Ask to Join Networks. When this option is off, the iPhone never interrupts your work by bounding in, wagging, and dropping the name of a new network at your feet. In this case, to get onto a new network, you ...
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