[winternj]

A friend of mine is moving to Japan and I am helping get him ready for it. The 802.11b/g standard in the USA is a little different than in Europe and Japan, where there are a couple of extra channels (and i think the channel spacing might be a litle different too).

Does anyone know how to change the Locale from USA to Worldwide or Japan on both the Airport card in a powerbook/macbook, and on the airport extreme base station?

Thanks.

[ibook_steve]

This is news to me. It's not called a "standard" for nothing. I've been to Taiwan with zero problems with Airport. You might be thinking of how cell phones use different systems in different countries, but I've never heard of different wireless networking in different countries. Link?

Steve

[mintcake]

I've used my powerbook on wifi networks in Europe, North America and Asia without any problems at all (also with my Airport Express). There are no 'country' settings to change on an Airport Extreme or any other Airport base station, or in your powerbook's airport settings.

[schmoe]

The available channels differ per country, see http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58567. I thought there was a way to specify the country in the basestation configuration tools, but don't have them handy to try.

[ibook_steve]

Since channels 1 to 11 are common for everybody, why even worry about it? Just use 1 to 11 everywhere.

Steve

[winternj]

Because the computer may be used where the access point is set to channel 12-14?

Because there may be excessive interference on channels 1-11 in a densely populated city like Tokyo?

[B Gallagher]

Take from my PB bought last November in Japan. Is there any way to specify the Locale and change it?

[NyssaG]

This is news to me too. I used to live in Europe - travelled throughout several countries in Europe - have been to the US and am now living in South America, and never had any trouble with the wifi standards....

[mad cow disease]

I'm currently in Tokyo and the city definitely isn't as wifi-friendly as many American cities I've been to. Regardless, I have had NO problems picking up a signal using my US-based Powerbook.

[mad cow disease]

Originally Posted by winternj

Because the computer may be used where the access point is set to channel 12-14?

Because there may be excessive interference on channels 1-11 in a densely populated city like Tokyo?

You won't have any trouble with "excessive interference" here. Trust me. Nobody is lugging around a laptop over here - it is a majority cellphone-based culture.

[winternj]

OK, i'm not saying that it wont work at all. What I am saying is that there are extra channels available in japan that aren't available here, and if I am in a place where the base station is configured on channels 12-14, I won't be able to use it. I'd like to be able to change the settings when I travel so I can. In the PC world it's generally been a configuration option if you look for it, what regulatory locale you are in should be configurable....

[vinster]

Originally Posted by winternj

A friend of mine is moving to Japan and I am helping get him ready for it. The 802.11b/g standard in the USA is a little different than in Europe and Japan, where there are a couple of extra channels (and i think the channel spacing might be a litle different too).

Does anyone know how to change the Locale from USA to Worldwide or Japan on both the Airport card in a powerbook/macbook, and on the airport extreme base station?

Thanks.

The number of available channels is a regulatory issue so there's no user-accessible way to change those settings. They're probably set somewhere in read-ony memory. Apple's taking the safe route since PC cards that allow this functionality and improperly used could come into question by the authorities, however unlikely that might be.

From your post, it appears your friend's taking both the computer and a base station so there should be no incompatibility w/ that setup. I also doubt your friend will experience problems with any regularity in a public setting. If so, he can always ask the administrator at a school, internet cafe, etc. to change the channel of the wireless access point if access is that critical.

An alternative would be to buy a new wireless card and access point in Japan. He could purchase and install the card himself, if he's technically inclined, or ask an authorized Apple service center to do it for him (I'm not sure if Apple Japan would do this type of work but a service center would probably do it).

Good luck.

[B Gallagher]

Yes, you really really don't see a lot of people carrying around a laptop with them in Japan. It's all cellphones.

[mactopsuit]

I've heard of the additional channels being available possibility but with my current non-japanese PB, it works fine picking up WiFi signals in Tokyo.