iPad Air Very slow file transfer speeds (not my network)

[h00ligan]

Has anyone figured out why the iPad has such horrible file transfer speeds via wifi?

Copying from a synology via wifi I get about 65mbps max, My network is fine, every device on it operates as expected, even the iPad has a speed test result of 300mbps, my fibre internet cap. File copies to and from the synology from the desktop or my laptop are significantly faster, 300 or so there too, acknowledging both devices are wifi a throughput of 28-30MB/sec are a pretty solid wifi setup, though slow in the big picture of networks.

regardless the limitation here doesn’t the network as it’s hitting 1/5 the speeds of other devices, I *think* my iPhone is the same but I’d have to check.

This occurs using afp or smb in the files app or FileBrowser.

Appreciate any info if you’ve experienced this or particularly found any resolution.

 

[AutomaticApple]

Has anyone figured out why the iPad has such horrible file transfer speeds via wifi?

Copying from a synology via wifi I get about 65mbps max, My network is fine, every device on it operates as expected, even the iPad has a speed test result of 300mbps, my fibre internet cap. File copies to and from the synology from the desktop or my laptop are significantly faster, 300 or so there too, acknowledging both devices are wifi a throughput of 28-30MB/sec are a pretty solid wifi setup, though slow in the big picture of networks.

regardless the limitation here doesn’t the network as it’s hitting 1/5 the speeds of other devices, I *think* my iPhone is the same but I’d have to check.

This occurs using afp or smb in the files app or FileBrowser.

Appreciate any info if you’ve experienced this or particularly found any resolution.

It's due to a limit in iPadOS. iPadOS 15 might remove such a limit, but don't hold your breath.

 

[iF34R]

Has anyone figured out why the iPad has such horrible file transfer speeds via wifi?

Copying from a synology via wifi I get about 65mbps max, My network is fine, every device on it operates as expected, even the iPad has a speed test result of 300mbps, my fibre internet cap. File copies to and from the synology from the desktop or my laptop are significantly faster, 300 or so there too, acknowledging both devices are wifi a throughput of 28-30MB/sec are a pretty solid wifi setup, though slow in the big picture of networks.

regardless the limitation here doesn’t the network as it’s hitting 1/5 the speeds of other devices, I *think* my iPhone is the same but I’d have to check.

This occurs using afp or smb in the files app or FileBrowser.

Appreciate any info if you’ve experienced this or particularly found any resolution.

Can you post a pic of the speedtest?

 

[sparksd]

It's due to a limit in iPadOS. iPadOS 15 might remove such a limit, but don't hold your breath.

What limit is on WiFi transfers? I see the same results.

 

[Wackery]

I find transferring files over usb type c to be slow too, it’s an iPadOS problem

 

[h00ligan]

Can you post a pic of the speedtest?

 

[h00ligan]

It's due to a limit in iPadOS. iPadOS 15 might remove such a limit, but don't hold your breath.

What limit is on WiFi transfers? I see the same results.

I am curious about this too, any more info or by chance a link to a previous discussion or examination? I’d love to read about this and start getting together to push apple to fix this. Thanks.

 

[iF34R]

Ok, so, is that off the iPad, or another device/pc? Is your connection symmetrical? 300 up and down?

 

[h00ligan]

Ok, so, is that off the iPad, or another device/pc? Is your connection symmetrical? 300 up and down?

iPad, 300/50 unfortunately but I’m curious why you think my internet connection being symmetrical would matter?

The reason I brought it up is just that the local lan file copy is 1/5 the speed of grabbing from online. I can retrieve cloud data faster than grabbing it from a computer or appliance in the house, by a significant margin.

I’m also not sure that this speed limitation exists when using apps with different protocols. That would be an interesting test if I could figure out what to test. I can’t imagine apple deliberately crippled standard file sharing protocols but who knows!

 

[iF34R]

iPad, 300/50 unfortunately but I’m curious why you think my internet connection being symmetrical would matter?

The reason I brought it up is just that the local lan file copy is 1/5 the speed of grabbing from online. I can retrieve cloud data faster than grabbing it from a computer or appliance in the house, by a significant margin.

I’m also not sure that this speed limitation exists when using apps with different protocols. That would be an interesting test if I could figure out what to test. I can’t imagine apple deliberately crippled standard file sharing protocols but who knows!

Because when you're doing it using your internet connection, you're restricted by the upload speed.

 

[h00ligan]

Because when you're doing it using your internet connection, you're restricted by the upload speed.

Sorry you’ve lost me here

If I am discussing copying a file from a server to my iPad, if it’s cloud based I can get 300mbps. If I’m grabbing it from a LAN machine it’s around 65. My upload doesn’t come in to play when grabbing.

If the discussion was putting files, I can see the point that the only guarantee I see using the speed text is 50mbps, but that’s not the case here

what am I missing with your logic?

Btw these rates seem to be the same whether it’s a windows machine via smb or the synology so the device isn’t the issue either.

What i see is the iPad slow using standard file copy protocols.

I’m actually going to test ftp and WebDAV next

 

[rui no onna]

I’m also not sure that this speed limitation exists when using apps with different protocols. That would be an interesting test if I could figure out what to test. I can’t imagine apple deliberately crippled standard file sharing protocols but who knows!

Pretty sure it’s protocol since iirc, I get around 30-50 MB/s (240-400 Mbps) on a cheapie iPad 6th gen via HTTP (Comic Glass Media Server).

 

[iF34R]

Sorry you’ve lost me here

If I am discussing copying a file from a server to my iPad, if it’s cloud based I can get 300mbps. If I’m grabbing it from a LAN machine it’s around 65. My upload doesn’t come in to play when grabbing.

If the discussion was putting files, I can see the point that the only guarantee I see using the speed text is 50mbps, but that’s not the case here

what am I missing with your logic?

Btw these rates seem to be the same whether it’s a windows machine via smb or the synology so the device isn’t the issue either.

What i see is the iPad slow using standard file copy protocols.

I’m actually going to test ftp and WebDAV next

Yeah I misunderstood what you were asking about. That being said, I'm grabbing a file from my PC right now to my iPad on my home network and I'm getting 300-400Mbs on the transfer. iPad Pro 11" 2021.

 

[h00ligan]

Pretty sure it’s protocol since iirc, I get around 30-50 MB/s (240-400 Mbps) on a cheapie iPad 6th gen via HTTP (Comic Glass Media Server).

So I just turned on sftp and ftp. Sftp was the same poor speed about 3MB/sec, ftp without encryption was 24 (a little on the slow side for my network but not outside what I’d call normal

Transport encryption is disabled on the host with my smb connection, so unfortunately it’s not an issue of limited throughout based on overtaxing the processor for encryption …. WebDAV test next I guess. It’s just weird this is on afp and smb

Yeah I misunderstood what you were asking about. That being said, I'm grabbing a file from my PC right now to my iPad on my home network and I'm getting 300-400Mbs on the transfer. iPad Pro 11" 2021.

Out of curiosity Server is wired to the router or wifi everything - I have always hardwired my servers but this current rental doesn’t allow for it (as the fibre is in the laundry area). It’s a real kick in the teeth to have wireless overhead on both sides and indefinitely need a faster router!

 

[iF34R]

So I just turned on sftp and ftp. Sftp was the same poor speed about 3MB/sec, ftp without encryption was 24 (a little on the slow side for my network but not outside what I’d call normal

Transport encryption is disabled on the host with my smb connection, so unfortunately it’s not an issue of limited throughout based on overtaxing the processor for encryption …. WebDAV test next I guess. It’s just weird this is on afp and smb



Out of curiosity Server is wired to the router or wifi everything - I have always hardwired my servers but this current rental doesn’t allow for it (as the fibre is in the laundry area). It’s a real kick in the teeth to have wireless overhead on both sides and indefinitely need a faster router!

So I updated my router firmware..
My PC is connected via ethernet. The iPad Pro both 11 and 12.9 have a 5Ghz AX limit of 1200Mbs. I'm getting 400-700Mbs right now on this new file transfer.

Which iPad do you have and which router?

 

[h00ligan]

So I updated my router firmware..
My PC is connected via ethernet. The iPad Pro both 11 and 12.9 have a 5Ghz AX limit of 1200Mbs. I'm getting 400-700Mbs right now on this new file transfer.

Which iPad do you have and which router?

I figured that was the case, your network setup is definitely way faster than mine , but this isn’t an issue of network because ftp behaved as expected as does the web based file station transfer. This is something specific with afp and smb. If it was a global network issue I’d be seeing 3MB/sex transfer speeds across all protocols and devices, where I’m getting more like 25-30

At this point though I need to confirm again this is happening with other file hosts. I’ll configure another share on a local windows desktop and do that, post back here. If it’s only the appliance then this is an appliance issue I need to investigate.

fwiw I did test this with a pc before, but I have made changes since then so let’s see.

 

[h00ligan]

So I updated my router firmware..
My PC is connected via ethernet. The iPad Pro both 11 and 12.9 have a 5Ghz AX limit of 1200Mbs. I'm getting 400-700Mbs right now on this new file transfer.

Which iPad do you have and which router?

Sorry for the second reply, what are you using to transfer file?

what’s the host device, what’s the protocol?

 

[haruhiko]

Hmm.. yesterday I tried to transfer some large files to the iPad Pro via Thunderbolt 3 cable from my Mac it was very very fast. I won’t try wireless transfer for large files anyway. It’s very slow on the iPad.

 

[iF34R]

Sorry for the second reply, what are you using to transfer file?

what’s the host device, what’s the protocol?

Just got done with a 68GB file. Using Infuse 7 Pro and doing a file transfer via wifi on the iPad from the PC that's on Ethernet to the router. I can try FTP and see how that goes. My max speed was 749Mbs. The speed stay 500-700 range most of the time.

Interesting to know which iPad and router.. that could help diagnose the issue better.

edit:
via filezilla FTP - same as before stay pretty consistent in the 600Mbs area though.

 

[h00ligan]

Just got done with a 68GB file. Using Infuse 7 Pro and doing a file transfer via wifi on the iPad from the PC that's on Ethernet to the router. I can try FTP and see how that goes. My max speed was 749Mbs. The speed stay 500-700 range most of the time.

Interesting to know which iPad and router.. that could help diagnose the issue better.

edit:
via filezilla FTP - same as before stay pretty consistent in the 600Mbs area though.

Thanks, for the info. I ran the test from my pc to iPad and again, 30mbps , my standard throughput (bearing in mind every machine is WiFi and it’s an ac network) is around 230mbps.
So this isn’t a host issue, nor is it a network issue.

Specifically using smb (are you hosting from a mac?) is abou 1/8 the speed I get going (smb) pc -> nas , nas -> pc, nas-> iPad ftp

it certainly seems to be a protocol implementation and the only last thing I wonder is, if I had a Mac would afp work properly.

Btw it’s the latest air.

 

[iF34R]

Thanks, for the info. I ran the test from my pc to iPad and again, 30mbps , my standard throughput (bearing in mind every machine is WiFi and it’s an ac network) is around 230mbps.
So this isn’t a host issue, nor is it a network issue.

Specifically using smb (are you hosting from a mac?) is abou 1/8 the speed I get going (smb) pc -> nas , nas -> pc, nas-> iPad ftp

it certainly seems to be a protocol implementation and the only last thing I wonder is, if I had a Mac would afp work properly.

Btw it’s the latest air.

I can do some iMac transfers when I get up in the morning. Well, when my wife gets up lol.

If I remember correctly, AC 5Ghz radio, 80Mhz is the max bandwidth channel and can get to 866Mbs. Wondering if you have something on that AC network that isn't AC, which puts you back down on 802.11n speeds; 300Mbs on a max 40Mhz channel.

 

[Mcckoe]

In VLC, I get about 16-17MB/s which works out to about ~120-140mbps; my router is pretty old though.

 

[h00ligan]

I can do some iMac transfers when I get up in the morning. Well, when my wife gets up lol.

If I remember correctly, AC 5Ghz radio, 80Mhz is the max bandwidth channel and can get to 866Mbs. Wondering if you have something on that AC network that isn't AC, which puts you back down on 802.11n speeds; 300Mbs on a max 40Mhz channel.

That’s right but remember with both decjxes on wifi you’re doing it twice. Half the speed. 25 -30 MB/sec is about the best you’re going to do when you Talkign about two devices sharing data on ac. Unless my maths are off.

thanks for the checking. Interested to see. I don’t have any non ac devices on this network. I actually have a second fibre connection here (50mbps) which is used as a backup network and everything n related is on that, like the echos and hue and such.

 

[h00ligan]

I just tried my other network, configured with a separate ssid, but consisting of mixed devices...across several channels.

A file copy of 1.2ghz took anywhere from 9 to 11 mins

on my optimised 5ghz network it takes about 4:30-5mins. So that’s the difference between all ac devices and mixed as well as bt smart hub vs hyperootic. The hyperootic is the backup network.

anyway, at this point for me it’s not WiFi performance, as expected, there’s no reason the iPad Air 4th gen should be taking 5 mins to copy something a desktop pc gets in 60seconds. Also to recap if I use file station on the synology it’s much faster.

So I’m going back to this being a protocol implementation issue with apple on both afp and smb. I’m going to submit a bug report. Anyone else have any thoughts.

 

[h00ligan]

Small update. While it’s slow all the way around, it’s half speed using FileBrowser pro from Stratopherix, which really surprises me.

Apple Fi app crashes trying to copy down a 1gb file let alone anything further.

I’ll conduct a bit more testing and submit a support request to stratospheric, but even 2:25 to cooy 1.3 go is slow, though not as slow as 5:30 of FileBrowser