Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone wifi speeds vs. PC on same network

K

kizersoze83

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 19, 2010
48
0
Denver, CO
I am sure the answer to this question is painfully obvious to some, but I cannot find it out myself. I recently upgraded my home wifi network to 20 mbps. I decided to use the speednet.com app and do an upload/download test.

When I ran the app on my iPhone the download speeds were only around 4 mbps! I immediately started cursing qwest's terrible internet and then decided I should run the test on my laptop before cussing anyone out. The speed test showed download speeds of around 19 mbps (well within limits).

Is this issue only because the iPhone doesn't have as much processing power as my laptop or is there something more to this that I am not thinking of? That seems to be the obvious answer to me, but I was hoping some of you could help me out...THANKS!
 
Vizin said:
Here are my results, using Speedtest.net:

iPhone 4: 15.41 down, 2.75 up, 41 ms ping
Mac: 17.09 down, 2.81 up, 10 ms ping

They were right next to each other, on the other side of the house from the Wireless-G router, and done one after another.

What iPhone do you have? My friend's 3G can't pull down more than 4-5 mbps down over even the fastest wifi, but my iPhone 4 always comes pretty close to a PC.
Click to expand...

I have an iPhone 4 running 4.3. I just tried another test on my phone and I got 5.3 down with a 165 ping and on my laptop 18.8 down with a 41 ping. I am sitting about 20 feet away from the router when running both tests:confused:
 
Iphone 4 connects on the 2.4 Ghz spectrum of wifi, you macbook pro or pc probably on the 5 ghz band, so you will likely get faster speeds on your macbook pro if you have a dual band n router.
 
Last edited:
My iDevices's have a consistent speed with one another as well as my PC's. I've read many users complaints about the same problem though. Slower speeds on iPhones compared to computers. I think the type of router you're using influences your speeds considerably. I have three routers hooked up at the moment (I'm forced to) and my Netgear3700 N router offers considerbly faster speeds with my iDevices. My two other G based routers kinda suck to be honest. Here are my speeds for my computer, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

wxman2003 said:
Iphone 4 connects on the 2.4 Ghz spectrum of wifi, you macbook pro or pc probably on the 5 ghz band, so you will likely get faster speeds on your macbook pro if you have a dual band n router.
Click to expand...

I'm also going to have to agree here. The 2GHz frequency just sucks in my neighborhood. I try to keep as many of my devices on the 5GHz band since every single neighbor has a wireless router. I live in a residential home and my adapter can pick up 20 networks apart from mine!



[IMG=http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5213/ipadpm.png][/IMG]



 
Last edited:
My iDevices's have a consistent speed with one another as well as my PC's. I've read many users complaints about the same problem though. Slower speeds on iPhones compared to computers. I think the type of router you're using influences your speeds considerably. I have three routers hooked up at the moment (I'm forced to) and my Netgear3700 N router offers considerbly faster speeds with my iDevices. My two other G based routers kinda suck to be honest. Here are my speeds for my computer, iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.I'm also going to have to agree here. The 2GHz frequency just sucks in my neighborhood. I try to keep as many of my devices on the 5GHz band since every single neighbor has a wireless router. I live in a residential home and my adapter can pick up 20 networks apart from mine!
Click to expand...

I think you may have answered my question. I just checked and my router is a wireless-N router. However, after looking at FAQ's on the manufacturers website I found that they do not function in the 5GHz band. I guess this explains everything. Thanks Goldinboy for your help!:)
 
I have 30 Mbps service with Comcast.
My Mac is always there. My iDevices test out at a number half of that. Still very fast. The speed test results on the iDevices used to be closer to my Mac. Not sure what changed but it's fast enough for my needs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back