darksiege wrote:
Talya wrote:
I suspect the smartphone-based versions run their algorithm off of some blizzard time server rather than the phone's internal timer (probably their ONLY communication to blizzard) so they never lose synchronization.
The smart phone based authenticators run on the devices internal timer, but give an option for resyncing with the server manually. It is not in constant communication.
DE.. I do not know what kind of phone you use, but they have a mobile authenticator for several different phones now. The iPod touch/iPhone mobile authenticator is free. The one I got for my blackberry cost me $0.99 to download from the company that makes it.
The kind of phone I use is the one plugged into the wall at home. I don't have a cell phone of my own; I share my wife's when I need to have one with me. Even if I did, I wouldn't own some fancy phone. When I do get another one, which I probably will need to soon, it won't be any Iphone or anything with "apps"; it will be the kind that flips open and has numbers on the front.. with no camera. I doubt that I will be able to use one of any other type.
I also play on a laptop; there is no desktop for me to keep the authenticator conveniently on.
As for the timing system for the phones/blizzard, it seems more likely that Blizzard would run its timer off the satellite time used by the phones, which they need in order to to make their GPS systems work right. It would be simpler for Blizzard to just pull their time off communications and GPS systems rather than come up with their own timer that would then have to be re-synched in order to make the phone authenticators work.
Timing is a major pain in the *** with commo. With SINGCARS you have to have all the radios on a net within 4 seconds of each other (IIRC) to frequency-hop and be able to talk. The master radio pulls all the others back into time with it if they're within that 4 seconds, but if some ******* loaded the wrong time on his radio to begin with, he won't be able to talk. If he was suppsed to be the master station, then he can talk on that net IF everyone else was close enough to get pulled in, but then if you switch to another net... no talking for you!