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Wi-Fi Sync over Ethernet

Nermal

Nermal

Moderator
Original poster
Staff member
Dec 7, 2002
21,315
5,102
New Zealand
I've seen a few people say that they use Wi-Fi on their iPhone and Ethernet on their computer and are still able to use the Wi-Fi Sync feature. How do you set this up?

With my computer and iPhone both on Wi-Fi, I can do a manual sync or I can plug into power and have it run automatically. No problems there. However, the moment I switch my computer over to Ethernet (same network) the iPhone just says that it's waiting for the computer to become available.

How do you set it up to work over Ethernet? I'm running 5.0.1 on my 4S and 10.7.2 with iTunes 10.5.2 on my MBP.

Thanks :)
 
It should just work. Are the phone and the computer on the same network? You don't have 2 simultaneous networks with different names going on, do you?
 
It should work because it's all routing through your router, the iPhone as far as I know for wifi syncing isn't designed to create an ad-hoc network directly with your computer.
 
My Mac Pro doesn't have wireless and I can confirm that this does work for me. Wifi sync via the same router, and it's a Verizon router.
 
As others have posted, it's something about the router setup or possibly connecting to a "guest" wifi access on your router. Make sure it's set up not to prevent inter-device communications between wired & wireless clients.

Just checking, OP, you're not on a campus network or something, right? Those often do prevent device to device connections, and wired is usually on a different subnet from wireless as well.
 
Thanks for all your responses. While I do have a guest network, it has a different name and password and I'm certain that my iPhone isn't connecting to it. My computer and phone are definitely on the same network and are getting IP addresses from the same range.

My router is an AirPort Extreme with the latest firmware so there shouldn't be any incompatibilities there. It's a home network so there's no "security team" to block stuff :)

Any further suggestions?
 
No suggestions, just another data point - Airport Extreme and Mac Mini wired via Ethernet here, all works fine.
 
Nermal said:
Thanks for all your responses. While I do have a guest network, it has a different name and password and I'm certain that my iPhone isn't connecting to it. My computer and phone are definitely on the same network and are getting IP addresses from the same range.

My router is an AirPort Extreme with the latest firmware so there shouldn't be any incompatibilities there. It's a home network so there's no "security team" to block stuff :)

Any further suggestions?
Click to expand...

To be clear, you need to have your PC/Mac that you are synicing to connected to the same router that you are connecting your iPhone to via wifi.

If the above criteria has been met, what, exactly, is happening when you try to sync?
 
Yes, I'm connected to the same router. When I try to sync, I get "Sync will resume when "my computer's name" is available." and the Sync Now button is greyed out. If I turn on Wi-Fi on my computer then the button becomes available within seconds.
 
All of my home computers are connected over wifi, and wifi-sync seems to work. It's not very reliable though. Usually iTunes ends up getting some kind of error, and I have to go up to the computer and clear that error before it'll let me continue
 
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