Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

I heard that the N9 had problems with ad-hoc in the US, since ad-hoc is not allowed here, but I heard that the community managed to find a way to fix the issue..

Now, we have the same issue with Symbian FP1, and I was wondering if I can get some feedback.. I know that there are very different platforms, but I thought it might be helpful to the Symbian modding community.

I've made a thread about it here: http://forum.dailymobile.net/index.php?topic=77488.0

but so far no one seems to know where the issue might be.

I am able to create ad-hoc on my Nokia n8 running an older version of Belle, but not with the 808 running on the latest FP1.

I tried a European firmware, but no go..

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

AFAIK, its looking at the sim MSI, and figuring you are using a USA sim, nothing do with the firmware and it blocks it.

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

We unlocked it through ad-hac, I don't know how it would work on Symbian.

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

If it's like the N9, it's based on the MCC (mobile country code) of the tower you're connected to when you boot the phone - not the SIM.

Symbian is dramatically less hackable than Linux/Harmattan, so you might be SOL in this case. There's probably some way to fix it (ROMPatcher?), but it won't have much in common with the ad-hac approach.

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

Thanks a lot! I knew I will get some answers here :)

So it looks at the network/tower, finds out the country code, and it blocks it.. but its still done with software, nothing to do with the hardware ?

Hopefully some Symbian modder can figure out a way to disable it from "detecting" ...

For now, I am tethering over USB, but using wi-fi is way more convenient.

Also, it seems that Symbian can only create a wi-fi hotspot using ad-hoc, no way to use wi-fi direct, or whatever the other protocol for that is.

And...Its amazing to me that they managed to pass a law against ad-hoc connections, only in the US man..
So now what, all the PCs have to remove it as well ? I guess Microsoft won't have a problem doing something similar within windows 8..

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

Yep - it's 100% software. I don't think the US has any regs against ad-hoc WiFi specifically; what I heard a few months ago was that the cellular connection + an ad-hoc WiFi connection together put the phone as a whole over the FCC limit for RF radiation. This doesn't seem to be a problem for any non-Nokia phones, so the real reason is probably that Nokia doesn't take the US market seriously enough to put in a real solution and not this half-baked one, which is just enough to get approved.

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

That makes more sense now.. thanks again. The N9 has relatively higher SAR ratings as well..

So, its kind of ironic, but if Nokia decided not to sell the 808 in the US, they wouldn't have to get approved by the FCC, right ? So.. therefore no restriction would be required, and a EU unit would work fine.

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

well maybe ask coderus for a software fix...

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

Good idea.. I just sent him a message. I don't think he is very active when it comes to symbian anymore, but it can't hurt to ask :)

Re: Ad-Hoc restrictions in the USA ?
 

[QUOTE=vlad0;1244440]Good idea.. I just sent him a message. I don't think he is very active when it comes to symbian anymore, but it can't hurt to ask :)[/QUOTE

The problem is the Damn FCC which passed a rule in 2011 stating that mobile phones could not create Ad-Hoc networks otherwise the device manufacturer wouldn't get FCC approval. SHOOT.

This can be easy to fix issue. Simply removing the restriction line out of software patch or add a command that forces the connection after the initial command to block it.

I am not an expert on Symbian but if folks were able to get ad-hac working on N9 then it should be a simple one for 808 or other symbian models. After all when transmitting on Wifi the phone is sending out/uploading signal. What can be the difference?