User profile for user: eternal_sunshine
eternal_sunshine Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

iOS devices causing high ping on internet connection

Hi guys,

I've been having this problem for the past two months or so. Whenever anybody in my household connects their iPhone4/4s/5 device to my WiFi network, I get insanely high ping spikes for a minute or two (sometimes it'll last as long as 10mins). It seems like only iOS devices seem to cause this problem, so far.

For example, this just happened a few minutes ago. I'm at home using a wired connection, my brother comes home, his iPhone connects to our WiFi network, and all of a sudden ping spikes:

Tracing route to www.google.ca [173.194.43.120]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 1424 ms 1440 ms 1467 ms 10.125.23.1
3 1538 ms 1544 ms 1327 ms 24.156.137.233
4 1448 ms 1457 ms 1099 ms 24.156.146.1
5 696 ms 803 ms 943 ms 69.196.136.68
6 911 ms 1014 ms 1168 ms 72.14.212.134
7 1113 ms 1124 ms 1045 ms 209.85.255.232
8 1216 ms 1107 ms 1089 ms 72.14.239.73
9 1336 ms 2964 ms 1522 ms 173.194.43.120

Trace complete.

Pings will then go back down, usually after a few minutes (5-10ish, sometimes longer).

Tracing route to www.google.ca [173.194.43.120]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.1.1
2 6 ms 7 ms 7 ms 10.125.23.1
3 13 ms 7 ms 16 ms 24.156.137.233
4 9 ms 12 ms 10 ms 24.156.146.1
5 10 ms 8 ms 9 ms 69.196.136.68
6 13 ms 9 ms 15 ms 72.14.212.134
7 19 ms 22 ms 12 ms 209.85.255.232
8 9 ms 14 ms 9 ms 72.14.239.73
9 21 ms 10 ms 8 ms 173.194.43.120

Trace complete.

If I block their devices from connecting to WiFi (using the MAC filtering), this issue never occurs. I tested it by blocking their devices mid-spike, and pings will immediately drop to normal levels.

Any ideas what's causing this? I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with my connection from the ISP or my networking hardware. Is it some of their apps downloading a bunch of stuff when entering WiFi range or something? Could it be the way I have WiFi set up on my router (ASUS RT-N66U)?

I'm pretty certain it's their iOS devices causing the problem.

Thanks for your assistance.

iPhone 4S

Posted on Sep 16, 2013 3:00 PM

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7 replies
User profile for user: lwgnlSeVeN
lwgnlSeVeN
User level: Level 1
9 points

Feb 23, 2014 7:26 AM in response to LennartRouw

I am glad that I found this information. Over 1 year ago, last christmas, we got 2 - Ipod touch 5 gen and for over 1 year, I have been experiencing lag spikes 1000ms+. I've called the cable company, ISP provider, nobody has any idea what is causing it. I'm a gamer and having these spikes all the time, at random times during the day, while playing games, is very annoying. It's been over a year that I have been dealing with it. Over the past few months, I too have noticed about 2 minutes after putting the ipod on charger, that it spikes and stays there for a few minutes, sometimes up to 10 minutes. The second that I unplug it, the ping returns to normal (22 ms)


The times that I'm not charging mine, and the ping spikes, perhaps the other ipod in the house has been connected to charger and left in stand by mode, also causing the same thing. I'm going to try charging only overnight when sleeping to see if the ping spiking goes away. I never experienced ANY ping spikes prior to getting the ipod touch 5, but ever since getting them, they have been a major pain with latency.

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User profile for user: LennartRouw
LennartRouw
User level: Level 1
5 points

Dec 12, 2013 7:54 AM in response to eternal_sunshine

Hello,


I have this same problem at my office.

My users started complaining about slow internet. Everyday around 3pm.

After checking, internet was indeed very slow. And pinging to google.com caused pings of ± 2000 ms.


After some while (totally random) I discovered that my iPhone 4s was causing this.

Everyday around 3pm I connected my iPhone to my iMac because the battery was getting low.

Now I just tested, and it's not about the connection from iPhone to iMac.

The problem is iPhone being on charger while in stand-by mode.


I just did some "extensive" testing.

Whenever the iPhone would be on charger and in stand-by mode, after exactly 2 minutes my ping would raise up to between 1000 and 2000 ms. Staying in stand-by mode, this would continue at least 10 minutes.

As soon as I would get the iPhone out of stand-by mode, the ping would immediately drop again to the normal 22 ms. While in "normal" working mode, the ping would remain 22 ms. Putting the iPhone in stand-by again...you can guess it, exactly 2 minutes later the ping would immensely increase again. I have repeated this tests 20 times, and everytime the same result. No difference if the iPhone would be charged through the iMac, or just at wall AC.


So something in the iPhone is causing it to create very high ping while in stand-by mode.


EDIT: As stated, the combination that is causing high ping is stand-by mode + being charged.

I have also tested while being on same Wi-Fi in stand-by mode, but not being charged, and this causes no abnormal behavior.



Hopefully someone knows what could be causing this?

If anyone needs more information or testing, please let me know.


Thanks in advance for anyone who could help out here.


Message was edited by: LennartRouw

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iOS devices causing high ping on internet connection

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