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My iPad WiFi speed should be faster (IE YouTube)

MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,944
40
Australia
I'm wanting to know why my iPad's WiFi isn't that fast. I've got a cable modem connected to an AEBS (the latest model).
Watching a 4 minute SD video it can't buffer fast enough to start playing the movie right away.

It probably takes 5-8 minutes to buffer a 4 min video. It's connected via 802.11n. This is within ~8 metres of the AEBS in a very open part of the house (IE I'm not in a room). Oh and the iPad has no case on.

I've seen the iPad videos showing YouTube, and it loads a lot faster than mine.
Any thoughts?
 
I'm sure nothing was happening at the time. I experience the same issue but much worse with the iPhone on WiFI -- at least with the YouTube app.

When I go to "featured" or "History" or any of the tabs at the bottom on the iPad, it takes a good 3-7 seconds to load the contents -- leaning towards the latter most of the time.
 
Does it run that slow with anything else? I heard that YT app on the iPad is set to play the videos in high resolution. I was getting the same thing with my wireless connection but running off my high speed cable connection fixed that.
 
I've made a benchmark... I loaded this YouTube video on my iPad.
On my iPad it took 10 minutes for the 1 and a half minute video to load. My Mac over 11n did it in 50 seconds. I was ~2 metre's from the AEBS.

Can anyone try it on their iPad, and tell me how long it takes and what internet connection you have (speed and type IE 802.11g or n).
I'm going to try repositioning the AEBS to some new locations that might get better signal, but my Mac Pro seems to load it just fine.

I know the iPad isn't a MP, but on the videos of the iPad when using YouTube, the videos load really quick.

Any thoughts?

Does it run that slow with anything else? I heard that YT app on the iPad is set to play the videos in high resolution. I was getting the same thing with my wireless connection but running off my high speed cable connection fixed that.
Click to expand...
Even just loading the thumbnails of the videos can take several seconds where the demos of the iPad its instant.
 
I don't think flash is going to load any faster. It's still movie content.
I loaded the YouTube guided tour video and it took about ~40 seconds to load 1m 20s.

Playing the iPad TV ad which goes for 30 seconds usually "stops" around the 20 second mark because it can't buffer fast enough.
That's pretty bad IMO, it should be able to load that in about 5 seconds -- My Mac loads the video in about 3 seconds.
 
MythicFrost said:
I've made a benchmark... I loaded this YouTube video on my iPad.
On my iPad it took 10 minutes for the 1 and a half minute video to load. My Mac over 11n did it in 50 seconds. I was ~2 metre's from the AEBS.

Can anyone try it on their iPad, and tell me how long it takes and what internet connection you have (speed and type IE 802.11g or n).
Click to expand...

Played fine for me, started up right away. It was fully loaded with 44 seconds left to play in the vid. Like I said, I have that Turbo Road Runner cable going thru a Linksys g router.
 
Data----> computer crunch---> output

If computer A > computer B

Then computer A will process "Youtube videos" faster.
 
Every vid I run is quick, whether youtube, netflix or streaming from my PC using Air-Video. I have a PC, a PS3 and a netbook, besides the iPad working on the same router. Not sure what order but they all work great.
 
MythicFrost said:
I'm sure nothing was happening at the time. I experience the same issue but much worse with the iPhone on WiFI -- at least with the YouTube app.

When I go to "featured" or "History" or any of the tabs at the bottom on the iPad, it takes a good 3-7 seconds to load the contents -- leaning towards the latter most of the time.
Click to expand...

So, it sounds like the issue again goes back to your internet connection...

If it's fine on your Mac/PC whatever, but not on your wireless devices, either your wireless is really congested there, or something on the network is hogging the connection. Start ruling things out here.

Also, you have an airport extreme and the iPad supports 802.11n, why not switch it to the less congested 5Ghz band and test that with your iPad?
 
I have the same issue on my iPhone. Over 3g it's fine. On any wifi connection it's slow and I mean really slow offen times out.
 
802.11n is the culprit. Look for a firmware update for your router/modem. See if the details mention n reliability improvements. If there is no update, see if you can disable n altogether. G should be faster than your web connnection, and has been around much longer than N.
 
4DThinker said:
802.11n is the culprit. Look for a firmware update for your router/modem. See if the details mention n reliability improvements. If there is no update, see if you can disable n altogether. G should be faster than your web connnection, and has been around much longer than N.
Click to expand...

you stole what i was going to say!
 
4DThinker said:
802.11n is the culprit. Look for a firmware update for your router/modem. See if the details mention n reliability improvements. If there is no update, see if you can disable n altogether. G should be faster than your web connnection, and has been around much longer than N.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

The only reason I use my N network is to transfer data within my network. Too many kinks still in N IMO.
 
Your test video played just fine on my iPad. Buffering was complete by the time it was half-way through.

FiOS Internet 150/50 service.
 
4DThinker said:
802.11n is the culprit. Look for a firmware update for your router/modem. See if the details mention n reliability improvements. If there is no update, see if you can disable n altogether. G should be faster than your web connnection, and has been around much longer than N.
Click to expand...

I use an 802.11n and it works fine.
 
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