Help me fix a slow iphone on wifi
January 3, 2016 1:55 PM Subscribe
My wife's iphone is slow on our home wifi network but fine everywhere else. Our other 3 ios devices also have no issues. I've run out of ideas. Does anyone else know how I can fix this?
She has an iphone 6 with the latest ios. We have a Bell Home Hub modem. Based on info found on various websites I've tried the following:
- forced restart
- forget wifi network
- reset lease
- disables wifi network services
- reset network settings
- set a custom DNS
- restore and set up as new iphone
None of these worked. Or to be more specific, after doing this the wifi would work for maybe 10 seconds and stop again. The only thing that worked consistently was to reset my modem. It would usually work for a couple months, but now that's stopped working too. I'm at a loss. Any ideas?
And I just want to reiterate that every other ios and/or wifi enabled device we use works just fine and her phone works great on cellular and other wifi networks. So it seems to be something with our network, but what?
She has an iphone 6 with the latest ios. We have a Bell Home Hub modem. Based on info found on various websites I've tried the following:
- forced restart
- forget wifi network
- reset lease
- disables wifi network services
- reset network settings
- set a custom DNS
- restore and set up as new iphone
None of these worked. Or to be more specific, after doing this the wifi would work for maybe 10 seconds and stop again. The only thing that worked consistently was to reset my modem. It would usually work for a couple months, but now that's stopped working too. I'm at a loss. Any ideas?
And I just want to reiterate that every other ios and/or wifi enabled device we use works just fine and her phone works great on cellular and other wifi networks. So it seems to be something with our network, but what?
One more thing: do you have a wifi repeater that could be causing the phone to use the slower network instead?
posted by techSupp0rt at 2:22 PM on January 3, 2016
posted by techSupp0rt at 2:22 PM on January 3, 2016
Response by poster: To answer your questions:
- the modem and router are one device, so that probably clears up the other router question.
- don't think I have the option of changing frequencies, but I'll double check.
- no cover.
- no wifi repeater.
posted by trigger at 2:35 PM on January 3, 2016
- the modem and router are one device, so that probably clears up the other router question.
- don't think I have the option of changing frequencies, but I'll double check.
- no cover.
- no wifi repeater.
posted by trigger at 2:35 PM on January 3, 2016
What kind of modem do you have?
I look at issues like this all the time at work and would be happy to try to work this out for you. Knowing what kind of modem would help a lot
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:53 PM on January 3, 2016
I look at issues like this all the time at work and would be happy to try to work this out for you. Knowing what kind of modem would help a lot
posted by kinddieserzeit at 2:53 PM on January 3, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks, kinddieserzeit. The modem/router is the one that came from my ISP. From what I can gather, it is made by Sagemcom. But that's all I have.
posted by trigger at 3:03 PM on January 3, 2016
posted by trigger at 3:03 PM on January 3, 2016
Just taking a stab at guessing-does the iPhone have any 'content-blockers'?
posted by prk60091 at 3:47 PM on January 3, 2016
posted by prk60091 at 3:47 PM on January 3, 2016
Are you paying your ISP to lease that modem/router? Check your bill. Because you might be able to purchase your own unit, save money, and solve your problem. I'm in the process of doing this with a Comcast-supplied modem/router (replace their $10/mo. unit with a $120 box of my own).
posted by beagle at 4:50 PM on January 3, 2016
posted by beagle at 4:50 PM on January 3, 2016
I think I've narrowed down which modem you have to a couple of them: the Home Hub 1000 or the Home Hub 2000. I've had a look at the Bell Support page to find some info about these, and also googled for similar issues that other people have had on their home networks.
This reddit thread might be of particular interest.
Here's a few things I'd suggest checking:
- Is your modem dual band (transmits both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals)? If so, I'd recommend trying the different frequencies separately and then broadcasting both to see if it makes a difference.
- Try changing the channel, as suggested above.
- Check that your firmware is up to date
- If you can, log into your modem and check the DHCP list (the list of IP addresses that your modem has assigned to devices). Make sure that your wife's iphone hasn't somehow been assigned the same IP address as a different device.
- Test a different modem, especially if your modem is more than a few years old.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 4:05 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This reddit thread might be of particular interest.
Here's a few things I'd suggest checking:
- Is your modem dual band (transmits both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz signals)? If so, I'd recommend trying the different frequencies separately and then broadcasting both to see if it makes a difference.
- Try changing the channel, as suggested above.
- Check that your firmware is up to date
- If you can, log into your modem and check the DHCP list (the list of IP addresses that your modem has assigned to devices). Make sure that your wife's iphone hasn't somehow been assigned the same IP address as a different device.
- Test a different modem, especially if your modem is more than a few years old.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 4:05 AM on January 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Piggybacking on kinddieserzeit: If you can log into your modem try assigning/reserving an internal IP address for that phone.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:03 AM on January 4, 2016
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 6:03 AM on January 4, 2016
Got a new modem/router from Comcast (against every fiber in my body), it broadcast in 2.4 and 5 GHz as spoken of above.
My 16yo daughter has not bothered me about her iPhone not "getting reception" since.
posted by kuanes at 6:54 AM on January 4, 2016
My 16yo daughter has not bothered me about her iPhone not "getting reception" since.
posted by kuanes at 6:54 AM on January 4, 2016
Seconding get a replacement. Assuming you're not renting the thing -- if so, a replacement modem you own will probably pay for itself in 6-10 months of rental fees, depending on the replacement's features-- you can turn off the wifi features of the Bell modem and a nice Linksys, D-Link, or Netgear Wifi access point which will serve your wifi and wired devices.
Get one that supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and if possible, supports Wireless-AC (802.11ac) for future-proofing-- but you don't need that Wireless-AC now, so don't let that feature blow out the budget.
re: channels. There are only a few channels in the 2.4GHz range, and you should only use 1, 6, or 11. All your neighbors should be doing the same. Counterintuitively, getting a channel in between increases interference, rather than reducing it, because a typical Wifi signal is really about 4 channels wide, rather than 1 channel wide. There are many more channels in the 5GHz band; get a wifi analyzing app to see where your neighbors have their wifi set up, and you can usually evade them in the 5GHz band at least.
Protip: if you do go to a new wifi device, even if the wireless name and password are the same, you may still need to tell your devices to forget the old network and add the new one.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:06 PM on January 4, 2016
Get one that supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and if possible, supports Wireless-AC (802.11ac) for future-proofing-- but you don't need that Wireless-AC now, so don't let that feature blow out the budget.
re: channels. There are only a few channels in the 2.4GHz range, and you should only use 1, 6, or 11. All your neighbors should be doing the same. Counterintuitively, getting a channel in between increases interference, rather than reducing it, because a typical Wifi signal is really about 4 channels wide, rather than 1 channel wide. There are many more channels in the 5GHz band; get a wifi analyzing app to see where your neighbors have their wifi set up, and you can usually evade them in the 5GHz band at least.
Protip: if you do go to a new wifi device, even if the wireless name and password are the same, you may still need to tell your devices to forget the old network and add the new one.
posted by Sunburnt at 3:06 PM on January 4, 2016
To take techSupp0rt's question in another direction, are you sure your wife's phone is connecting to the correct network? Like, could it be defaulting to a weak open LinkSys network from a neighbor instead? Or another neighbor's network that she had reason to connect to another time?
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:39 PM on January 4, 2016
posted by Mo Nickels at 3:39 PM on January 4, 2016
This thread is closed to new comments.
Does your wi-fi router have an option to move to different frequency?
Does with work if you try another router with this same modem?
Bonus stupid question: does the phone have a cover?
posted by techSupp0rt at 2:21 PM on January 3, 2016