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Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:25:10 GMT

I had Full Fibre installed on Monday. Router is in an upstairs bedroom of a 1960 3 bed semi. The Wi-fi signal only has to go through a ceiling to the lounge below. I have the wi-fi Disk in line of sight of the router (ceiling only obstruction) 4ft away from me.

Using Speedtest.net to measure my download speed on a 5Ghz iPad it shows 82.7Mbps download and 95Mbps upload. Before on Fibre / copper I had 50 / 16.

So whilst the upload speed has increased by 600% the download speed is only 66% faster.

This makes no sense. Is something throttling the download speed? No other devices were in use during the test and I’ve tried it several times all with similar numbers.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:18:01 GMT

In the same position in my lounge I can download at 159Mbps on a 2 year-old Windows 10 laptop but only upload at 16-20Mbps.

On a 2 year old Android smartphone it's 234Mbps download. No upload was performed.

Might the fact the iPad is 7 years old be a factor?But uploads on the iPad are excellent.

All are with Wi-Fi. Anyone care to comment?

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

imjolly — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:30:49 GMT

Can you try again but using an ethernet connection as WiFi unreliable

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:38:02 GMT

“Can you try again but using an ethernet connection as WiFi unreliable ”

Ethernet on an iPad? 🤔 And Wi-fi is not unreliable. I have kit connected to it for months with no dropouts.

I can accept download speeds will be lower via Wi-fi but not huge disparities like this with an iPad uploading faster than a download. And given my smart TV shows a 100% signal strength on 5Ghz I think we can take it the strength of the signal in the lounge is not the issue. I have. Wi-fi disk there too.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

ctrlz — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 19:50:20 GMT

Does your windows laptop not have an ethernet connection? I assume that's what the previous post referred to.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:06:48 GMT

“Does your windows laptop not have an ethernet connection? I assume that's what the previous post referred to.”

Yes it does and download speeds are 800+Mbps. But that’s when I’m in the room where the router is.

But the huge disparity with Wi-fi is not making sense. Why would uploading be faster than downloading on an iPad? If someone could answer that please. Do those of you with an iPad have the same issue?

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

Will168 — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:32:06 GMT

@RayP No, I do not experience that on my iPad. Both my wi-fi mesh and iPad are on wi-fi 5, so I get about 350-400 Mbps down on the iPad and 110 Mbps up and can’t really hope for much more. I expect to see a bump in the download speeds when I eventually go wi-fi 6 in the coming months.

Via ethernet on the iPad, I get the full 900 Mbps down and 110 Mbps.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:42:19 GMT

@Will168 , thanks. How old is your iPad? I’m running iOS 12.5.4.

What’s Wi-fi 5? Slower than full fibre?

Are you Using BT Smart hub 2? I’m wondering if my TP-Link VR2800 might be faster even though it won’t have a mesh disk downstairs. It would be in the same position as the SH2 upstairs firing through the ceiling.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

Will168 — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 21:02:21 GMT

@RayP The iPad is 3 years old, running iPadOS 14.7.1. But I’ve tried it on my nephew’s iPad before, which us about the same age as your’s and it was the same result as on my iPad.

Wi-Fi 5 is an iteration of wi-fi standard and probably the most common at the moment, referred to as “ac” in most advertising. Wi-fi 6 is the “ax” supported equipment that you see.

Technically, in perfect lab conditions, wi-fi 5 can support gigabit speeds, but in real world, from my experience, the best you could hope for is probably around 400 Mbps.

Test results are reasonably good on the SmartHub 2 over wi-fi, in the range of 200 to 300 Mbps down. But to achieve that, I have to be in the same room as the SH2. As soon as I start moving into different rooms, the speed suffers significantly. Hence, I went for a mesh solution, as it is a lot more stable and consistent for speeds.

I can’t comment about your TP Link router, as I don’t know anything about it. It could well perform better, as the SH2 isn’t necessarily great for wi-fi performance. But Wi-fi is highly variable depending on setup, local environment etc. and can be relatively unreliable. Good wi-fi signal doesn’t always mean good wi-fi quality.

Probably worth taking a few minutes to plug in and set up your TP Link though and see what difference it would make?

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 21:25:51 GMT

@Will168 , my iPad is capable of “ac” so I should be getting similar performance to you. Interesting you say the SH2 is not great with Wi-fi. You’d imagine having a separate disk in the lounge would improve things considerably.

I take it your mesh router is an independent, not BT supplied. I’ll plug my TP-Link in tomorrow and try a test. As things stand the Wi-fi disk is doing very little.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

Will168 — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 21:46:08 GMT

@RayP I think in an ideal setup, you could expect to achieve much improved results than what you are currently getting. But wi-fi performance can be impacted by lots of different factors, some of which would be unique to your setup, such as local interference, congestion on wi-fi bands etc.

I would have expected the BT discs to improve things, as that’s the whole point of them. But I have no experience with them, so can’t say.

I currently use the TP Link Deco M9 Plus, with three units. My house is a four bed, on two floors and was built 20 years ago, so walls, floors and ceilings are paper thin! My setup is one unit in the living room (main unit) and one in the loft, which provides good coverage in the whole house and even speeds of 350 to 400 Mbps anywhere in the house, including the furthest corners I could get to. They are linked by wired (ethernet) backhaul as speeds were much less consistent when they are on wireless backhaul, even with the M9 model having the dedicated third wireless band for backhaul. The third unit is in the shed to provide coverage through the entire garden and that unit is on wireless backhaul to the living room unit and device speeds are around 100 to 120 Mbps when connected that unit.

As you have the spare TP Link router, if I were in your position, I would certainly give it a go and then at least you would know if it improves over the SH2 or not.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 09:53:53 GMT

@Will168, after further tests this morning the wi-fi disk in the lounge is boosting the signal by around 5dB to around -45dB on the 5Ghz frequency. A strong signal I would suggest.

I swapped out the SH2 for my TP-Link Archer VR2800 but it can't connect to the internet. The settings must be different but despite searching for them I'm stuck. Do you know them please?

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

licquorice — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 10:03:31 GMT

You need to configure the TP Link so that it is expecting an input on its WAN port rather than DSL port.

Set the operation mode to Wireless Router Mode rather than DSL Modem router mode.

The PPPoE settings will be the same bthomehub@btbroadband.com username and BT password.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 10:23:32 GMT

@licquorice, thanks. I don't suppose there's a step by step guide on how to do this? I'm a beginner when it comes to routers.

In the drop-down box it shows BT_VDSL (or something very similar) I presume I can't use that option.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

licquorice — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 10:42:41 GMT

Go to the Advanced tab and select Operation mode and then Wireless router mode.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 10:53:25 GMT

@licquorice, thanks. Found it on a YT video. I've changed that and the router rebooted. On the login screen do I use my existing login name and password.

Where do I enter the PPPoE settings of username and BT password.

Is the password BT?

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

licquorice — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 10:56:47 GMT

You'll have to poke around in the settings for the PPPoE login and password are entered, I haven't got a VR2800. I was just using the online emulator but it isn't working after setting the operation mode unfortunately.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 11:03:17 GMT

Sorted! @licquorice thank you very much for your patience and help.

@Will168I'll do some speed tests now that I have my TP-Link connected and will report back later.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

RayP — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 12:27:48 GMT

The TP-Link Archer VR2800 appears to send a less strong signal to the lounge. It’s around -53dB -around the same as the SH2 without the disc. The disc boosts it by 6dB to the mid -40s.

My smart TV shows a signal quality of around 70% with the TP-Link. With the SH2/disc it’s 100%. Same with an Oppo UHD player.

So I’ll revert to the BT kit. Why my iPad cannot download more than 100Mbps right next to the router remains a mystery. The huge disparity between Ethernet and Wi-fi is not something I expected. They were very close with my fibre/copper connection. Maybe things take a while to settle down

Thanks to all who gave help.

Re: Download speeds on iPad don’t make sense

gosforth — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 13:51:28 GMT

While BT SH2 is capable device, it’s throttled to use only 3 channels on 5GHz band essentially…

Doesn’t matter if you use “smart” mode on Wifi, or set it dedicated, you can use still only that 3 channels. Typically 36(42) will be most of the time used as “smart” option…

This said, if you have neighbours, who use BT or Sky broadband, you can easily lead to situation, as at part of your house, you will gets stuck with interference with their setup. This might explain, why iPad getting less impressive results, even close to router. Why? Because it might be exact spot, where your and neighbours network interfere…

Another option is, as iPad recognise 2.4 GHz network as stronger and simply stick on it, instead to use 5 GHz SSID, while on BT SH2 you are not in position to split 2.4 and 5 GHz, you don’t have control on which network which device will use.

This happening a lot and then you see slower speeds, even it not make sense otherwise…

With you TP link router, you shall be at position, as you might use higher channels (52-64), against BT SH2, which will allows you to use 36-48 only on 5GHz band, which tend be more crowded….

Try to use TP link on these “higher channels” and find some which are less crowded to test. Also divide 2.4 and 5GHz networks, if you can, and setup newer devices to use 5 GHz (a.k.a. For example SSID will be “MyNetwork-24” and “MyNetwork-5” and you will configure iPad and most demanded devices to use later….)

Divide/splitting 2.4 and 5 GHz in general make sense, if you have some legacy devices. Why? Because they will always slow down other devices…

Any extender, even BT WholeHome, is not suppose to bring MAXIMUM speed, but MAXIMUM COVERAGE, please bear this in mind… That said, you might extend area of reliable signal, but do not expect, as you will get 400 Mbps WiFi download everywhere, more likely, most of the extenders will provide up to 100 Mbps instead….