Why are my IPads so much slower than my IMac?

[#1]

Hello,

I have done extensive testing and the results are my iPads get only 1/3 the internet speed of my imac. The iMac get between 70-80 mbps and the iPads 15-25 MBps.

Setting and hardware: iMac is 1.5 years old, big screen. IPads tested are the iPad 2, the iPad air, and a mini. Latest OS updates installed. All testing took place in the same location, with ipads same distance from the routers as the iMac (about two feet). Routers tested are the actiontec mi424wr (2.4 ghz) and the cisco ea3500 dual band.

Modes and setups tested: qos/mms enabled vs. disabled. N only vs. multiple n/g/b etc. 2.4ghz vs. 5ghz (w separate ssid to confirm connection) vs. regular dual mode....5ghz tested only on cisco since the actiontec is not dual mode.

In the beginning I was using a couple test sites then decided to stick with one to be consistent...speedtest.net.

So no matter what combination and setup as explained above, the iPads sitting right next to the iMac always get in the range of 15-25 Mbps while the iMac enjoys 75-80 mbps.

My inet provider is verizon fios 75 up/25 down. All test speeds im discussing above are upload. Not much difference between the iPad and the mini was tested less than the 2 and Air fwiw.

So is this to be expected? Is there just a hardware difference? Does anyone get above say 30 Mbps on an iPad?

Thanks for any input I hope i covered everything.

[#2]

I have FiOS 75/35 with an Actiontec Rev I router.

If I run a test with the speedtest.net app on an iPad 2 in the same room as the router, I get 42 mb/s down and 30 mb/s up.

That's a little better than what you're experiencing but still not as good as I see on a Windows laptop or a MacBook Pro in the same location.  With either of those other devices I max out at slightly over 75/35 mb/s.

I'm assuming the issue is a hardware limition in the iPad 2.

Afterthought....

I get almost exactly the same results with my iPhone 5s.

[#3]

Thanks. I have a similar thread over on the apple boards to get the view of ipad expertise...a recent reply said they get 55-60 Mbps down per speedtest.net fwiw. Other than that, i havent had much other input. It does sound like we are in the same situation.

[#4]

Our results do sound similar.  For me, the speeds I get on the iOS devices are good enough for what I used them for, and we all know that Steve's legacy was to not allow any performance tweaking of those devices. 

[#5]

curious if you have WEP incryption or WPA2? if it is WEP you should change it to WPA2 for best performance.

[#6]

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@JoeMan wrote:
curious if you have WEP incryption or WPA2? if it is WEP you should change it to WPA2 for best performance.

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Not sure if you're asking me or the original poster, but in my case, I definltely have WPA2 enabled.  The perfomance improvement is a plus but I care more about the signifcant security improvement.

 

[#7]

Ok just curious, I have seen some performance issues with iOS devices on WEP recently is all. Not clear what your continued problem is yet. Are all of your wifi devices wireless N?

[#8]

WPA2, as dictated by the routers and needed to run n-only. Btw one of my tests was mixed vs. n-only with WPA2. Yes, the iPad 2, iPad Air, and iPad mini are all n capable and connect when set to n-only.

[#9]

And let me point one thing out....on the iPads I have changed nothing at all except choosing different networks. I know of no adjustments or settings on these client devices that would affect the internet speed.

[#10]

have you seen this thread?

https://discussions.apple.com/message/15065064#15065064