Duke network problem not caused by iPhone

Stephen Withers
Monday, 23 July 2007 13:15

Your IT - Mobility

Last week's reports that iPhones were causing problems with Duke University's wireless network were ill-founded.

According to a statement issued on Friday by Duke CIO Tracy Futhey, "The reality [was] that a particular set of conditions made the Duke wireless network experience some minor and temporary disruptions in service."

The problem was actually a Cisco-based network issue, and that company delivered a fix that restored Duke's network to normal operation.

"Earlier reports that this was a problem with the iPhone in particular have proved to be inaccurate," said Futhey, "Duke wireless network is fully functional, and the iPhone is fully operable within our environment."

This is a good illustration of the way people can jump to conclusions. It makes sense to ask what recent changes have occurred when trying to diagnose a computer or network problem, but just because the installation of a new piece of software is followed by frequent crashing of a previously stable computer, it is not necessarily true that it is the cause of the problem. It may be simply that it creates a legitimate situation where another piece of software functions incorrectly.