Why does Airplay work via WiFi but not via Ethernet?

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Level 1

6 points

Why does Airplay work via WiFi but not via Ethernet?

Hi everyone,

I'm playing music via my Zeppelin for nearly two years now, everything worked fine. After moving (physically) and from a Windows 7 machine to an iMac I'm having extreme difficulties to access my B&W Zeppelin via Airplay.

The iMac is connected via ethernet cable to my cable providers modem/router (Technicolor TC7200), which also provides my home wlan. The Zeppelin is connected via wlan to the router.

When I connect to my lan via ethernet, the Airplay icon in iTunes turns orange and display that the zeppelin is not available. If I change the connection of the iMac to wifi, the airplay icon nearly immediately turns blue and I'm able to play music via airplay. If I turn wifi off, it changes back to orange. I already tried turning off IPv6 for the ethernet adapter but that didn't change anything.

Please help me to use airplay via ethernet!

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), Itunes 11.1.4 B&W Zeppelin Air

Posted on Feb 19, 2014 11:38 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

TimL. Author

Level 1

6 points

Feb 20, 2014 8:41 AM in response to TimL.

Turns out the suspicion that the problem is the router was correct. Switching the routers WMM setting for Wireless OFF did the trick. I have absolutely no clue why this is the case, but now I can use airplay via ethernet from my iMac.

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Answer 2

Chris CA

Level 10

82,476 points

Feb 19, 2014 3:02 PM in response to TimL.

Sounds like the firewall on the router blocks AirPlay from ethernet

Try turning off the firewall on the router for a moment and see if it works.

See this -> http://support.apple.com/kb/ts5209

Looks like there are 5 ports that AirPlay is used on.

See this -> http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1629 and on the router, unblock these ports on the ethernet connection.

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Answer 3

Feb 20, 2014 12:06 AM in response to TimL.

http://support.apple.com/kb/ts5209 says how to troubleshoot Airplay connections and mentions ethernet, so it looks as if you are correct and it should be possible, despite the wording of their main Airplay page. They suggest it may be firewall or security program blocking.

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Answer 4

Chris CA

Level 10

82,476 points

Feb 19, 2014 3:03 PM in response to sberman

sberman wrote:

I believe the key is in this article near the top, where it says: "AirPlay lets you wirelessly stream what's on your ..."

Seems he is trying to "wirelessly stream..." as he has done for years.

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Answer 5

sberman

Level 10

268,263 points

Feb 19, 2014 3:10 PM in response to Chris CA

I see your point. He did say when using the iMac's WiFi, it worked fine.

And he didn't tell us how the former Windows 7 machine was connected to the internet. We don't know if that was via WiFi or ethernet. I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that was via WiFi.

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Answer 6

Feb 19, 2014 3:12 PM in response to Chris CA

No, he says

When I connect to my lan via ethernet, the Airplay icon in iTunes turns orange and display that the zeppelin is not available. If I change the connection of the iMac to wifi, the airplay icon nearly immediately turns blue and I'm able to play music via airplay. If I turn wifi off, it changes back to orange.

Airplay isn't designed to work over ethernet.

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Answer 7

Feb 19, 2014 11:53 PM in response to Chris CA

I don't know whether it's different with an Apple TV - I suspect it may not count as Airplay. Of course I don't know of a specific announcement that Airplay doesn't work over ethernet, but it does say 'wirelessly' on the page for it; he's using an Airplay-capable device.

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Answer 8

TimL. Author

Level 1

6 points

Feb 19, 2014 11:57 PM in response to TimL.

Okay, it seems I still forgot some information. The old windows System was connected via ethernet to a switch, which was in turn connected to the router via ethernet. The connection from the router to the zeppelin was again wireless, as it is in the current setup. So the physical setup is nearly the same (without switch, different router). The statement, that airplay does not work via ethernet is I think one of the big fairy tales around airplay. Yes of course, you CAN use it completely wireless, but deep in your OS X system kernel, it's basically just another network connection, that supports the same networking protocols.

Chris CA, thanks for the hint with the router firewall. Yesterday evening I also read somewhere that router firewall might block the ports due to heavy broadcast traffic, so I switched off every piece of the router firewall. However that did not solve the problem.

Later today I will try to do the same thing from my MB running Mountain Lion to cross check the situation and of course report about the outcome. Until then I hope for more suggestions :-)

Almost forgot: The iMac is of course up-to-date, as is the Zeppelin.

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