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Smileyboy

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
1,148
131
I need a little bit of help with Verizon Wi-Fi calling. First a little bit about my set up. My Comcast service is the Blast service more than enough for what I need.
I have a 2012 apple extreme router I also have a 2013 Apple time capsule.
The devices running on my network is
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo 3DS
2 iPhones
3 iPads
2 MacBooks
2 Apple TVs
And a few Apple watches

My Wi-Fi calling has always stuttered. I occasionally have issues streaming. Even though my Apple TVs are hardwired. I’m trying to figure out if Wi-Fi calling is that unstable or if it may be time to upgrade my routers.

I’m thinking of upgrading to the latest time capsules/extreme. Or getting a WiFi mesh network.

Thank you.
 
The latest Airport Extreme tech specs suggest a concurrent device count of 50 is supported. I presume the older models were around the same number, but perhaps a bit less but likely not the issue..

What sort of speeds are you seeing on the iPhone through WiFi?

What kind of bandwidth specifically is your Comcast service? One of the downsides of the cable Internet service is that it's a shared service with your neighbors, so while you might not be taking up a ton of bandwidth, your neighbor's use might have an effect on your speeds..

You should model your general upload / download speeds to see if there are lot of dips/valley's that make streaming hard.

Also, for pure streaming Netflix (or similar services) you are focused on just the download speed, but for WiFi calling/Skype/FaceTime, you care about both download and upload and Comcast always had crappy upload speed as compared to download..
 
So this is what I wqas able to get from my network.
 

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Your upload, download and ping times are fine. Have you tried a jitter test? That's probably where your problem lies.

Also - does your Wi-Fi Calling work well outside of your house?
 
So my jitter test performed on dslreports got me grades of F's and E's. What does this mean and how do I fix it?:cool:
 
Jitter means that your data packets are arriving at varying rates. It's as though your ping times are constantly changing. Wikipedia has a more precise definition:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitter#Packet_jitter_in_computer_networks

This is almost certainly a Comcast problem. Before contacting them, I'd suggest the following, just to rule out your equipment:
Attach one of your Macs directly to your cable modem with an Ethernet cable. (You'll need to reboot the cable modem and your Mac.) Then, redo the dslreports jitter test. I think you'll probably get the same results.
You might also run this Comcast test:
https://speedexperience.xfinity.com/
I don't know if this test can detect jitter, but if it does, it will be a help when you contact Comcast.

Assuming your Mac, when directly attached to your cable modem, continues to show jitter, you'll want to contact Comcast for resolution. You can call Comcast support, but I think you'll get faster results from either the dslreports Comcast Direct Forum:
https://www.dslreports.com/forum/comcastdirect
or the reddit Comcast forum:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Comcast_Xfinity/

Both those forums should get you hooked up with Comcast support that is more competent than the Level 1 script readers you'll get on phone support.
 
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