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Testing the iPad - I'm still learning what's causing results to vary


Pgoodwin1

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Does anyone have any tips on iPad preferences setups that influence the Internet speed throughput?

As I've seen here on this site, mobile results can vary greatly using SpeedTest. Looking at my data under iPad Detected (I have a WiFi only iPad), I have results with rr.com that vary from well under 1 Mbps To a max of about 11 Mbps and an average of around 5 Mbps for download, Uploads vary from well under 1 Mbps up to about 0.8 Mbps.

Comparing this to my iMac's performance at times it's slower but not terribly slower, but often (much more often than the computer) it's on the slow side (seems very erratic or interrupted/intermittent) and this happens seemingly at random times during the day, with best results in the wee hours of the morning. The iMac numbers are 8.5 and 13 Mbps avg and max for downloads, and about 0.9 Mbps avg and max for uploads.

I'm using an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (new) for Wifi and some older 3-5 yr old design Netgear switches and a router that are all 10/100. I haven't bothered investing in any gigabit Ethernet hardware because I'm Time Warner limited. My test times on the iMac using WiFi are very close to the results using the ethernet. My cable modem is a 6-7 year old one that Time Warner provided.

The iPad average of 5 versus the 8.5 Mbps numbers are certainly understandable considering the pure hardware differences of the two machines. Occasionally I get some poor erratic performance on the iMac but it's a much more common occurrence on the iPad. I've done a little semi-scientific investigating but haven't come up with anything that would explain the more common slower and erratic times of the iPad. There are times when I think that rr.com is the problem as all the computers (iMac, PC laptop and MacBook Pro, and mobile wifi devices (2 iPhones and 2 iPads) are all running slow.

Tonight I had terrible performance on the iPad, and turned off all 5 of the Notifications I'm using and Location Services. Results went back to well above average, but I don't know if it was coincidental or not. I turned them back on and the results were still good.

Repeating my initial question: Does anyone have any tips on iPad preferences setups that influence the Internet speed throughput?

Re-booting the iPad and Clearing Safari history and data doesn't seem to help

The only thing that has ever seemed to clear up the issue was rebooting the Time Warned cable modem, but I can't say that actually fixed anything, as the poor performance windows don't normally last longer than a few minutes, and it may have been coincidental that it improved after turning the cable model off then back on

When things are running normally, everything is slightly above what the rr.com averages are - looking at the stats on this website.

Oh, and thenWiFi signal strength is not the issue. When things are slow and erratic, it's the same sitting right next to the wireless TxRx as it is out in the garage. The problem is so intermittent that it's driving me crazy because I can't get it to stay in the failed condition long enough to really nail anything down. This makes me suspect a Time Warner problem, but whenever I call them, they have me run their test which always shows the ridiculously high numbers because (as noted on this website) they throw out the slowest 30% if I remember correctly

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Well, I can tell you this. Most likely the problem doesn't have to do with the settings on your iPad... unless you changed something you shouldn't have.

During the time your having this problem, you test on your desktop and it's running fine?

Try to eliminate anything unnecessary from your network. Run your cable modem straight to the Airport Extreme. It also never hurts to reset your equipment, in case there are any borked settings. Airport Extreme reset information -- note that in almost every case your MTU should be set at 1500 with cable internet.

What kind of cable modem are you running?

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I can't figure out how to show the graph in a reply field using the iPad - maybe because I don't have Flash?

Click 'share & export' on your results page https://testmy.net/quickstats/Pgoodwin1 or click 'share' next to the score you want to share. iPad doesn't have flash so my system defaults you to my old legacy graphing system. But that shouldn't effect your ability to share.

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Hey, thanks for responding.

CA3LE: What does "MTU should be set at 1500 with cable internet" mean?

EBrown: The Airport Extreme Base Station is a brand new one-802.11 a thru n. The iPad is an iPad 2.

I had another very slow period just a few minutes ago. I didn't get a chance to test the computer during the event, but my wife said she was experiencing slow operation on her work PC laptop at the same time. The problem cleared itself again in a short time. I'm pretty sure it's Time Warner but the problem is never there long enough to troubleshoot completely. Ironically and probably coincidentally, the problem went away right after I turned Notifications and Location Services OFF on the iPad. This is the second time that doing that has made the problem go away, but it still may be just coincidence. When I turned them back on, the Internet was still running fast. I was thinking there might be some sort of constant CPU interrupts going on with the Notifications from Calendar or Facebook - these notifications are displayed in the pull-down at the top black activity bar where the clock and battery status show. If you don't go to the postings on FB, the notifications stay there. I'm going to turn them off and leave them off for a few days.

The next time we have an event I'll immediately run testmy on the computer before I do anything. Time Warner has been working on theor equipment out in our front yard twice lately. The guy said that signal levels were low out there, and one of our neighbors had trouble with their service recently too. So it kinda points toward them.

Click 'share & export' on your results page https://testmy.net/quickstats/Pgoodwin1 or click 'share' next to the score you want to share. iPad doesn't have flash so my system defaults you to my old legacy graphing system. But that shouldn't effect your ability to share.

CA3LE: in order to paste a graphic into a posting what do you do? I was able to paste the URL of the graph into the posting, but can't figure out what to do after hitting the share button. Note - on the iPad, when you select a "Reply to this topic" field, the menu on the top of the reply box doesn't show - that's where the "Image" icon is. On the iPad there's some sharing icons below the Reply box field - it looks like this:

post-82979-0-00326500-1325605664_thumb.png

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No problem mudmanc4. It's not a big deal about the iPad forum interface being different. That's part of the downside of the whole mobile environment. It's early. LOL.

Actually, the response time behavior of this forum on the iPad is a lot snappier than some other forums. Some of them are snail like even entering text on a mobile device. And this forum isn't the only iPad/iPhone user interface where the attach file button is grayed out.

When you guys select this URL, do you see my results graph?

https://testmy.net/stats/?&t=u&d=01032012&x=14&l=100&z=16&q=Pgoodwin1

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No problem mudmanc4. It's not a big deal about the iPad forum interface being different. That's part of the downside of the whole mobile environment. It's early. LOL.

Actually, the response time behavior of this forum on the iPad is a lot snappier than some other forums. Some of them are snail like even entering text on a mobile device. And this forum isn't the only iPad/iPhone user interface where the attach file button is grayed out.

When you guys select this URL, do you see my results graph?

https://testmy.net/st...=16&q=Pgoodwin1

Yes , it points to your personal testmy.net graph , maximum speeds , average speeds , and the last roughly one hundred tests taken.

post-9745-0-14435300-1325636103_thumb.pn

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Good. That's what I see with the iPad. I just couldn't figure out how to put the graphic into the forum post using the iPad - because the Image button isn't there.

The period in the graph about 25 % from the left is the really crappy period that occurs intermittently.

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