NetworkWorld's John Cox reports that the popularity of the Apple iPhone appears to be overwhelming the public Wi-Fi network at Duke University.

"The built-in 802.11b/g adapters on several iPhones periodically flood sections of the Durham, N.C., school's pervasive wireless LAN with MAC address requests, temporarily knocking out anywhere from a dozen to 30 wireless access points at a time," Cox writes. "The campus network staff is talking with Cisco, the main WLAN provider, and have opened a help desk ticket with Apple. But so far, the precise cause of the problem remains unknown."

"Because of the time of year for us, it's not a severe problem," says Duke's Kevin Miller. "But from late August through May, our wireless net is critical. My concern is how many students will be coming back in August with iPhones?"

Cox has a follow-up here ... more here from Crave ... more here from Top Tech News ... more here from ZDNet UK ... more here from InformationWeek ... and more here from the Associated Press.