Señor Josué

Q: iCloud Photo Library upload killing internet connection

The new iCloud Photo Library is killing my cable internet connection. It will upload for a little while, greatly slowing down my internet access until eventually it just kills my connection. I have to reset my modem, and Photos will upload a bit more before grinding my connection to a halt again. This is ridiculous, and if I can't get it resolved I'm not going to use this "great new feature" and will stop paying for the extra storage, which I won't need if I go back to Photo Stream.

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Apr 13, 2015 7:37 AM

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Q: iCloud Photo Library upload killing internet connection

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  • by mayall,

    mayall mayall Apr 24, 2015 7:48 AM in response to mayall
    Level 1 (25 points)
    Apr 24, 2015 7:48 AM in response to mayall

    This workaround appears to help this widespread problem. If you'd like to pass along the fix, I've created a post:

     

    How to fix Apple Photos iCloud Photo Library upload using Network Link Conditioner

  • by Chris R.,

    Chris R. Chris R. Apr 25, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Señor Josué
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 10:59 AM in response to Señor Josué

    My internet connection was also killed by the upload process. However, to be clear, the upload was going just fine, but the process made all other internet activities impossible for the computer, and any other device on my network. I had a 280 GB Aperture library with about 46K pictures. It took a solid week, with much pausing and resuming in the Photos prefs, to complete. I'd definitely recommend this approach rather than just resetting your modem as some have suggested.

     

    Now that it's done, I haven't noticed any major slowdowns, but I'm guessing if I ever do a big import from a regular camera, my connection will be clobbered again. The Photos.app preferences could really use a throttle of some sort, where you can specify the max upload speed, and maybe even a time of day for the upload (like the middle of the night). Hopefully we'll see something like that in a future release.

     

    Good luck!

  • by Chris R.,

    Chris R. Chris R. Apr 25, 2015 11:01 AM in response to mayall
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 11:01 AM in response to mayall

    Whoa! Great find. This functionality should definitely be integrated into Photos, but this a solid workaround until then.

    mayall wrote:

     

    This workaround appears to help this widespread problem. If you'd like to pass along the fix, I've created a post:

     

    How to fix Apple Photos iCloud Photo Library upload using Network Link Conditioner

  • by lythaus,

    lythaus lythaus Apr 25, 2015 11:13 AM in response to Señor Josué
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 11:13 AM in response to Señor Josué

    For more context, here's Walt Mossberg's review of Photos -- he appears to have had the same problem, which Apple coyly called a "rare bug" (doesn't look so rare) and seems to have attributed to Mossberg's having used multiple versions of iPhoto over the years, and something about duplicate photos.

     

    https://recode.net/2015/04/14/review-photos-apples-replacement-for-iphoto/

     

    I had the same VERY maddening problem that everyone else is having -- as soon as I disabled iCloud's Photos mechanism, it stopped -- and this was after multiple calls to my ISP, a new DSL modem, a new router, many many speedtest, and hours of lost time.  On top of that, the Photo library didn't even finish uploading!  Very weak performance on Apple's part here -- seems like they didn't test it well at all.

     

    My ISP tech told me that the line had been saturated with upload data for weeks, which in fact *does* cause the download speed to slow to a crawl, because it's constantly being deprioritized.  That made me wonder which apps were trying to upload, which led me to Photos (which, of course, wasn't even open -- it was doing something or other invisibly in the background the whole time -- nice!).

     

    I left feedback at http://www.apple.com/feedback/. Hopefully they patch this.

  • by Chris R.,

    Chris R. Chris R. Apr 25, 2015 11:10 AM in response to lythaus
    Level 1 (50 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 11:10 AM in response to lythaus

    lythaus wrote:

     

    I left feedback, hopefully they patch this.

     

    Where do you do this? Usually it's in the app menu, but I don't see it there in Photos.

    Screen Shot 2015-04-25 at 11.10.13 AM.png

  • by lythaus,

    lythaus lythaus Apr 25, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Chris R.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 11:12 AM in response to Chris R.

    Same link people are posting above:  http://www.apple.com/feedback/

     

    Then you can navigate to Photos and leave it under there.

  • by Christopher P.,

    Christopher P. Christopher P. Apr 25, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Tim Bloom1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 25, 2015 2:51 PM in response to Tim Bloom1

    I spent the past week troubleshooting my issues with iCloud Photo Library. It's taken a while to narrow down possible causes. But now, partially thanks to this thread, I'm convinced there are certain modems, for whatever reason, that have issues with something Apple is doing during the library upload.

     

    The following modems have been used on my network (starting with the modem I've used for three years up to the current, working modem):

     

    1. Arris WBM760A (Texas Instruments)
    2. Technicolor TC8717C (Broadcom)
    3. Ubee DDM3513 (Texas Instruments)
    4. Arris/Motorola SB6141 (Texas Instruments)
    5. Zoom 5341J (Broadcom)

     

    With the WBM760A, I was having extremely high latency (>200ms; sometimes >10,000ms), packet loss (>50%), and ultimately a complete loss of traffic. The modem always recovered on its own, but this would happen every 10-30 minutes where traffic would stop for a minute or two then recover. I called Comcast support to have a tech sent out to help troubleshoot.

     

    The Comcast tech checked the line, which tested well within working parameters. He said he was convicted the modem was at fault. The first thing he tried was to swap out my WBM760A for the TC8717C. This resulted in much better latency (<100ms) and inconsequential packet loss (<1%) during upload. However, there were unknown issues getting the modem fully activated on my line, so he went to his second choice, the DDM3513. The DDM3513 was better than the WBM760A in that it never stopped passing traffic, but latency was still high (200ms–500ms).

     

    While the tech was working getting the modem up and running we discussed the pros and cons of renting vs. purchasing. This led me to decide to purchase, and I went with the SB6141 based on the tech's recommendation and positive reviews on the Internet. Unfortunately, it was as bad as the WBM760A and maybe even worse. Not only did traffic stop completely at times, the modem would often reboot without warning.

     

    So, I did a little more research into what differences there might be with the one modem that worked (TC8717C) and all the others. In this thread, I noticed most of the modems listed were Arris/Motorola. Additionally, the modems listed in this thread and those I tried use a Texas Instruments (TI) chipset, except for the TC8717C which uses a Broadcom chipset. It could have been coincidence but was worth further investigation.

     

    I decided to find a Broadcom-based modem that had good reviews and was available for retail purchase. The 5341J fit the bill perfectly, as it was highly recommended and Broadcom-based. So far, the modem is performing well. Latency is low (<100ms) and packet loss is negligible (<1%).

     

    Hope this information helps others.

  • by Bamboo33,

    Bamboo33 Bamboo33 Apr 28, 2015 5:29 PM in response to Señor Josué
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 28, 2015 5:29 PM in response to Señor Josué

    I had the same problem many years ago. Whenever I turned on my computer the whole internet connect just went dead. Finally nailed down to the iPhoto uploading (syncing) to the cloud. Turn it off. The idea is good but the syncing will take up all the bandwidth.

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy Apr 29, 2015 6:38 AM in response to Bamboo33
    Level 4 (1,195 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 29, 2015 6:38 AM in response to Bamboo33

    Bamboo33 wrote:

     

    I had the same problem many years ago. Whenever I turned on my computer the whole internet connect just went dead. Finally nailed down to the iPhoto uploading (syncing) to the cloud. Turn it off. The idea is good but the syncing will take up all the bandwidth.

     

    Only FIOS from Verizon (available in home in some areas) offers fast upload speed -- broadband is about download speed.

    One consideration when using ICLOUD to synchronize pictures across devices - only keep in the system photo library pictures you want to show other people.  Apple does tell you to back up your Photos on your device - means don't use ICLOUD as your only backup.  

     

    See these PHOTOS Apple support pages

     

    photo getting started

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204655

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204410

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

  • by jonschweitzer,

    jonschweitzer jonschweitzer Apr 29, 2015 7:16 AM in response to notcloudy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 29, 2015 7:16 AM in response to notcloudy

    One consideration when using ICLOUD to synchronize pictures across devices - only keep in the system photo library pictures you want to show other people.

    What is your basis for the above statement? While you make a good point about keeping a separate back-up of your photos, iCloud Photo Library is not intended solely as a means of storing a specific subset of one's photo library -- at least if you take Apple's marketing and support material at face value:

     

    "Access all your photos from anywhere."

    "iCloud Photo Library automatically keeps all your photos in the cloud..."

    "iCloud Photo Library stores every photo and video you take..."

    "iCloud Photo Library stores all of your original photos and videos in iCloud..."

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy Apr 29, 2015 3:51 PM in response to jonschweitzer
    Level 4 (1,195 points)
    Desktops
    Apr 29, 2015 3:51 PM in response to jonschweitzer

    jonschweitzer wrote:

     

    One consideration when using ICLOUD to synchronize pictures across devices - only keep in the system photo library pictures you want to show other people.

    What is your basis for the above statement? While you make a good point about keeping a separate back-up of your photos, iCloud Photo Library is not intended solely as a means of storing a specific subset of one's photo library -- at least if you take Apple's marketing and support material at face value:

     

    "Access all your photos from anywhere."

    "iCloud Photo Library automatically keeps all your photos in the cloud..."

    "iCloud Photo Library stores every photo and video you take..."

    "iCloud Photo Library stores all of your original photos and videos in iCloud..."

     

    Marketing is all flash and pop - and never shows the additional options.

     

    I base it on the Apple Support pages - on Iphoto (and also the ICLOUD one that says max size 1 terabyte.

    And its apple that is telling you to back them up.

     

    As to the ICLOUD - or any CLOUD there was an article on BBC tech including comments by Steve Wozniak - discussing the cloudy legal areas of the cloud. 

     

    photo getting started

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204655

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204410

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204264

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204414

  • by jonschweitzer,

    jonschweitzer jonschweitzer Apr 30, 2015 10:27 AM in response to notcloudy
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 30, 2015 10:27 AM in response to notcloudy

    Understood. As I said, Apple's marketing and support materials (from which I quoted) do not make any statements saying that iCloud is solely intended for a subset of one's photos -- quite the opposite, in fact. I'm on board with the rest of your statements.

  • by notcloudy,

    notcloudy notcloudy May 1, 2015 3:51 PM in response to jonschweitzer
    Level 4 (1,195 points)
    Desktops
    May 1, 2015 3:51 PM in response to jonschweitzer

    jonschweitzer wrote:

     

    Understood. As I said, Apple's marketing and support materials (from which I quoted) do not make any statements saying that iCloud is solely intended for a subset of one's photos -- quite the opposite, in fact. I'm on board with the rest of your statements.

    The fact that  you can have multiple PHOTO libraries --and  only The designated system library is synchronized means that you do not have to have all of your pictures and videos in the cloud.  

  • by H2Otoy,

    H2Otoy H2Otoy May 9, 2015 4:20 PM in response to lythaus
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 9, 2015 4:20 PM in response to lythaus

    ditto to all the points.  Iphoto needs to allow a qos style setting to keep from over running the carrier. In my case TWC. Two routers, two cable modems, and a service call later just to figure out that iphoto is overloading the system.  I appreciate the solution of a rate limiter. Now we need one that only applies to iphoto,

  • by galleywoodman,

    galleywoodman galleywoodman May 12, 2015 12:15 AM in response to Señor Josué
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 12, 2015 12:15 AM in response to Señor Josué

    Me too. My 'ping' goes from 18ms to over 400ms - making PC gaming impossible + FaceTime / Skype almost unworkable too. I'm now the most unpopular guy in the house (if I wasn't already ) - and have been requested by family members to uninstall the app many times!

     

    Seems to me that at the very least, there should be an option to set the uploads within specific times, e.g. midnight to 6am, then again during periods when everyone is at work or school. I appreciate that there is the pause / resume feature - but I'm not always at hand to make the switch, so much better if I could set the parameters once - then just leave it.

     

    Let's pray that the dev team are reading these posts and improve matters for a future release....

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