Streaming not so much

[BigCabDaddy]

So one thing highly touted about the iPad 2 and iPads in general is watching streamed content, but so far it just isn't downloading fast enough. It constantly stops because it runs out of buffer. I've tried sites big and small and I don't think the problem is on the other end. Earlier tonight I rand my first SpeedTest and came back with a rating of 541Kbps. I just now looked up how to close unnecessary apps and that bumped it up to 897Kbps. Are these too slow? My PC laptop and even netbook stream adequately. Any suggestions?

 

[stever]

There have been many threads about this through the last year.

The answer is almost always to update to a newer router.


Yes, I understand your other devices are handling this fine on your current router.
But getting a newer router almost always fixes the problem as you describe it.

.

 

[dyrelogan]

Well, if other devices are working flawlessly why would he need to update to a new router? Wouldn't that mean that it is the iPad that's in question and not the router? Kind of silly to get a new router if everything except just the iPad is working.

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Well, if other devices are working flawlessly why would he need to update to a new router? Wouldn't that mean that it is the iPad that's in question and not the router? Kind of silly to get a new router if everything except just the iPad is working.

There you go! Thought maybe I'd forgotten my crazy pills again today. Doesn't speak well of the iPad if it requires specialized hardware. I'm already smarting a little over the specialized printer support.

 

[Gabriel1]

I haven't had any problem with streaming, to check if it's your iPad or your connection/router provide a link to something that gives you that problem and we can try it, if it's fine for others then it's not your iPad, if it's not fine for others then you may be right?

The Archangel

 

[BigCabDaddy]

I haven't had any problem with streaming, to check if it's your iPad or your connection/router provide a link to something that gives you that problem and we can try it, if it's fine for others then it's not your iPad, if it's not fine for others then you may be right?

The Archangel

It's not any specific link. Even the bog boy, mainstream stuff like Netflix and YouTube bog down. I think it has to be in how my router and iPad interact somehow but I reject the carte Blanche notion of simply getting a new router. My router isn't that old nor is it some off brand... Its a fairly expensive Netgear model. If the specific model might be the issue, I can certainly look look that up. I guess maybe one test I can do is to try streaming over several public hotspots to see if I have the issue there as well. That would help determine if it's an iPad issue specifically.

 

[Gabriel1]

It's not any specific link. Even the bog boy, mainstream stuff like Netflix and YouTube bog down. I think it has to be in how my router and iPad interact somehow but I reject the carte Blanche notion of simply getting a new router. My router isn't that old nor is it some off brand... Its a fairly expensive Netgear model. If the specific model might be the issue, I can certainly look look that up. I guess maybe one test I can do is to try streaming over several public hotspots to see if I have the issue there as well. That would help determine if it's an iPad issue specifically.

That sounds like a sensible way forwards, something is clearly wrong and you need to try to rule out what it is. I'd be interested to hear your results.

The Archangel

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Well Starbucks is faster... Not blazing but around 2x faster at around 1.2Mbps. Read a couple places that my Netgear being an N router might be the issue so is there a way to force a G connection to test that? I'm rapidly losing that "It just works." Mac feeling. /lol

 

[BigCabDaddy]

There have been many threads about this through the last year.

The answer is almost always to update to a newer router.

Yes, I understand your other devices are handling this fine on your current router.
But getting a newer router almost always fixes the problem as you describe it.

.

Alas, it may come to that though I might just try reinstalling my older, non n router first to try that. Should it come to replacing as the solution, that is a pretty crappy solution. N routers and the Netgear brand are not exactly off brand, esoteric components.

 

[Gabriel1]

Alas, it may come to that though I might just try reinstalling my older, non n router first to try that. Should it come to replacing as the solution, that is a pretty crappy solution. N routers and the Netgear brand are not exactly off brand, esoteric components.

I know sweet FA about these things so I could be talking rubbish but is it worth checking online to see if there have been any firmware updates for you router........what am I talking about......what do I know?

The Archangel

 

[Hasty]

Just a thought but have you checked iPad: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections. ?

Worth checking also is how good is streaming from your desktop/laptop.

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Just a thought but have you checked iPad: Troubleshooting Wi-Fi networks and connections. ?

Worth checking also is how good is streaming from your desktop/laptop.

I think I looked at this before but not closely since the symptoms stated are not what I'm experiencing. There are a couple things suggested that I haven't tried however so I'll give them a go. Thanks.

 

[BigCabDaddy]

Ok, so major breakthrough! I went into my router settings as per the suggested Apple article to try shutting off security. On the same page is a speed setting which I set back down to the standard 54... Whatever... The standard, non N, G router speed setting, you know? Suddenly upon relogging onto my network, I'm now realizing 15Mbps download speeds as opposed to the 600Kbps crawl beforehand. Holy cow, what a major difference!

So I totally take back any dispersions on Apple's iPad that I might previously have been forming. Evidently the fault lies somewhere in these "enhanced" speed conventions that Netgear and perhaps other companies put forth. I'd have thought them capable of rolling back to slower standards without penalty. Pretty sure that's what was advertised, but not so in the case of Apple iPads anyway.

 

[Gabriel1]

Hey that's really cool, good result!

The Archangel

 

[saguaro]

You may want to log into your router and see if the option to enable WMM (WI-FI multimedia) is checked. My router is a Netgear and this is located it the QoS Setup section.

You could also set up a QoS Priority rule for your iPad giving it the highest priority.

I recently downloaded the latest firnware update for the router and I swear it is faster now. At least subjectively.