Help - iphone/pad wifi speeds VERY slow

[sns26]

I am about to quit FIOS because their Actiontec router serves my iphone and iPad incredibly badly. I've paid for the highest speed service with FIOS, and I get it...via wires. And sometimes via wireless--I typically get >70Mbps on my laptop's wireless connection.

BUT I routinely get 1-2 Mbps on my iphone and ipad. I sometimes get 4MBps. At 1-2MBps I can't reliably do facetime, which is important to me because I travel a lot and want to see my kids.

My setup:

iphone 4s

iPad 2

Max speed FIOS, Actiontec MI424WR Rev I

Macbook Core 2

I've tried a lot of things:

1. Disabling WMM/QOS on the Actiontec router

2. Switching the Actiontec from 802.11a/b/g/n to a/b/g only and to N only (in N-only mode, the iphone couldn't connect at all because it doesn't support the necessary WPA2 standard) 

3. Resetting network settings on the phone

4. Restarting router

5. Using an Airport Extreme to provide the wireless signal (5th gen AEBS into a LAN port on the Actiontec router, and put the AEBS in bridge mode. In this configuration, macbook wireless and wired connections operated >50Mbps, while iphone/ipad connections remained slowed).

6. Calling Verizon - the tech was totally unhelpful

7. Playing with security settings on the router - WEP/WPA

8. Connecting via an AEBS wifi with security turned off on the AEBS (I can't do that with the Actiontec)

NONE of this works. Speed is important to me because I travel a lot and use facetime to see my kids. Can anyone help…please!

[smith6612]

The iPhone 4s does support WPA2 AES security. I use that at home even though I don't have Wireless N here and our 4s is able to get on without a problem. You may want to investigate updating your phone's software if you have iOS 6.0.0 installed. Apple released 6.0.1 a few days ago which solves some issues with the iPhone 5 that may also apply to iPhone 4s. If you have Wireless N routers, you should be using this. Otherwise, I can see why you'll have slow speed. WMM is also a requirement of the 802.11n standard.

Also, WPA2 AES has better hardware processing over WEP/WPA for higher speeds. You may wish to get WPA2 up and running. The AirPort should be hands down a better unit over the Rev. I as far as Wireless performance goes, but if need be try the Rev. I once again in both Compatibility and Performance modes for Wireless N.

Keep in mind too, the iPhone 4s is limited to the Wireless radio in it. I believe it locks at a speed of 150Mbps and can accomplish around 60Mbps in ideal conditions.

[tarnovean]

any luck fixing your wifi speed issues? I am having the same problems and verizon is no help.

[tarnovean]

any luck fixing your wifi speed issues? I am having the same problems and verizon is no help.

[ShawnWCummings1]

This thread stood out to me because even when I had Xfinity, my i-products tended to max out at 1M... I don't know why - but that always seemed to be their top speed... Even tested with D-Link, Cisco (consumer router) & Netgear.

Might be worth seeing if IOS limits the speed for battery sake.

[DutchFIOS]

So, I'm not the only one who's noticed slow Apple devices on the Verizon FIOS wifi at home.
I first noticed slowness last week when I was downloading a full size APOD file, which normally takes about four seconds and is now taking nearly a minute.
I find it very odd that an iPhone 4, & 5, and an iPad 2 all get less than 2Mbs downloads and about 4.5Mbs uploads. My two wifi Windows 7 PCs get around 12mbs down and around 5Mbs up. My FOS is a 15/5 connection.
What is odd is that, looking at my Ookla speedtest results, in June my iPhone 4 was getting downloads at 12Mbs and a month later it's crawling at less than 2.
Same router, same OSs. Tomorrow Verizon's coming out to replace the router, after I spent nearly an hour with a pretty good Verizon tech and his backups yesterday.
I haven't tried wifi in a public place like McDonalds or Starbucks with my iPhone 4. That's a thought, and at least I may find out if its Verizon or my three portable Apple devices.

[RobTinVA]

DutchFios, did replacing the router improve your iOS speeds?

[eljefe2]

You may not get a reply in response to a 6 month old post, but FWIW, I have an Actiontec Rev I router and this is what I see on my iPhone 5s:

I have the 75/35 plan.   Other devices (Windows PC or MacBook Pro) on the same wifi router see better speeds but for the iPhone this is good enough for me.