Can iCloud slow down my home WiFi?

[bkford]

My husband and I are both noticing a slow-down on our internet at home. I turned off my iPhone (also have iPad connected), and it sped up. Is this coincidence, or can the fact that I have two devices on iCloud, on my home wifi, actually slow down my internet?

 

[psylichon]

Even the slowest wifi routers run at around 54 Mbps. Good residential cable internet is generally only 10-20 Mbps so you're not maxing out your local network. I would bet you're maxing out your upload speeds with all the iClouding. When that happens, the sort of automatic handshaking and downloading associated with loading web pages will suffer.

Long answer short: yes, it could happen. It would be nice if you could limit the upload bandwidth iCloud uses but I don't think that's possible.

 

[bkford]

Okay, I'm basically ignorant of what happens with iCloud, because I'm not downloading anything intentionally, and not action is taking place on my iPad or iPhone. We have a router, 54Mbps. I also have two wifi printers attached, but not using either, although both were on. Need to get a handle on this, as my husband is getting in iPad in two weeks. Will our iPads just being ON cause our wifi network to run slow? Possibly, according to your answer, if I understand correctly?

 

[psylichon]

I haven't updated to iOS5 yet, but I did run the beta for a few days so I'm going off memory here. There should be options for iCloud under settings. Perhaps turn off automatic backup for things that don't need it. Backing up the entire phone to iCloud is a bandwidth-intensive task.

Also keep in mind that once you do the initial backup, your bandwidth usage should even out even if you don't make any changes in settings.

 

[bkford]

Thanks. Will check settings. On the device, right?

 

[bkford]

Also, if I am not connected to a wifi, does iCloud do things that use my data on my 3G plan?

 

[bkford]

Okay, checked settings. Under Storage and Backup, iCloud Backup, it says this, if set to ON: Automatically back up your camera roll, accounts, documents and settings when this iPhone is plugged in, locked, and connected to wifi." Does that mean it ONLY backs up if the iPhone is physically plugged into electric? If I turn that to OFF, it says I have to back up the "old" way, through iTunes.

 

[tybirdtybird]

I haven't updated to iOS5 yet, but I did run the beta for a few days so I'm going off memory here. There should be options for iCloud under settings. Perhaps turn off automatic backup for things that don't need it. Backing up the entire phone to iCloud is a bandwidth-intensive task.

Also keep in mind that once you do the initial backup, your bandwidth usage should even out even if you don't make any changes in settings.

Updated to iso5 in the morning it will go faster. I just did my iPad 2 this morning around 6:30 .

 

[upsovnt]

Is icloud me.com worth even bothering with? What is it's purpose? Does it just store your emails in the cloud...

 

[bkford]

Figured out that the reason my wifi was slowed to molasses was because I had the iPhone set to backup to iCloud automatically. So, because my iPhone was plugged in, connected to my wifi, and in locked mode, it was backing up.