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iPhone 6(S)/Plus AC Wi-Fi speeds for iPhone 6 Plus?

Drewps5co0tt

Drewps5co0tt

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 17, 2010
190
49
Hello,

Got a question for you guys...

I have a 6 Plus and connected to my home AC network (5 GHz), when I run speed tests with the speedtest.net app, for some reason the max speed my phone will get is upper 150's, lower 160's MBPS. On my computer, (connected to the same network), I'm getting well into the 200's to near 300 MBPS down.

Any ideas?

I realize the 6/6 Plus was the first phone to get AC Wi-Fi and figured there may be some limitation in the card on the device, but yet I've seen other people run speed tests on their 6 Plus and they get well into the 200's, if not higher for their download. So I'm kinda stumped on why my speed is so much lower on the phone but so much higher on the other devices I use.

Thanks
[doublepost=1530846563][/doublepost]Interesting addition I wanted to add here...

I just purchased a iPad Mini 4 a few weeks ago...I'm still getting everything setup on that device but tonight I downloaded speedtest.net app to the device and ran a speed test with it, I got almost 300MBPS down! So I'm guessing the AC chip on the iPhone 6 Plus is not as good as the AC chip on the iPad Mini 4?
 
The antenna configuration on the iPhone 6 is 1x1 for 802.11ac which means up to 433 Mbps.

Under real world conditions, most users get about 1/4 or 1/3 of that speed. So you're right in the ballpark. The same is true for 802.11n and previous standards.

iPad mini 4 has 2x2 antenna configuration for up to 867 Mbps.
 
JPack said:
The antenna configuration on the iPhone 6 is 1x1 for 802.11ac which means up to 433 Mbps.

Under real world conditions, most users get about 1/4 or 1/3 of that speed. So you're right in the ballpark. The same is true for 802.11n and previous standards.

iPad mini 4 has 2x2 antenna configuration for up to 867 Mbps.
Click to expand...

Ah, I see, I guess that makes sense then. But how are others getting 200 and 300 MBPS down on their 6 plus's then but I'm stuck in the 150-160 range?
 
Davidpriddy said:
That makes no sense, I'm sitting on the same couch I access both devices from, iPad Mini 4 gives me almost 300MBPS down, so there goes that theory.
Click to expand...

It makes no sense if you don't understand the fundamentals.

  1. iPad has a larger antenna for better spatial separation.
  2. iPad has more antennas.

1 + 2 = better interference mitigation
 
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To add to JPack above: and your router is most likely different brand than others. And in different location in the house. And going through different number of walls/floors. And different building materials. And so on and so on. And that is why numbers are highly variable.
 
Yea I get the antenna issue, but the previous post contradicted what the poster had said earlier. Also I'm in a small apartment and in the same room that the router is in, everything is on 1 floor. I'll just chalk it up to iPad having better antenna. Thanks!
[doublepost=1530922333][/doublepost]P.S. I made a user id change with admin/don't get confused...I'm the same guy:) Forgot I had an old account on here and wanted to go back to using that ID instead.
 
JPack said:
It makes no sense if you don't understand the fundamentals.

  1. iPad has a larger antenna for better spatial separation.
  2. iPad has more antennas.

1 + 2 = better interference mitigation
Click to expand...

Though even then, not for sure.

My iPhone 8 hangs onto the wifi on the patio better than the iPad gen 6. But in the house, iPad gets better download speeds vs iPhone (but not by much).

Back to my original comment, too many variables to be comparing between different people/set-ups.
 
I wanted to add some follow up info here...

I've ran speedtests from my iPhone 6 Plus using friends AC networks, the phone gets WAY UP into the 200's or low 300's, yet back at home...I'm maxing at at like 165MBPS down, this just doesn't make any sense. Every other device that I have in my house is AC as well (PC, iPad Mini 4, Apple TV 4, etc) and it shows the correct speeds (mid to high 200'sMBPS.)

Is this a case of my router just doesn't like my iPhone or my iPhone just doesn't like my router? I'm really stumped by this!
[doublepost=1534406957][/doublepost]
aakshey said:
Which router do you have?
Click to expand...

Linksys WRT1200AC
 
Have you got the latest firmware version installed on your router? How is it configured? What speed do you get when your iPhone is the only device connected to the router, after the router has been rebooted? Sounds like another device is eating the bandwidth to me or a config issue.
 
It's not a config issue, if it was all the devices would be acting like that. Everything is always up to date on my end. I don't know, I'd have to shut everything down and just have the iPhone connected to the network to test that, I can update later this evening on that but I doubt there will be any difference. When I run the speedtest with the phone, I'm not doing anything else that is using u bandwidth, my PC is idle, iPad is idle and ATV 4 is not even turned on, my configuration is AC 5GHz, WPA2 Personal.
[doublepost=1534461780][/doublepost]I just did the suggestion that Steve recommended, there was no change...I even disabled the password for my AC network to make it wide open with no password needed, rebooted the router and still had the same speed lol...I'm just not going to worry about it, there is no setting on my router that is limiting my iPhone, I don't have device prioritization on (because frankly I don't need it on with my speed plan) and so I'm giving up on trying to figure it out.:eek:

I'm using the WRT1200AC from Linksys and firmware is up to date, if anyone has any ideas please chime in!

Today I ran speedtests with the iPad Mini 4 (I'm getting almost 300MBPS down), I then tested my PC (I'm getting almost 300MBPS down) and then I tested my ATV 4Th Gen (and I'm getting almost 300MBPS down), so if all those are working correctly, why in God's name is my phone not? I removed the network from my phone and reconnected to it, same issue. I just can't figure it out.
 
I took this issue over to the Linksys forums and they can't figure out what the issue is either, my network is confirmed setup correctly (as I already knew lol) they said what I said...either the iPhone doesn't like my router or vise-versa. Hopefully when I get a new iPhone I won't have the same issue, if I do, then I might consider upgrading my router although I don't really need anything faster at the moment (I only have a 250MBPS down line with Comcast) so this router more than meets my needs for now (even when it comes to my local network/streaming etc.,) I use Plex and stream tons of stuff from my PC to my Apple TV (4TH Gen) and it just flies, no buffering ever.
 
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