Web pages load SLOW on IPad: how to disable DNS prefetching; other ideas?

Question

Level 1

9 points

Web pages load SLOW on IPad: how to disable DNS prefetching; other ideas?

Brand new IPad 16 GB WiFi + brand new Airport Extreme in bridge mode. Comparing IPad web page load speeds with side-by-side WinXP computer running IE8. Any web site will do: take www.apple.com if you want.

Problem: IPad web pages generally load much too slowly compared to IE8 on a computer 6 inches away on the same Airport Extreme network. Maybe twice as slow at worst, occasionally not much slower, but generally pathetic and annoying. WiFi signal strength is "excellent". Airport Extreme network is working great with all my (Windows) computers and devices except the IPad.

I already switched to OpenDNS on my Airport Extreme; didn't help noticeably. I would like to try disabling DNS prefetching in Safari, but don't know how to do it on the IPad. Question #1: How do I disable DNS prefetching? Question #2: Any other suggestions for this embarrassing (to Apple) problem?

ipad, Other OS

Posted on Sep 18, 2010 4:54 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 23, 2010 7:00 PM in response to dtsolutions

I'm having the same issue. I have a brand new iPad 64GB/3G and every web page stalls (some longer than others). I almost always have to hit stop and reload on the url bar to get the page to load.

My wife also has an ipad 64GB/3G and hers works perfect with no stalls. I've tested both ipads, side by side with all the same settings, same access point etc. and her laptop works fine with no stalls.

My ipad stalls on any access to the web, even when browsing apps in the the built in 'App Store' app.

I spent an hour on my ipad trying to log onto this forum and post a message but it failed to post (stalled). I finally gave up and went to my MBP (which works fine on the same wifi network with no stalls).

The only thing that I can think of is that I just installed an auto-update (via itunes) a couple of days ago and my wife did not. My ipad worked perfectly up until I installed the update.

Can anyone please help???

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Answer 2

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,747 points

Jan 27, 2011 2:21 PM in response to Doc_Holl1day

+"My wife also has the same iPad and hers works perfectly with both ipads side by side (she didn't perform the update). Her iPad doesn't stall at all!"+

System Reset:
Hold down the on/off switch and the Home button simultaneously until you see the Apple logo. Ignore the "Slide to power off" text if it appears.

Also, you might wish to download the 4.2 User Guide. Pay special attention to page 170.
http://support.apple.com/manuals/#ipad

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Answer 3

Oct 23, 2010 6:48 PM in response to dtsolutions

I'm having the same issues with my iPad 64GB 3G. I've tried changing DNS servers but has only helped marginally. I've only had this issue since installing an auto-update a couple of days ago.

My wife also has the same iPad and hers works perfectly with both ipads side by side (she didn't perform the update). Her iPad doesn't stall at all!

Not only do web pages stall (I often have to hit stop and reload), but any access to the web stalls such as searching and browsing apps on my iPad.

This is so frustrating to the point where I want to launch my iPad out the window. It took me an hour just to finally log into this forum and post this message. How embarrassing Apple!

Can anyone help please!!!

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Answer 4

Oct 9, 2016 9:03 PM in response to dtsolutions

I had the same problem on a 4th generation iPad. Webpages loaded really slow or not at all. Would try renewing my lease, rebooting iPad, clearing cache, etc. but nothing worked. Was driving me crazy and I spent a few days looking for solutions. Suspected that the problem was DNS Prefetching but there is no way I could find to disable it on the iPad or in the iOS version of Safari running on my iPad, and I also noticed that trying to access pages from Chrome had the same problem - verrrrrrry slow.

I have Charter internet (60Mb down/ 5Mb up) and a 4th generation Apple Airport time Capsule. I thought it might be the DNS Server that Charter was using so I went into the airport utility and repointed the DNS servers assigned by Charter to the OpenDNS servers (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.222.220) and it fixed the problem immediately. iPad now loads webpages nice and fast.

Easy fix. If others are still having this problem, try changing the DNS server(s) in your router away from the defaults used by your ISP and over to the OpenDNS servers instead.

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Answer 5

Sep 18, 2010 7:16 PM in response to dtsolutions

HI and welcome to Apple Discussions...

Try a different Airport channel.

Open AirPort Utility (Applications/Utilities)

Select the device you’re setting up on the left and then click Manual Setup. Enter the base station password if necessary.

Click AirPort in the toolbar, and then click Wireless.

Choose a new channel from the Channel pop-up menu.

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 6

dtsolutions Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 19, 2010 11:49 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Thanks for your suggestion. I tried two manual combinations for 2.4 and 5 GHz channels on the Airport Extreme. There was no noticeable change browsing apple.com and cnn.com as test sites. Actually the IPad seemed even slower today than it was yesterday, but that could be because I'm paying closer attention.

Does anyone else find it amusing that the main links on www.apple.com are vastly slower to load on my IPad than on my 2004-vintage WinXP laptop?

Doesn't anyone out there know how to disable DNS prefetching on the IPad, which is an Apple-recommended fix for the Safari browser on Mac and Windows computers?

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Answer 7

Oct 9, 2010 6:27 AM in response to lllaass

I've noticed this same thing - some websites load very slow on the wifi at the coffee shop I go to - but my home wifi on that same web page works fine - assuming it has to be something with the wifi settings. It is annoying for sure.

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Answer 8

acutlc

Level 1

0 points

Nov 28, 2010 2:15 PM in response to dtsolutions

Since I did the new update last Thursday all pages on my 3g wi-fi iPad have been very slow to load, no problems with pages loading prior to the update. You would think that the big update would have sped things up, not slowed everything down to snails pace.

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Answer 9

Azride

Level 1

0 points

Nov 29, 2010 8:42 AM in response to acutlc

Same problem. I updated to the 4.2 yesterday and now all web pages slow to load, this site the worst yet. It's so bad I am embarrassed to demo my iPad to those I had been bragging to about it's speed. I want to go back to previous version. Come on Apple, respond to this thread with a fix!

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Answer 10

Jan 16, 2011 7:11 AM in response to Azride

I've noticed this same behavior on my iPad as well. Some websites take forever tom load at the coffee shop I go to - so slow that I turn off wifi and use 3G as it loads them faster. But that same website loads fast on my home wifi - this has been this way for long time - nit sure the cause bur surely seems related to the wifi you are using.

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Answer 11

Jan 27, 2011 2:13 PM in response to dtsolutions

Somewhat (distantly) related. I'm a software engineer.

I used two different iPad's and an identical, 10kb html file (text only, no scripts/flash/images).

The iPad's load the file in 10 seconds from my Windows server but load the same file in 1 second from my Linux server.

Everything is equal. The servers are on the same machine and use the same provider connection. The iPad uses the same wifi. My DNS server handles both servers.

This only happens using iPad's. My Mac using the same wifi loads the same file in about 1 second from both servers (local DNS).

I'm not saying the iPad has a problem loading webpages from Windows servers but the core issue is probably the same.

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Answer 12

LouL

Level 1

4 points

May 26, 2011 1:44 PM in response to dickinscoll

I'm experiencing a similar problem with a new iPad 2 using iOS 4.3.3 connected to the Internet via Time Machine to a DSL line. The Speedtest X HD App shows the connection speed to be fine (about .6 Mb / s). The problem is only with accessing web pages. I frequently get a "server not responding" msg. There is no problem when I connect the device via USB to an iMac, only through wifi. The iMac itself (Intel with OSX 10.6.7) periodically experiences problems (both Firefox and Safari): I have learned to solve it by cleaning out cache and fixing disk permissions periodically. I've tried cleaning out cache on the iPad, deleting cookies and erasing web history, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. The problem reminds me of an old VNC problem: you had to allocate a large amount of cache or streaming would stall. This is also happening with the iPad 2. Maybe the problem is a DNS channel issue but my impression is that it is somehow related to a memory or cache issue with the iOS device or to Airport. I've occassionally experienced similar slow page loading problems with other Airport connected devices--it varies from device to device. It seems to be a client-side software or caching problem.

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Answer 13

Guy-CP

Level 1

5 points

Jul 30, 2011 9:53 PM in response to dtsolutions

Now I'm using an iPad 2 and noticed that most website loads quite quickly (just slightly slower than my iMac) but some website (mostly not a big name website) it tends to load exemely slowly or sometimes doesn't load it all. I think it is due to iPad ability to process the data or something.

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Answer 14

lllaass

Level 10

210,629 points

Sep 19, 2010 12:08 PM in response to dtsolutions

I do not think you can disable DNS prefetching on the iPad. I looked at the instruction for a Mac it requires doing it via terminal mode. You can't get into terminal mode on the iPad.

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Answer 15

Mar 15, 2011 2:50 AM in response to Doc_Holl1day

Seen your message on the apple support discussion board. Have you thrown your iPad out of the window yet or have you got a solution to the slow-loading problem? Thanks.....Sue

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