Wi-fi sync issues

[unobtainium]

I have an iPhone 4S and a MBP 2011 running the latest iTunes and Lion.

My 4S is extremely unreliable when syncing over Wi-fi. Often the sync will time out and iTunes will give me an error "iPhone disk could not be found" even though it's on. Other times it will only sync half the songs on a new album, or will stall while trying to sync a large movie. Occasionally, the iPhone will just disappear from devices and won't show up at all! So frustrating. Anyone else having these problems and any suggestions?

 

[HazyCloud]

I've ran into some of those issues as well. My only fix was using USB syncing instead. Fixed all of my WiFi sync issues.

 

[PNutts]

I turned mine off. Sorry I don't have a better answer.

 

[nburwell]

I have frequently encountered the scenario where both my iPhone and iPad don't show up in iTunes to sync over wifi. In those cases, I just took the USB cable, connected my iPhone to my MBP and sync'd it up. If I know I will be syncing a few albums, or a large amount of songs, I will connect my iPhone to the USB so that it can sync properly while it charges a little bit too.

 

[steviem]

What router are you using? I was on an old WRT54G and crashing the router all the time when it came to sync via wifi. Now I have a new router, it works perfectly.

 

[HazyCloud]

What router are you using? I was on an old WRT54G and crashing the router all the time when it came to sync via wifi. Now I have a new router, it works perfectly.

FWIW, I'm using the 2011 Time Capsule and I get errors every now and then.

 

[GraphicsGeek]

I've run into an issue every once in a while that when a lot of traffic is being downloaded/uploaded to/from my iPhone, the wifi will cut out for a few seconds. That could be an issue. Another possibility is that your router is crashing from overheating. The errors you're getting seem like a wifi issue on one end.

 

[unobtainium]

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What router are you using? I was on an old WRT54G and crashing the router all the time when it came to sync via wifi. Now I have a new router, it works perfectly.

FWIW, I'm using the 2011 Time Capsule and I get errors every now and then.

I'm also using the 2011 Time Capsule. My Wifi works great with everything except FaceTime (drops constantly) and Wifi Sync. I'm starting to think it's my iPhone.

 

[HazyCloud]

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I'm also using the 2011 Time Capsule. My Wifi works great with everything except FaceTime (drops constantly) and Wifi Sync. I'm starting to think it's my iPhone.

Is it a 4S? If so, would you be kind enough to get the speedtest.net app and test your upload speeds? I've been getting horrible upload speeds on my 4S and Apple replaced it, but it didn't help.

If you do have a 4S, it is probably the phone. It seems the WiFi chip may have some driver issues with Airports. What started all this with me was that my Express was constantly dropping AirPlay from my 4S, but not an iPad 2 or iPhone 4. Clearly there's some sort of WiFi issue(s) with the 4S.

 

[deeddawg]

Is it a 4S? If so, would you be kind enough to get the speedtest.net app and test your upload speeds?

For what it's worth, using a Netgear WNDR3700 router at home I get typically 20-21Mbps down and 3-4Mbps up on a 15/3 rated cable internet connection. With on-campus wifi I've seen as high as 29Mbps upload. This is with my 4S on iOS5.0 using speedtest.net

 

[HazyCloud]

For what it's worth, using a Netgear WNDR3700 router at home I get typically 20-21Mbps down and 3-4Mbps up on a 15/3 rated cable internet connection. With on-campus wifi I've seen as high as 29Mbps upload. This is with my 4S on iOS5.0 using speedtest.net

Thanks, but I already knew non-Apple routers don't seem to cause an issue. I get great speeds while at work, just not at home with my TC. I still think the problem is with the 4S but only with Apple routers.

 

[tonyr6]

I synced with Wifi for a while now but it is slow and it is a pain because when I first open iTunes this is on Windows 7 64 bit I don't know how it is on OSX but I notice that iTunes is not responsive for about 10 seconds and very laggy until my Touch is detected. Also sometimes it won't even detect my Touch until I reboot the machine. It is real pita so I just sync with the USB cable as syncing is much safer now as you can even use your device while it is syncing.

 

[Jordan921]

I'm using wifi sync with an apple router and not having any issues at all.

 

[OneMike]

For normal syncing / updating a podcast I'm subscribed to it's fine.

If trying to add music, which I haven't really done since using match. It's too slow to the point I just plug it in for most of my music. 99% of my library is either lossless or very high quality. Takes ages. I have a wireless G router from like 2006. Likely a contributing factor at least. Only old tech I have in my house.

 

[HazyCloud]

I'm using wifi sync with an apple router and not having any issues at all.

That's good to know. What router and device are you using?

 

[deeddawg]

Thanks, but I already knew non-Apple routers don't seem to cause an issue.

Fair enough. Random thought, and apologies if you've mentioned it, but have you used Airport Utility to check if there's a firmware update for your Apple router? I mention this only in that I recently bought a used Airport Express to set up a powered speaker for Airplay usage and the AE had a firmware update available when I set it up.

 

[HazyCloud]

Fair enough. Random thought, and apologies if you've mentioned it, but have you used Airport Utility to check if there's a firmware update for your Apple router? I mention this only in that I recently bought a used Airport Express to set up a powered speaker for Airplay usage and the AE had a firmware update available when I set it up.

No problem, but I have. My TC and Express are both on 7.6 with my 4S being on 5.0.1. I'm a whore for updates and usually do them the same day the are released.

 

[unobtainium]

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Is it a 4S? If so, would you be kind enough to get the speedtest.net app and test your upload speeds? I've been getting horrible upload speeds on my 4S and Apple replaced it, but it didn't help.

I'll do that as soon as I get home tonight. I hope Apple can fix this if it is indeed an issue with Airport drivers and the 4S.

 

[1goodidea]

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I've never had any errors. iPad 2, iPad 1, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S. Using time capsule for wifi network. The only thing is it doesn't do it automatically. I have to start it manually 95% of the time.

 

[HazyCloud]

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I've never had any errors. iPad 2, iPad 1, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4S. Using time capsule for wifi network. The only thing is it doesn't do it automatically. I have to start it manually 95% of the time.

Is it a 2011 TC? Have you tried using AirPlay on a 4S to a wireless Express?

 

[unobtainium]

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1.89 Mbps down, 0.17 up. That's pretty bad, isn't it?

 

[HazyCloud]

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1.89 Mbps down, 0.17 up. That's pretty bad, isn't it?

That depends on what speeds you're supposed to get from your ISP. For instance, I'm supposed to get 2.5 up but I'm usually in the range that you just got. What's weird is all my other devices get great upload speeds. Thanks for the update.

 

[shanezam203]

I turned mine off. Sorry I don't have a better answer.

same here.

 

[b-rad g]

Just thought I would throw this my experience in.

3rd Gen. Time Capsule wirelessly extended to a 4th Gen. Express
iPhone 4 (mine)
iPhone 4s (wife's)
iPad 2
Mac Mini (iTunes Library/HTPC)
MacBook Air

All connected wirelessly to network.

Constantly get 5.75mbps down/5.85mbps up.

Never had a problem with WiFi sync an any of the iOS devices although it isn't quite as fast as USB hook up. Although it never seems to do it automatically, always have to initiate it.

 

[unobtainium]

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1.89 Mbps down, 0.17 up. That's pretty bad, isn't it?

That depends on what speeds you're supposed to get from your ISP. For instance, I'm supposed to get 2.5 up but I'm usually in the range that you just got. What's weird is all my other devices get great upload speeds. Thanks for the update.

Thanks for that info. I got curious and ran the test again, but this time on my campus Wifi. 9.91 down and 12.99 up! Yet wireless sync won't work at all here (must be something to do with the way the network is set up).