Router settings & Handoff and Continuity

[Allograft]

I'd love to see a thread where people begin to compile settings for various routers wherein Continuity and Handoff work. I have a feeling that many of the problems that people experience may be related to the router settings.

For me, I have an Asus router, all features work great except phone call handoffs. I'm not even sure about what settings would be important to consider in this endeavor

 

[blueroom]

I thought Handoff was Bluetooth LE dependant.

 

[Allograft]

Spoke with genius bar and they do not know which router settings need to be activated or not.

Apparently, it's only wifi, genius bar says BT is not a factor, which doesn't make sense.

I have confirmed that router settings can make a difference...now just to work on mine at some point when I get time.

 

[Rigby]

There aren't any special settings required on the router. Most of the continuity features require that both devices are on the same subnet, that's all. If you don't know what a subnet is, most likely everything is fine as it is.

 

[Allograft]

That's the thing, continuity of programs works fine, except for phone call handoffs on my Asus RT-AC87U.

But, all features work on a U-verse single band router.

I don't understand why all the features except for phone calls would work on my Asus though

 

[blueroom]

Spoke with genius bar and they do not know which router settings need to be activated or not.

Apparently, it's only wifi, genius bar says BT is not a factor, which doesn't make sense.

I have confirmed that router settings can make a difference...now just to work on mine at some point when I get time.

It appears to need BT4.0, not sure why the Apple fellow thought it didn't. Do both your iPhone & Mac have BT4.0? Why not buy an Apple router and see if that makes it work, that'll eliminate your router as the problem.

http://gizmodo.com/why-your-old-mac-cant-use-handoff-in-os-x-yosemite-1647840672

 

[bripab007]

I've also read that iphone calls made on os x or ipad do not require bluetooth, just need to be on the same wi-fi network/subnet. The other handoff features require bluetooth so they can tell when your two devices are physically close enough to each other to warrant showing the app handoff icons/popups. Apple specifically gave examples of using the wi-fi calling pickup when your phone was in another room/out of reach, but you were near your computer or other device (read: bluetooth proximity not needed/warranted).

 

[Rigby]

You can find some high-level information on how the various continuity features work in this document (starting on page 37):

https://www.apple.com/br/privacy/docs/iOS_Security_Guide_Oct_2014.pdf

Phone call relay only requires the devices to be on the same subnet. Handoff uses Bluetooth LE (and Wifi Direct in case larger amounts of data need to be exchanged), so the devices don't even need to be on the same subnet. Router configuration shouldn't matter in any case unless you have created different subnets in your home network (e.g. for a guest Wifi network).