Click below to
find interesting
information from our
December 2011
newsletter
relating to:
Roaming
Travel
Mobile phones
Roaming
iPhone/iPad
setting
causes
large
roaming
bills
James Morris
started
downloading 5
apps whilst in a
WiFi zone in an
Apple store in
Spain. Before
they had
finished he
walked out of
the WiFi zone,
to be later hit
by a large
data-roaming
bill. The
problem is an
ambiguously-worded
iPhone setting
in all versions
greater than iOS
4.3 (most iPads
and iPhone 4's).
Morris
says that he
understood the
"Use Mobile
Data" switch (in
the "Settings"
menu, under
"Store") to
control whether
apps would be
downloaded over
the mobile
network, and
that if it was
off that there
would be no
download.
But others
say - and the
behaviour of the
phone confirms -
that the "Use
Mobile Data"
switch is only
meant to apply
to the three
categories
directly above
it where people
are
synchronising
their apps
across multiple
devices, and
that it is not a
switch to
control whether
apps, music or
books can be
downloaded for
the first time
directly from
the App Store.
Yet another
trap for the
unwary. And even
for the wary -
Mr Morris is an
IT professional.
Save more on
roaming
when you
use our vSIM
post-paid
alternative.
Travel
In-flight
entertainment
In
1921,
Aeromarine
Airways
strapped
a DeVry
suitcase
projector
to a
table in
the
aisle of
an
11-passenger
converted
Navy
Curtiss
F-5L
biplane
flying
boat,
plugged
the
projector
into a
light
socket,
hung up
a
screen,
took off
from
Chicago’s
Navy
Pier and
showed
passengers
“Howdy
Chicago,”
a
Chamber
of
Commerce
film
promoting
the
city.
There
was no sound,
which is just as
well, as the two
roaring 400hp
Liberty engines
effectively
deafened all
aboard.
That’s the
earliest known
instance of an
in-flight movie.
Today,
passengers on
many airliners
can choose from
a menu of
movies, games,
music and more
to play on
personal
screens, surf
the internet and
(rarely, still)
make calls from
their own
phones.
In-Flight
Entertainment
(or IFE) has
come a long way
since then,
including:
- Audio
channels
heard
through
stethoscope-like
rubber tubes
- In-flight
video
projectors
8mm
self-loading
film
cartridges
used for
individual
movies in
business
class
- Seat-back
video
screen,
starting in
1988 with a
whopping
2.7-inch
screen
- In-flight
telephones
(initially
with
instructions
to leave
your credit
card in the
phone base
and take the
cordless
receiver
back to your
seat)
- Portable
video
players, and
now
sometimes
iPads
Mobile phones
Mobiles are not
secure
We're not
pedantic about
security here at
vRoam. But a
recent query
from a customer
prompted some
research: "how
secure are
overseas mobile
networks"?
Our
research
revealed the
answer to be
"not very".
Berlin-based
consultancy
Security
Research Labs
are the most
highly-regarded
experts in this
field, and chief
scientist
Karsten Nohl
showed that
listening in to
voice, SMS and
especially data
traffic is
relatively easy.
GSM network
(SIMcard)
security is
based on the
A5/1 encryption
standard set up
in 1987 (a later
A5/2 standard
was deliberately
weaker, possibly
for
government-interception
purposes).
Mobile data is
(sometimes)
encrypted under
the A5/3
standard set up
for GPRS in
1997, but this
standard uses
only a similar
encryption
strength as the
A5/2 weak
encryption. Nohl
showed that GPRS
encryption can
be broken (by
listening in to
the base-station
radio signals)
without the
knowledge of the
user, by using
off-the shelf
computer
hardware.
That's if the
networks even
encrypt data -
plenty do not
(their
governments stop
them).
We suggest, if
you are worried,
to use a simple
encryption app
such as that
from Whisper
Systems for
Android. Failing
that, assume
someone is
listening in,
and just don't
do anything
compromising.
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