All iPads Worth it to upgrade router?

[td1439]

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, but it seems like it would have the biggest effect on my iPad use at home, so I'm sticking it here.

I currently have a Linksys WRT54G router, and it's super dependable. But I just realized that both the 4S and the iPad 2 are 802.11n compatible (yes, I know 2011 called to say hi, har har).

Has anyone here upgraded to an -n router and seen a noticeable difference in wifi performance out of their 4S or iPad 2?

 

[II BISTRO II]

I wasn't entirely sure where to post this, but it seems like it would have the biggest effect on my iPad use at home, so I'm sticking it here.

I currently have a Linksys WRT54G router, and it's super dependable. But I just realized that both the 4S and the iPad 2 are 802.11n compatible (yes, I know 2011 called to say hi, har har).

Has anyone here upgraded to an -n router and seen a noticeable difference in wifi performance out of their 4S or iPad 2?

well, it depends. How fast is your internet from your service provider? if it tops out at 20 mbps then you wont benefit from an -n router

if you get around 50mbps from your provider then yes, you will benefit and notice a speed increase (at least i did when i upgraded my service from 25 to 50 mbps and got an -n router)

 

[Donka]

Don't just consider your ISP speeds. How do you use your network at home? If you move files around a lot, have a lot of connected devices or do things like sharing movies over your network then upgrading your router will bring benefits.

 

[JoshS]

I'd hold off till the Tuesday ipad announcement. The latest wifi spec is AC which is naturally faster than N. If the new iPads come equipped with 802.11AC support and you're considering getting one, then you should look at an AC router instead of N which is already "old" technology.

 

[TmanATL]

doesn't the max speed also depend on your internet MODEM? so even if your router is new and fancy, but you have an old modem, it won't matter?

 

[Breitling65]

I'd hold off till the Tuesday ipad announcement. The latest wifi spec is AC which is naturally faster than N. If the new iPads come equipped with 802.11AC support and you're considering getting one, then you should look at an AC router instead of N which is already "old" technology.

I would suggest latest Airport Extreme for this, it made big difference overall in my home network. I use to run FIOS wifi router which is crap and caused lots of instability while watching Apple TV, not anymore I hope new iPad will support AC...

 

[Carlanga]

I'd hold off till the Tuesday ipad announcement. The latest wifi spec is AC which is naturally faster than N. If the new iPads come equipped with 802.11AC support and you're considering getting one, then you should look at an AC router instead of N which is already "old" technology.

Would be a waste of extra money for the TS. If the OP lived fine w/ G I can imagine N is more than sufficient especially considering most of the devices owned are up to N.



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TS get one w/ dual band, so devices don't hog and you can run N devices better. Also will have better distance so stronger signal.

 

[Macalway]

I was considering the new AC spec for the 5 if it has it, for use with Remote Desktop, which my Ipad 4 is good at, but there's always room for improvement.

I'm not sure this new spec is mature enough though, to really benefit from an upgrade from the n spec.

Don't have a clue

 

[takeshi74]

doesn't the max speed also depend on your internet MODEM? so even if your router is new and fancy, but you have an old modem, it won't matter?

Already addressed above. For internet connectivity, yes. For LAN connectivity it's irrelevant.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

If the question is ipad-centric, I'd say the speed increase would have no noticeable effect. That goes for both internal (LAN) and Internet (WAN).

I'd be interested to hear what folks are doing with iPads that uses enough bandwidth to benefit from such an upgrade.

 

[Night Spring]

I'd be interested to hear what folks are doing with iPads that uses enough bandwidth to benefit from such an upgrade.

Wifi syncing. Could make a big difference if you are trying to sync a two-hour movie.

 

[Mr. Buzzcut]

Wifi syncing. Could make a big difference if you are trying to sync a two-hour movie.

Is this just an assumption or have you seen transfer rates when saving to the slow flash drive? I know I can't saturate USB 2 when transferring to mine.

Seems like a lot of folks overestimate the amount of bandwidth they really use outside of speed tests.

 

[Night Spring]

Is this just an assumption or have you seen transfer rates when saving to the slow flash drive? I know I can't saturate USB 2 when transferring to mine.

Seems like a lot of folks overestimate the amount of bandwidth they really use outside of speed tests.

Just an assumption, but is flash storage really so slow that an increase in wifi throughput doesn't affect file transfer speed? I find that hard to believe.

EDIT: To elaborate, right now, if I connect my iPad to the computer with a USB cable, and transfer a file from computer to iPad, it copies a lot faster than if I do the transfer over wifi. So I assume that if the wifi speed is faster, then wifi transfer can go faster, up to the limit, which would be the speed of the USB cable transfer.

 

[td1439]

well, it depends. How fast is your internet from your service provider? if it tops out at 20 mbps then you wont benefit from an -n router

if you get around 50mbps from your provider then yes, you will benefit and notice a speed increase (at least i did when i upgraded my service from 25 to 50 mbps and got an -n router)

What's the most reliable way to test internet speed? My "Local Area Connection Status" window is showing 100 mbps - not sure how accurate that is, although I am supposedly near one of Comcast's big hubs.

In terms of connected devices, I'm looking at 2 iP4S's, the iPad, and occasionally my wife's laptop. Prior to upgrading my iPad to iOS7, it was jailbroken and I used Movie Box, mostly to watch Game of Thrones. I did notice that it would do a lot of buffering at times, although I don't know if the issue was on their end or mine.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

 

[II BISTRO II]

What's the most reliable way to test internet speed? My "Local Area Connection Status" window is showing 100 mbps - not sure how accurate that is, although I am supposedly near one of Comcast's big hubs.

In terms of connected devices, I'm looking at 2 iP4S's, the iPad, and occasionally my wife's laptop. Prior to upgrading my iPad to iOS7, it was jailbroken and I used Movie Box, mostly to watch Game of Thrones. I did notice that it would do a lot of buffering at times, although I don't know if the issue was on their end or mine.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

wired connection, speediest.net

post results

 

[Rhyalus]

What is the max you guys are seeing on the iPads?

I have about 100mb down and 15 up wired... I have wireless n and the pc's are close to max speed.

Ipad 4 is usually around 35 down and 15 up wireless.

R

 

[Menel]

What's the most reliable way to test internet speed? My "Local Area Connection Status" window is showing 100 mbps - not sure how accurate that is, although I am supposedly near one of Comcast's big hubs.

In terms of connected devices, I'm looking at 2 iP4S's, the iPad, and occasionally my wife's laptop. Prior to upgrading my iPad to iOS7, it was jailbroken and I used Movie Box, mostly to watch Game of Thrones. I did notice that it would do a lot of buffering at times, although I don't know if the issue was on their end or mine.

Thanks everyone for the replies.

That reading is just link speed from PC to Router/Modem. That has nothing to do with link through ISP.

What carrier and package do you pay for?

Use speedtest.net

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What is the max you guys are seeing on the iPads?

I have about 100mb down and 15 up wired... I have wireless n and the pc's are close to max speed.

Ipad 4 is usually around 35 down and 15 up wireless.

R

That sounds like the iPad 4 is running in only single stream N.

A 2x2 MIMO two stream N should in theory be able to hit at least 70mbps speedtest, if not 100 like your wired.

Which frequency band N?
What access point?

edit: here's a vid comparing last gen iPad 3 with single stream N, to the iPad 4/Mini with dual stream N.

Notice 35 vs. 65+ mbps speedtest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hM9kLsjaH9Q#t=80 skip to 0:40

You will only get this if your ISP gives you that much bandwidth. Sounds like Rhyalus's does, the OP's is still under question.

 

[td1439]

That reading is just link speed from PC to Router/Modem. That has nothing to do with link through ISP.

What carrier and package do you pay for?

Use speedtest.net

Sorry for the delay in getting back, been busy as hell. Speedtest.net showed tests of 25, 26, and 28 mbps download speed.

We have Comcast, pretty sure it's the basic tier.

 

[Menel]

Sorry for the delay in getting back, been busy as hell. Speedtest.net showed tests of 25, 26, and 28 mbps download speed.

We have Comcast, pretty sure it's the basic tier.

Thats pretty dang good for G. By all accounts G should be limiting your speedtest to around 22.

You might get more speed, more reliable speed out of N. Your definitely pushing your G router to the limits.

But to what effect. 25 is already very fast internet. You wont notice any real world performance, webpages wont be faster, iTunes downloads should already be fast. It will be an unnoticeable to minor improvement.

My advice, skip N, wait until AC routers come down more in price and you begin to have AC devices. The beamforming technology they utilize will do more for range and useability.

 

[td1439]

Thats pretty dang good for G. By all accounts G should be limiting your speedtest to around 22.

You might get more speed, more reliable speed out of N. Your definitely pushing your G router to the limits.

But to what effect. 25 is already very fast internet. You wont notice any real world performance, webpages wont be faster, iTunes downloads should already be fast. It will be an unnoticeable to minor improvement.

My advice, skip N, wait until AC routers come down more in price and you begin to have AC devices. The beamforming technology they utilize will do more for range and useability.

Sounds good, thanks for the info!

 

[biosci]

Does only the latest 'tower' Apple Airport Extreme support MIMO devices or did the older ones do so as well? We usually upgrade our router 2-3 years. We were thinking this new Airport would be a huge upgrade over the previous one but we don't have any AC devices yet. Maybe when AppleTVs and iPhones/iPads become AC. So next year we'll probably upgrade.

As for that modem. We get a lot of 'drops' in service from Comcast and have to reset or power cycle frequently. The modem is 6 years old when we moved in our home. Should I be calling comcast for a replacement or 'newer' model. Does that even make a difference?

 

[td1439]

Sounds good, thanks for the info!

Check that - the original speedtest results I posted were from my desktop. Derp. I installed the speedtest app on my phone, and I got wildly varying results, partly because the server the app selected was nowhere near to me. When I selected the closest server manually, I got speeds of 18-20 mbps.

Another consideration: I am planning to take advantage of this Target doorbuster deal on Black Friday and get an Air. Also, in about 10 months, when our contracts are up, my wife and I are probably going to be upgrading to the iPhone 5S.

I looked into our Comcast package and we're on the Performance tier, which says speeds up to 25 mbps. I'd love to upgrade but we're already sending them an absurd amount of money each month.

 

[shadowyman]

This is what I am getting with my new airport express and comcast and ipad rmini

And yesterday before the upgrade:

 

[Menel]

Check that - the original speedtest results I posted were from my desktop. Derp. I installed the speedtest app on my phone, and I got wildly varying results, partly because the server the app selected was nowhere near to me. When I selected the closest server manually, I got speeds of 18-20 mbps.

Another consideration: I am planning to take advantage of this Target doorbuster deal on Black Friday and get an Air. Also, in about 10 months, when our contracts are up, my wife and I are probably going to be upgrading to the iPhone 5S.

I looked into our Comcast package and we're on the Performance tier, which says speeds up to 25 mbps. I'd love to upgrade but we're already sending them an absurd amount of money each month.

Thats more like what Id expect, as I said, in real world conditions 802.11 maxes at around 22mbps at the user/application level.

My advice doesnt change though. The difference in 18-20 and 25 wouldnt necessarily be enough for me to upgrade.

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Does only the latest 'tower' Apple Airport Extreme support MIMO devices or did the older ones do so as well? We usually upgrade our router 2-3 years. We were thinking this new Airport would be a huge upgrade over the previous one but we don't have any AC devices yet. Maybe when AppleTVs and iPhones/iPads become AC. So next year we'll probably upgrade.

As for that modem. We get a lot of 'drops' in service from Comcast and have to reset or power cycle frequently. The modem is 6 years old when we moved in our home. Should I be calling comcast for a replacement or 'newer' model. Does that even make a difference?

2008 Airport Express. 2.4ghz or 5ghz, not both simultaneously. 2x2 MIMO like new iPads.

2012 Airport Express. Simultaneous 2.4 and 5ghz. 2x2 MIMO, like new iPads. Will do 300mbps link speed.

Airport Extreme, last gen, N. Simultaneous 2.4 and 5ghz. 3x3 MIMO. Will do 450 mbps link speed with a 3x3 device like Macbook.

Airport Extreme new gen, adds AC. Beamforming. Still 3x3. Will do 1300mbps link with a 3x3 AC devixe like Macbook, 433mbps speed with a 1x1 ac device like an old HTC One.

I suspect your modem is failing.

 

[AppleFan360]

I would highly recommend the latest gen Apple AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule. It made a huge difference in the speeds I get at home. Much more reliable connections as well.