iOS Wifi Speed Problems

[PrivateJoker]

Sadly also even back on the SDK5 builds I have never been able to get the my full speed on my IOS devices. I have tried every possible setting I can think of on the router to no avail.

On 2.4ghz my new(ish) iOS devices can connect at a (router reported) best RX/TX of 72/72 on a -36 RSSI in same room and a Ookla Speedtest app result of (about 6Mb/s up & down):

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654292075

On 5ghz, in a pretty tight radius of my router I can get a (router reported 150/150) I can pull 50Mb/s+ down w/ an extremely erratic 5ghz upload averaging less than 1Mb/s.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654292075

In my particular house the 5ghz is not too usable on portable devices (handhelds and tablets), but works fine for laptops and others (due to better radios & antenna I'm assuming).

So I don't know if it's iOS hardware or software but I get similarly unspectacular (yet stable) speeds (both WAN & LAN) on 2.4ghz on other APs as well, again - just referring to iOS devices here.

 

[~Craig~]

On 2.4ghz my new(ish) iOS devices can connect at a (router reported) best RX/TX of 72/72 on a -36 RSSI in same room and a Ookla Speedtest app result of (about 6Mb/s up & down):

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654292075

On 5ghz, in a pretty tight radius of my router I can get a (router reported 150/150) I can pull 50Mb/s+ down w/ an extremely erratic 5ghz upload averaging less than 1Mb/s.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654292075

In my particular house the 5ghz is not too usable on portable devices (handhelds and tablets), but works fine for laptops and others (due to better radios & antenna I'm assuming).

So I don't know if it's iOS hardware or software but I get similarly unspectacular (yet stable) speeds (both WAN & LAN) on 2.4ghz on other APs as well, again - just referring to iOS devices here.

Thanks for sharing that result, This Is what I get on my iPhone 5, connected at 5GHz in the same room: RX/TX of 24/108 Mbps -52 dBm

Ookla Speedtest result: http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654373486

So does that explain why I am only ever able to get around 24Mbps? My ISP provides around 32-34Mbps

 

[PrivateJoker]

The Rx/Tx speeds you see in the router in the .720 and above based firmware of Merlin is not a good indication of your true speeds. The reported 24Mbps Rx speed reported by the router is not accurate and only does it with the Apple products, although the Rx is dynamic, it seems always stuck with 24Mbps, it's a bug maybe when Merlin have time he can look at it. In an actual speed tests of an iPhone 5, it exceeds(58/39Mbps) that reported speed here so it's not the limiting factor of your slow download speed.

@bluepoint, that's totally correct (to the best of my knowledge) but @craig was just comparing to my values in an earlier post, which I shared only because I know the iPhone has pretty poor single stream wifi in both bands.

In my earlier post I said my iPhone 5 was showing a -36 RSSI in the same room as the router but I was incorrect, Asus doesn't use the negative sign (Apple does). I'm actually farther away right now from the AP, and it's measuring a 29 RSSI (at the router, and in regardless of the sign of the #, a better RSSI) and these WAN Speedtest #s blow my earlier ones out of the water on 2.4ghz.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654428995

I just checked 5ghz from same upstairs location on iPhone -72 dBm RSSI from router (5ghz does indicate on Asus in negative RSSI, 2.4ghz doesn't - weird), and got similarly stellar results.

http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/654434717


Long story short, I don't think ios devices, or many phones & tablets in general, have the packaging room for the wifi antennas & radios that we might wish they had, and tend to have erratic wifi. By just giving people 3 "connection bars" that are unrealistic at best, and no way to actually know the RSSI (on iOS at least) gives 80% of people one less thing to obsess about probably. @craig I think your #s are fine and pretty representative of the device. I'm actually a bit shocked at the 5ghz results of you & me both, in a good way.

I'd have to fool around with my router positioning and power transmit levels a little more, but I could have been drowning out an overly sensitive iPhone wifi when I was in the same room as router, or my position sitting on a couch below my AP, yet at an exceptionally sharp angle to the router, might have been a weird mix of signal strength, distance, & angle outside the donut shaped RF pattern that caused less than stellar results. But for the record that's also one of the spots I do my broader WLAN testing in (on a laptop), and always the fastest one.

And WAN side Speedtest is really not the best way to measure your client-AP wifi signal connection, but besides a Ping test and this I don't have a multitude of methods to test my iPhone's WLAN.

Interesting stuff but I'd be pretty content with what you're pulling down.

 

[PrivateJoker]

Sorry to go so OT (feel free to move/delete as seen fit) but I thought this was an interesting follow-up to @craig's observation/issue re iOS device speed.

To take the attenuation/reflection of building materials out as much as possible I went "behind" my router, outside, putting just one wall (plaster & lathe on the inside, brick on the outside) between me and it. My router's antenna were 3 wide and fully vertical from the perspective of where I was standing approximately 65' from router (it's about a foot in front of wall inside). I stood holding my phone upright (parallel with the router antenna) and my first 0° orientation was measured, then I rotated 90° CCW, then again to 180° then again to 270°, then another check at 0°. It made an enormous difference on my WAN to WLAN speed on 5ghz, and 180° didn't even work (the Ping timed out), possibly my body attenuated it too much.

So controlling for all other things, an approx 20Mb/s reduction in downstream to the iPhone 5 when the face is "off axis" to the router antenna array. I was also pretty shocked at the (mostly) free-air speed compared to what I get indoors surrounded by various materials.

 

[bluepoint]

@bluepoint, that's totally correct (to the best of my knowledge) but @craig was just comparing to my values in an earlier post, which I shared only because I know the iPhone has pretty poor single stream wifi in both bands.

Iphone might have a single stream wifi but in my experience the wifi is consistent with the speeds. You might want to download speedtest's App to your iPhone then set it to the nearest server to test speeds instead of using the browser of your iPhone. Here's my test @-70 RSSI(insider) 5GHz 40MHz width.

 

[PrivateJoker]

Iphone might have a single stream wifi but in my experience the wifi is consistent with the speeds. You might want to download speedtest's App to your iPhone then set it to the nearest server to test speeds instead of using the browser of your iPhone. Here's my test @-70 RSSI(insider) 5GHz 40MHz width.

All the results I linked to and/or screenshotted were from that app.

I'm curious if others have erratic 2.4ghz ios results as well (like how I can go sub 10M/bs Speedtest downstream to 50, and back down again), with varying distance (and perhaps angle of attack) relative to phone's orientation to router. Maybe best to start a new thread if you guys want to brainstorm that one some more, since I don't think it's a router f/w issue. But w/ decent RSSI on 5ghz we all can pretty much hit, or come close to, our ISP's quoted speed on ios hardware.

 

[bluepoint]

All the results I linked to and/or screenshotted were from that app.

I realized it after I posted.

I'm curious if others have erratic 2.4ghz ios results as well (like how I can go sub 10M/bs Speedtest downstream to 50, and back down again), with varying distance (and perhaps angle of attack) relative to phone's orientation to router. Maybe best to start a new thread if you guys want to brainstorm that one some more, since I don't think it's a router f/w issue. But w/ decent RSSI on 5ghz we all can pretty much hit, or come close to, our ISP's quoted speed on ios hardware.

The 2.4GHz band in my area is decent, the best channel I can get has three other distant stations using the same channel and @20MHz width, I'm only getting 45/35Mbps from the iPhone consistently(connection speed 72Mbps@single stream), although my laptop can hit 58/35Mbps in the same band and position(connection speed 144Mbps@double stream).
I agree we should start a new thread if we want to discuss more but for me there is no more to add.

 

[~Craig~]

This topic is about personal problems I have had in regards to the speed my iOS devices are receiving from my N66U router on the latest Merlin 3.0.0.4.374.33 firmware.

This is a continuation of our previous discussion on the main firmware topic (found here from page 7 to 9). I would like to thank RogerSC, PrivateJoker, bluepoint for their help and suggestions so far and of course Merlin for his awesome work on each firmware he brings.

We are moving the discussion onto its own topic as it is starting to overtake the other topics original purpose.

So a quick recap of the problems I am having. My ISP provides me a speed of around 32-34Mbps which I can achieve on both my desktop PC and a iMac via a wireless connection.

On any of my iOS devices however it is around 10Mbps slower, The devices in question are an iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Mini and an iPad 2. This applies on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands.

Settings wise I have left the more advanced at their default, The only ones I have changed are setting a channel for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Channel width at 20MHz and 40MHz respectively. b/g protection turned off and my encryption set at WPA2-Personal AES

Any futher suggestions are more than welcomed

 

[DanielCoffey]

One thing I would do immediately is tell the iOS devices to Forget this Network then re-select it and key in your wifi password again. For your dual-band devices, see what performance you get in just the 5Ghz band. Don't sign them on to the 2.4GHz band unless your 5GHz signal is poor at distance.

I am on a 120MB/s down, 10MB/s up connection and have the N66U too. I have told my iOS devices to only use the 5GHz band which is set up for 20/40 Auto and the spectrum is very quiet. My 2.4GHz band is very congested with over 20 other wifi users visible in inSSIDer, several of which use 40MHz in the 2.4 band.

5GHz
=========
iPad2 - 35 down / 10 up
iPhone5 - 90 down / 10 up

2.4GHz
=========
iPod Touch 3G - 15 down / 8 up

 

[~Craig~]

Thanks for the reply, I should have said that I have tried the "Forget This Network" option, I have even reset the network settings and gone as far as fresh install of iOS itself, All to no avail.

In my area there is not a lot of competing signals, Inside my house I can only pick up on a handful, Unsurprising there is of course more 2.4GHz signals than 5GHz.

My family and I also use the 5GHz signal on all of my dual band devices (iPhone 5, iPad Mini, iPad 2, iMac, Desktop PC & Smart TV)

Craig

 

[bluepoint]

So a quick recap of the problems I am having. My ISP provides me a speed of around 32-34Mbps which I can achieve on both my desktop PC and a iMac via a wireless connection.

On any of my iOS devices however it is around 10Mbps slower, The devices in question are an iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Mini and an iPad 2. This applies on either the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands.

Settings wise I have left the more advanced at their default, The only ones I have changed are setting a channel for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, Channel width at 20MHz and 40MHz respectively. b/g protection turned off and my encryption set at WPA2-Personal AES

Any futher suggestions are more than welcomed

I assume you don't have any b/g clients.

a. Set both bands in "N only" mode
b. Select a fixed/static channel that has less overlaps with neighbors(use inSSIDer).
c. re-orient the routers's position.
d. update to IOS7(newest IOS comes with latest modem's firmware)

 

[thiggins]

I believe all the slower devices have N150 class radios (1x1). These have a maximum 65 Mbps link rate connected to a router in 20 MHz mode and 150 Mbps with the router in 40 Mbps mode. Lower max link rate = lower throughput.

 

[~Craig~]

I assume you don't have any b/g clients.

a. Set both bands in "N only" mode
b. Select a fixed/static channel that has less overlaps with neighbors(use inSSIDer).
c. re-orient the routers's position.
d. update to IOS7(newest IOS comes with latest modem's firmware)

Hi , No b/g clients, Well a PS3 but that's not connected.

Have tried it on "N only" and a static channel again no difference (channel 6 for 2.4GHz and channel 44 on 5GHz) based on my inSSIDer results from competing neighbor signals (there are not many at least visible from within my house).

My router is sitting on a table right next to my modem so it does not leave much room for movement, I have tried things such as changing the antennas position.

And finally I am already on IOS7

 

[PrivateJoker]

@Craig, thanks for starting new thread here!

Did you see my other post with the variability in how my iPhone was oriented vs. the WAN-WLAN throughput I was achieving? That right there could be responsible for your not quite hitting your ISP's stated downstream on the device even with what appears on the surface to be a good connection.

Looking at iFixIt's great wifi antenna replacement guide on the iPhone 5, you can see just how tiny the element is. It's on the rear of the phone, maybe 2" down and to the right of the rear camera, if you were looking at it from the back, touching the rear case.

Many routers have antennas printed right on the board and work great. I'm just saying it's small and definitely has a lot more radiated area from its back than it does on the sides.

 

[bluepoint]

Hi , No b/g clients, Well a PS3 but that's not connected.

Have tried it on "N only" and a static channel again no difference (channel 6 for 2.4GHz and channel 44 on 5GHz) based on my inSSIDer results from competing neighbor signals (there are not many at least visible from within my house).

My router is sitting on a table right next to my modem so it does not leave much room for movement, I have tried things such as changing the antennas position.

And finally I am already on IOS7

If you have done all of the above and your IOS devices are not performing well wirelessly on both bands, it's more likely your router's radios are defective but what's puzzling is, it only affects IOS products. Have you cleared the NVRAM after firmware updates? Try the channels one at a time in the 2.4GHz and see if it changes behavior.

 

[PrivateJoker]

If you have done all of the above and your IOS devices are not performing well wirelessly on both bands, it's more likely your router's radios are defective but what's puzzling is, it only affects IOS products. Have you cleared the NVRAM after firmware updates? Try the channels one at a time in the 2.4GHz and see if it changes behavior.

Per his original post:

Is this lower connection due to the decreased signal caused by using SDK6? My ISP provides around 34Mbps and it is still connecting at around 32Mbps so its still good.

My IOS devices on the other hand are a different story, They all run around 10Mbps slower. The best I have gotten was with my Iphone 5 it is around 25Mbps. In saying this no matter what firmware I am on it has always been the same.

Craig

He's pulling a downstream from the WAN at only 7Mb/s less than advertised speed which is not bad on a mobile handheld device.

I will try to see the easiest way to test WLAN to LAN speed on ios and take the WAN #s out of the equation, to try to get simple baselines.

 

[RMerlin]

I moved all related posts to this thread, to make it easier for people to follow up.

 

[blairclaude]

Ios 7 reset network settings

What I did was reset the network settings, ios 7 rebooted and getting better traffic now.

Guess with the reset it completly creates new profiles. Getting great results since then.

Regards

 

[PrivateJoker]

What I did was reset the network settings, ios 7 rebooted and getting better traffic now.

Guess with the reset it completly creates new profiles. Getting great results since then.

Regards

That is a very good, very simple tip that has cleared up some really mysterious stuff for me more than once. Thanks for sharing @blairclaude

 

[bluepoint]

Per his original post:


He's pulling a downstream from the WAN at only 7Mb/s less than advertised speed which is not bad on a mobile handheld device.

I will try to see the easiest way to test WLAN to LAN speed on ios and take the WAN #s out of the equation, to try to get simple baselines.

It isn't bad for a mobile I agree but it could be better specially in the 5GHz band based on my own testing. The 7Mbps less than advertised speed he gets is bad as far as I'm concern cause the iPhone is more than capable to attain his service speed @35Mbps. I ask the OP if he cleared the router's NVRAM because of what he said to Merlin in the 374.33 thread:

Upon checking the "Wireless Professional" page I don't see the "802.11d+h" option you are referring to.

It seems something is not working properly with is firmware upgrade.