iPad Air 2 wifi 128G and wifi AC deception...

[Donkichot]

With my iPad Air 1 wifi-N 128G and the router Netgear R6300 I was connecting at 300 Mbit/s and that give an average of 14 MBytes/s speed on download/upload on my local network between my Giga-Ethernet computer.

So with the iPad Air 2 and the AC wifi I was expecting a much higher speed cause Apple said that AC on iPad will give a 2 to 3 time faster than the N wifi. But with iPad Air 2 I got a connexion at a fabulous 866 Mbit/s but only an average 16,9 MBytes/s on download/upload on my local network between the iPad and a Giga-ethernet computer.

All done on the 5Ghz channel.

So anyone got better result ? And if so, with what router ? Do I miss something I got to set on my router or iPad ?

 

[Just_Me_D]

Good question. Hopefully, someone who can shed some light on this will respond soon. Take care...

 

[Flow39]

Is that router AC compatible? I'm assuming it is, but if it isn't, you would need to upgrade to take advantage of the increased speed.

 

[Donkichot]

Yes Netgear R6300 is AC and N with dual channel.

 

[acedzero]

Are you in the same room as the router? If not then you probably won't see much of a difference in speed. Also, as all link speeds are, they are theoretical. If you truly had a 866Mb/s connection you would be transferring at over 100MB/s (105.7 to be exact). I am getting just around 60MB/s (480Mb/s) speeds between my NAS and PC and that's with Cat6a wired ethernet (rated for 10Gb/s).

I had a Samsung Galaxy S5 which also has AC but could only max out at 433Mb/s. The only time I ever got that link speed is if I was in the same room as the router (I'd say, no more than 5-10 feet away).

Check to make sure you have the latest firmware as well.

I am curious, how are you measuring the speed on the iPad? The reason I ask is I also have an AC router (Asus RT-AC68U) and an iPhone 6 (which I believe also has AC). I could transfer a few large files from my NAS and we could maybe compare notes?

 

[Donkichot]

Hi Acedzero,

Yes I?m in the same room of my router at about 6 feet away.

I got my link speed measure via a Netgear App "Genie".

My iPad Air-2 is up to date at iOS 8.1 but my Netgear R6300-v1 is not at the last firmware because in the Netgear forum many have big problem with the last one...
So I'm not very tempted to update for now...
Also my R6300 is very stable and strong every where in my two floor condo with the actual firmware V1.02.38
I know that we never get the speed of the full Mbits/s link speed but it was so fast in N mode that I was expecting more then 20 MBytes/s in AC mode with the new IPad Air-2 and the 866Mbits link speed compare to 300Mbits in N mode...

The way I measure the real world MBytes/s is simply with a video file of 451Mo send to my computer connected with a 15 feet 5E Ethernet cable to the Gigabit port on R6300 router. I send the file with the "Photosync" app because it's what I do frequently, exchanging big video files between the iPad and my computer. I do a lot of creating and editing video files on my iPad in iMovie and compress them on my computer with Handbrake.

So in N mode with link speed of 300Mbits I was sending that 451Mo file in around 35 seconds +/- 5 seconds so about 10 to 13 MBytes/s.
In AC mode it's around 30 seconds +/- 5 seconds so about 12 to 16 MBytes/s. Far from the supposed 2 time faster than N mode...

With my MacBook Pro that don't have AC I got 24MBytes/s with a 450Mbits link speed in N mode !

I know it's not a perfect measure but I'm open for other way if you have one.

So yes I would really like if you could test your AC system with a 451Mo file.

You can download mine with this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/38jcifrwgt9vska/Steve Jobs D8 interview.mp4?dl=0

 

[Donkichot]

Here is the Genie picture of the 866Mbits:

 

[acedzero]

Hi Acedzero,

Yes I?m in the same room of my router at about 6 feet away.

I got my link speed measure via a Netgear App "Genie".

My iPad Air-2 is up to date at iOS 8.1 but my Netgear R6300-v1 is not at the last firmware because in the Netgear forum many have big problem with the last one...
So I'm not very tempted to update for now...
Also my R6300 is very stable and strong every where in my two floor condo with the actual firmware V1.02.38
I know that we never get the speed of the full Mbits/s link speed but it was so fast in N mode that I was expecting more then 20 MBytes/s in AC mode with the new IPad Air-2 and the 866Mbits link speed compare to 300Mbits in N mode...

The way I measure the real world MBytes/s is simply with a video file of 451Mo send to my computer connected with a 15 feet 5E Ethernet cable to the Gigabit port on R6300 router. I send the file with the "Photosync" app because it's what I do frequently, exchanging big video files between the iPad and my computer. I do a lot of creating and editing video files on my iPad in iMovie and compress them on my computer with Handbrake.

So in N mode with link speed of 300Mbits I was sending that 451Mo file in around 35 seconds +/- 5 seconds so about 10 to 13 MBytes/s.
In AC mode it's around 30 seconds +/- 5 seconds so about 12 to 16 MBytes/s. Far from the supposed 2 time faster than N mode...

With my MacBook Pro that don't have AC I got 24MBytes/s with a 450Mbits link speed in N mode !

I know it's not a perfect measure but I'm open for other way if you have one.

So yes I would really like if you could test your AC system with a 451Mo file.

You can download mine with this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/38jcifrwgt9vska/Steve Jobs D8 interview.mp4?dl=0

Okay, so using your file, and the PhotoSync app, I am seeing almost identical times of 16 seconds both ways (PC to iPhone and vice versa). When transferring from PC to iPhone, there's about an extra 7-8 seconds of importing time. I'm not quite sure how to calculate that into a throughput number, but it looks like roughly half of the time than it's taking you.

I researched your router a bit and found an interesting review with benchmarks. I've seen this site before, SmallNetBuilder, and in my opinion, test each router they review thoroughly. Given what they say what the router averages for AC speeds on AC equipment, the speed looks to fall in line with what you are seeing in the 5GHz band (135.2Mbps = 16.9MBps). Based on the info you gave, it looks to me that router is already running at max speed. Whether that can be improved with firmware, I'm not sure, but as you said it's probably buggy anyway...

SmallNetChooser - NETGEAR R6300 Details

When they tested my router, they averaged 188.3Mbps (23.5MBps).

SmallNetChooser - ASUS RT-AC68U Details

I can't seem to find a way of knowing what the link speed is on my iPhone, I don't believe Asus has a similar app to your Genie. I am assuming that it is 866 based on what I did...

Interestingly, I have a WD MyCloud NAS device. When transferring that file to and from the iPhone, it averaged about 2 minutes both ways..

 

[Donkichot]

WOW Acedzero, 16sec !!!

It's 28.2MBytes/sec !!! That's what I was hoping for with my AC iPad...

Your PC is it windows 7 or 8 ?
PC, router and iPhone in the same room ?

I will update the firmware of my Netgear-R6300 (with fingers cross) and if I don't have a steady twenty something MBytes/Sec it will be out of the room for a better one !

I will let you know my result after the update.

Tell me again what is your Router Name and model and what firmware number is on it ok ?

Thank again Acedzero for your time and all the infos !

 

[Donkichot]

An very interesting infos about 802.11ac !

http://www.sniffwifi.com/2014/09/whats-new-and-missing-in-wifi-for.html


So this review said that iPhone 6 is not MIMO meaning you only one antenna.

But iPad Air-2 is MIMO and meaning it have 2 antenna. So on your wifi AC the iPad Air-2 should be much faster than your iPhone 6.

Acedzero, Do you have any friend with an iPad Air-2 to test it out ?

If so let me know the speed !

 

[acedzero]

I tested with everything in the same room. I typically have 6 or 7 wireless devices connected to the router at any given time (not all used at the same time though). PC is running Windows 8.1. My router is an Asus RT-AC68U. The firmware version is 3.0.0.4.376_1663 which is the latest.

I'm actually waiting on an iPad Air 2 from AT&T to be delivered hopefully sometime this week.

 

[Donkichot]

Acedzero, are you always getting that 16seconds time after time for the 451Megs files ? Or does it sometime take a lot more time like more or less 25 seconds ? Also what is your distance between the iPhone and your router in feet ?

 

[Donkichot]

I did not update the F/W of Netgear R6300 because I learn that Netgear does not support that router anymore...

So I bought a Netgear Nighthawk R7000. I update it to the up to date F/W and test it out... I'm at 5.5 feet away from the router.

Mix result... I got some blazing fast result of 9 to 10 sec for the 451MB file (45MB/sec) !!! Really nice but the problem is that I got that super speed only 1 of every 10 try... The 9 other test are around 24 to 28 seconds... Strange cause I'm exactly at the same place but I don't know why the speed is not stable... ?

I tried many position of the 3 antenna of the router and also move the router lower or higher but always the same results of 24 to 28 seconds with a 10 seconds blazing speed from time to time...

I steel get the 866Mbits link speed ! I Learn that in AC mode each antenna connect at 433Mbits. The iPad Air-2 got 866 cause of the 2 antenna. So the iPhone-6 should be at 433 Mbits at its maximum link speed if your are not far from the router.

I got 14 days to return the R7000 so I'm gone to play with it again.
But If I find the Asus rt68u I may give it a try...

 

[acedzero]

Acedzero, are you always getting that 16seconds time after time for the 451Megs files ? Or does it sometime take a lot more time like more or less 25 seconds ? Also what is your distance between the iPhone and your router in feet ?

The 16 seconds was consistent. I did get an iPad Air 2 64GB from AT&T this evening. Sending to the iPad was a consistent 13-13.5 seconds. From iPad to PC was a consistent 10-10.5 seconds.

I did not update the F/W of Netgear R6300 because I learn that Netgear does not support that router anymore...

So I bought a Netgear Nighthawk R7000. I update it to the up to date F/W and test it out... I'm at 5.5 feet away from the router.

Mix result... I got some blazing fast result of 9 to 10 sec for the 451MB file (45MB/sec) !!! Really nice but the problem is that I got that super speed only 1 of every 10 try... The 9 other test are around 24 to 28 seconds... Strange cause I'm exactly at the same place but I don't know why the speed is not stable... ?

I tried many position of the 3 antenna of the router and also move the router lower or higher but always the same results of 24 to 28 seconds with a 10 seconds blazing speed from time to time...

I steel get the 866Mbits link speed ! I Learn that in AC mode each antenna connect at 433Mbits. The iPad Air-2 got 866 cause of the 2 antenna. So the iPhone-6 should be at 433 Mbits at its maximum link speed if your are not far from the router.

I got 14 days to return the R7000 so I'm gone to play with it again.
But If I find the Asus rt68u I may give it a try...

I'm assuming that you have the latest firmware on the Nighthawk? I owned a Nighthawk when they first came out and was not impressed. Mostly for other reasons as I was not too concerned with the AC at the time. The Asus is available on Amazon, but also if you have either a Fry's Electronics or Microcenter near you, you might be able to get it locally.

There is a setting if I recall on the Netgear routers having to do with wifi isolation. I can't remember if its better to have it enabled or disabled but, if memory serves, I believe it had the potential to introduce performance issues. You might want to look for that setting in the router and either enable or disable it (whichever is opposite that it is currently set to). I don't have to do that with the Asus, however.

 

[Donkichot]

Acedzero, about wifi isolation it's still in the Help menu, but the case is no longer in the wifi parameters...

Here is what the help said about it:

Enable Wireless Isolation If checked, the wireless client under this SSID can only access internet and it can?t access other wireless clients even under the same SSID, Ethernet clients or this device. Other clients can?t access the wireless client, either.

 

[Donkichot]

Acedzero, you said:

?The 16 seconds was consistent. I did get an iPad Air 2 64GB from AT&T this evening. Sending to the iPad was a consistent 13-13.5 seconds. From iPad to PC was a consistent 10-10.5 seconds.?

I need to know at how many feet you did all your tests ?

 

[acedzero]

Acedzero, you said:

”The 16 seconds was consistent. I did get an iPad Air 2 64GB from AT&T this evening. Sending to the iPad was a consistent 13-13.5 seconds. From iPad to PC was a consistent 10-10.5 seconds.”

I need to know at how many feet you did all your tests ?

I was about 3 feet away.. no more than 5 feet

 

[acedzero]

Acedzero, about wifi isolation it's still in the Help menu, but the case is no longer in the wifi parameters...

Here is what the help said about it:

Enable Wireless Isolation If checked, the wireless client under this SSID can only access internet and it can‘t access other wireless clients even under the same SSID, Ethernet clients or this device. Other clients can‘t access the wireless client, either.

Okay I must have been thinking of something else then.

 

[Donkichot]

Acedzero,

Today I bought the Asus RT-AC68U at Staples. And install it, update the firmware with the last one and still stuck with the same inconsistent speed 1 fast and 9 slow...

But I finally found why my wifi speed was so inconsistent with yours test speed...
Windows 7 is to blame ! You see I have 2 partitions on my computer
Windows-7 and Windows-8.1. But I hate so much windows8 that I'm always running in Windows7. Reading back your post I click that you are on windows-8. So I reboot in w8 and now I can upload to my computer at an average of 38MB/second !!!

Now I got to find out why windows 8 is more friendly to AC wifi then windows-7. Cause you see, I still hate windows-8 ))

Thank again for your help !!!

 

[acedzero]

I'm glad you seem to have found the problem! That's interesting that windows 7 seems to be the cause. I have a windows 7 laptop kicking around, but I think it's only 10/100 wired and n on the wireless. I do have an AC wireless adapter that I could put on there...