iRFR is slow and drops connections

the connection between the Ipod and the WLAN Point is a via the commonly used WLAN connection.

You could have other devices which are hogging the WLAN bandwidth and causing problems. I know for instance,

certain wireless microphones are using the same bandwidth and also certain wireless touchscreens

for automated control systems, so that their would be alot of interference in the area. Try getting a laptop with

a WLAN card in it, and connecting to your WLAN access point and the software will usually show you how strong

your connection is, and you can work from this point on.

Hi Todd,

It sounds like there is some lag in the wireless connectivity between the console and your iPod.  The connection and general response time should be much faster than what you are experiencing.  Since your wireless network at home seems to be in better shape, it would be a good test to install the offline software on your computer at home, and then test the iRFR there to see if you get better results.  If so, that would hint that the problem is more with the wireless network at your venue.

To test wireless networks, there are pleanty of free ping and network diagnostics type apps out there for the iPod.  You may want to download one of those and see what kind of latency you are getting.  When you type in the IP address of the console, and the green checkmark appears, that is actually a ping test.  Perhaps we should show the latency information from the ping there too :)

Hi Chris,

Just bumping this thread up- I've gotten around to finding a ping app for my iPhone and testing the connection.  There's a huge delay when connecting wirelessly - pinging the console from the iPhone or from a laptop with wireless card shows from 600 to 4000ms delay with a fair number of dropped packets.  Pinging the console from a laptop with wired connection is <1ms. 

I've got our IT staff on the case to see if there's any interference from other WiFi stuff.

I haven't gotten around to testing the offline app at home- that will be next as soon as I have some free time.

You were talking about showing the latency info on the app- how about a green checkmark for good response and a yellow checkmark or exclamation point for lag that's too long?

-Todd

Hey Chris,

I've been having the same issues with a severe lag with the iRFR. Sometimes it's fine, and sometimes...not so much. I've just tested it offline at home, and no problems. 

The sound guys have been running around with wireless tablets and doing geeky sound guy things, so perhaps there could be some interference. Is there something I could ask the sound guys to help troubleshoot if there is interference?

Thanks,

-M

Hi Todd,

Ouch!  600-4000ms delay plus dropped packets.  That definitely explains the issues you are having.  I love the idea about the yellow check mark, or some simple way to indicate connection quality.  The current logic behind that check mark is:  4 pings are sent to the console at 1 second intervals.  If any return within 5 seconds, you get the green check mark.  So, technically you could still get a green check mark if you had up to 8000ms of latency.  Not very helpful, since it wouldn't be very usable under those conditions :)

Hey Marc,

I'm guessing your running into the same thing Todd is, high latency or dropped packets.  It sounds like it would be helpful to have a diagnostics display in the iRFR, that could show a heartbeat.  Yes, it would be interesting to find out if the wireless tablets have similar lag issues.  It never hurts to engage a geek in general geekery, as long as you have an escape plan in your back pocket ;)

Hello Todd

    I had the exact same problem.  I followed the instructions concerning IP address and the 2 second delay.  The problem was how my I touch was getting its IP address thru the network.

     Someone here who knows much more than me"stacked the IP address"  So the touch was not going thru all the switches.  It fixed the problem and the Itough is almost if not as fact has the RFR.  But it does so much more.

     On the show we are doing we have some gobo rotators and when I showed the desighner how I could control each one he was very imprressed

     If you are still having problem let me know and I will get the exact IP address for you.

     JeffMBike@aol.com

     Electrician Fords Theatre

I doubt I'm the only one who'd be grateful to know how you fixed the lag, so could it be posted on here?

When it works the iRFR is so much more useful than the standard RFR, but we are still having to carry both round in case the lag is bad making the iphones unusable.

Here is my 2 cents.  Change the WAP Channel to one that has less interference.  Move WAP Closer to area where you are using the IRFR.  This is a wireless device that is subject to interference.  Please read the following post.  http://community.etcconnect.com/forums/t/4181.aspx  It may help with some of the issues you are seeing.  I doubt highly it is your new IPod. 

P-

Just an update on my particular situation-

It looks like wireless interference is not the culprit but I am working with ETC to tracking down some IP setup issues.  Once we have this figured out, I will post the results here.

-Todd