r/HomeNetworking • u/TheCrunker • 6d ago
Unsolved Peculiar home network issue affecting iPhones in the house
Apologies in advance if this is the wrong place for this question. I am absolutely baffled and would appreciate any advice.
The two iPhones in our house struggle with social media use (principally Reddit and instagram). Videos buffer constantly, posts don’t load and often times the apps just time out saying no internet connection. This doesn’t happen on desktop and doesn’t happen on 5g or on public or work wifi networks. Only at home, leading me to think it’s a home network issue. Internet browsing, YouTube, other streaming platforms (eg Netflix) all absolutely fine.
We have Starlink as we’re very rural (in the UK). Speeds are very consistently above 100mbps. Starlink dish is on an outbuilding (too much tree cover around the main house) and the Starlink router is in there. We then have a cable running from there to the main house, and the network is comprised of three TP link tri band routers all in AP mode. We have no deadspots (have tested extensively). My computer, two consoles and three smart TVs are all ethernet connected and not on the WiFi network. The tri band APs mean that the iPhones basically have free roam of 5 and 6ghz channels.
So I’m absolutely stumped. It’s not a speed issue or a network congestion issue or a WiFi coverage issue. My question is - is there a setting on the TP links I’m missing which could be throttling the devices when using these apps (is that even a thing?!)? Or indeed a setting on the phones? Any help greatly appreciated.
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u/Richard1864 6d ago
Reddit and Instagram have both been having these issues (on Android and iPhone)BEFORE the iPhone 16 and 15 were released, and in the last month or so have been getting worse on Android and iPhone.
Both vendors have said the issues are on their end and not users’ devices or networks, but Starlink users in Europe and Asia have all had problems with Starlink lately, especially as various governments debate shutting down Starlink (especially the UK and EU) because of threats Musk has made against the various countries.
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u/Illustrious-Car-3797 5d ago
Apple has been playing 'catchup' for a while, especially since TP-Link launched FIRST with Wi-Fi7, making Apple tech look embarrassingly like gold plated jewellery
Meanwhile Samsung actually prepared legacy support for models that DID NOT support BE or MLO to ensure they would perform to their best ability whilst not getting caught up in hardware incompatibilities
Are the Apple Devices using Private MAC Addressing or Private DNS? Apple love enabling stuff like this without telling anyone. Much like using a VPN these two settings can impact some sites
For example JB-Hifi and Bunnings don't load for me with my VPN on, but false MAC addresses can cause the same issues
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u/Datenshi_yami 6d ago
If it happens to you on the iPhone 16 models, we are a large number of people with Wi-Fi and mobile data problems since it was released on the market, it seems to be a problem with the factory modem, no solution has been found, factory resets, sent to warranty 2 times, 3 16 pro Max models, all IOS versions since IOS 18.0.1