In reply to a post by hk11:

it would be nice to have some answers.

First you have to ask the right questions.

It doesn't seem to matter what I ask, in the main, folk just answer what they *think* is the question.

Tell me what part of my original question I need to rephrase in order to get an answer appertaining to the subject line.

Does this mean 144Mbps is the only limit on Wifi speed?

I think that people have been more than patient in answering that question.

The question that you haven't asked is "Is my iPad's upload speed abnormally low?". And, until you do the appropriate tests no-one will be able to give you a reliable answer.

The other question that you haven’t asked is “Does it matter if my iPad’s upload speed is a bit slow?”. Without knowing what you need to upload there’ no answer to that one either.

Edited by TinyMongomery (Thu 10-Aug-23 15:08:23)

Thanks.

What are the "appropriate tests"?

At the risk of repeating what you have been told several times already, you need to measure the upload and download speeds to a server on your network. If you don’t know how to do that then it’s time to stop worrying about something unimportant that you can’t measure.

It’s certainly time that I stopped wasting time on this non-problem.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Strange that the wireless signals are only affected on the one (type) of device, as per the subject.

What wireless standard is the router, does it have 1, 2,3 or 4 antennas?
What wireless standard is your iPad, does it have multiple antennas?
What wireless standard is your iMac, does it have multiple antennas?


I have a Three branded pocket mobile broadband router that has only one antenna and supports WiFi 4 (802.11n) which means a Physical rate of maximum 72 Mbps. In some areas of the UK the Three network can easily provide 200+ Mbps over 4G. That device never managed to go any faster than 45 Mbps.

WiFi is seriously complicated, and if you want to know more read the small net builder site in the US….. you can’t say a 144 Mbps device (any WiFi 4 device with 2 antennas) is slow because it doesn’t get close to 100 Mbps.

You can only make that assertion with fixed line Ethernet. (Or Token Ring if you’re Pheasant)

The THG3000 does 2.4 and 5. Not sure how many aerials it has. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XBUXOMkLO6w May help?
The ipad uses 5 not sure about aerials. I asume from https://www.ifixit.com/Parts/iPad/Antennas it only has the one.
Not sure about the iMac.f

So what do you consider slow for a 144Mbps device?

I'd rather keep fixed line out of the equation ....... For now.

Edited by hk11 (Thu 10-Aug-23 20:35:15)

In reply to a post by hk11:

The THG3000 does 2.4 and 5. Not sure hiw many aerials it has.
The ipad uses 5 not sure about aerials.
Not sure about the iMac.

So what do you consider slow for a 144Mbps device?

I'd rather keep fixed line out of the equation ....... For now.

The frequencies (2.4 GHz and 5 GHz) are important when using Apple devices, as Apple limits the 2.4 GHz to only 20 MHz wide, whereas on 5 GHz you can have wider bands, 40 MHz on WiFi 4 (N), and 80 MHz on WiFi 5 (AC). The THG3000 was reviewed by TrustedReviews whom managed over 180 Mbps through the router. The unit is WiFi 5 (AC) capable as it is also provided for use with their full fibre services, so 500 or 900 Mbps. It most likely has 3 antennas, maybe 4. Unfortunately all internal means it is not visible unlike third party makes such as ASUS.

Due to physics, 5 GHz has less range. You might find if you force your iPad to the 5GHz connection and you are in the same room as the THG3000 you MAY get faster speeds.

The iPad Air 1 has the Apple A7 CPU which was their first 64bit chip. The unit went on sale 10 years ago, and Apple stopped supporting in 2016, it runs iOS 12.5.6 at the highest, and todays current release is 16.6

It was the first iPad to support two antennas in use at the same time, so the theoretical throughput speed increased from 72 Mbps to 144 Mbps. To get the highest speeds on an iPad with WiFi 4 (N) electronics your router needs to support 5GHz mode with two channels transmitting for 40 MHz.

Throughput across WiFi is very hard to test. WiFi 4 (N) is old and so when two devices transmit at the same time, even if one is in your house and one in your neighbours house, and they are talking to different routers, they will both get slower throughput. In busy homes with lots of family members all using the WiFi at the same time, even with an internet connection of 500 Mbps (e.g. Virgin Cable) a WiFi 4 (N) network would slow down and everyone on the network would get less good performance. WiFi 5 (AC) and WiFi 6 (AX) provide methods to solve this problem, but each end of the link (router, and device) need to be 5 or higher.

This guy (Tim Higgins) does WiFi throughput testing properly, he has a proper test lab and lots of routers. You can see from his reports that the speeds he gets in the lab are nowhere near the marketing numbers BUT the newer versions of WiFi are making huge jumps in the capacity and throughput. So you have to read the 144 as a guide number against other WiFi devices that support 72 or 300, 600 or even 3200. Not to compare against fixed line.

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-fe...

Interesting, but it all seems to add extra questions rather than provide any real answers.

The average user isn't going to know any of this.

Figures and comparisons seem very limited. I can't even get basic power consumption figures for the THG3000 compared to Plusnet's Hub Two for example.

In reply to a post by hk11:

Interesting, but it all seems to add extra questions rather than provide any real answers. The average user isn't going to know any of this.

The average user works with what they’ve bought, or buys something newer.

The average IT professional with 25 years in the business, a BCS membership and Chartered status isn’t going to know how WiFi works. As I said it is insanely complicated and specialist.

Figures and comparisons seem very limited. I can't even get basic power consumption figures for the THG3000 compared to Plusnet's Hub Two for example.

ISP provided equipment is usually poorly documented. Third party products that sell in the USA often provide data to the US regulator (FCC). Sometimes you can look up information at WiFi Alliance’s pages.