EOS remote app keeps telling me that the connection is too slow. It worked in the past

[KenG]

I have a EOS 6D  and a Samsung Galaxy S4 and my EOS remote app can no longer seem to connect. I keep getting the message that the connection is too slow. The phone is at 65Mbps on my home Wi-Fi and works fine. The app is getting    

72Mbps and thinks it is too slow.

[Mykolas]

Hi KenG!

Thanks for the post.

Are you connecting to the camera over an infrastructure (router) connection or are you using an ad-hoc (direct) connection?

If this is a time sensitive-matter, additional support options are available at Contact Us.

[KenG]

I go camera access point mode-easy connection-encrypyion key numbers into password on the phone. then the Wi-Fi on the phone says the network is disabled because internet connection is slow.

                                                                                                thanks for the reply   Ken

[TCampbell]

Ken,

Mike asked if you were using "camera access point mode" (aka "ad-hoc" mode) vs. "infrastructure mode".  The difference between these two settings is VERY important and it's an easy step to get wrong.  If you get it wrong, it's not going to work.  The "right" mode for your situation depends on your circumstances.  I'll explain.

You might have wi-fi in your home so that you can use a laptop or mobile device without having to physically connect to your network.  This pre-existing wifi network that you have is what Canon refers to as "Infrastructure".  

When you pick "Infrastructure mode" it means your camera is going to join the wifi network you already have.  And then, of course, your smartphone ALSO joins the SAME network that you already have.  Those two devices will then be able to communicate.   The advantage of this mode is that since both the camera and phone are on a pre-existing wifi network is is also connected to the internet, the phone can control the camera and use all internet services at the same time.  

But suppose you're away from home... in fact, suppose you're in the middle of nowhere -- miles from the nearest wifi network. In that situation, the "infrastructure" mode isn't going to work because there is no pre-existing wifi network to join.  So... Canon allows the camera to create it's own wifi network.

When the camera creates it's own wifi network, it's called "camera access point mode" (or "ad-hoc" mode).  When you use this option, the camera will create it's own network but (and here's the rub), the phone must join that particular network (the network that the camera created).  

This means if you really ARE at home, and you choose "camera access point mode", but your home wifi network is *also* available to your phone, then you must tell your phone to LEAVE the home network and JOIN the camera network -- otherwise they will not be able to communicate.

Likewise, if you are in the middle of nowhere and your camera is on "infrastructure mode", then it wont be able to communicate with anything because it wont be able to join your home network.  (Inidentally, I keep saying "home" network, but it could be any pre-existing wifi network such as an office, coffee shop, a friend's home, etc.  You have to be careful in some of these situations because some wifi networks have an added layer of security which allows all devices to access the ineternet but does NOT allow devices to directly communicate with each other.  That is to say that not all "infrastructure" networks will work.  It has to be a network that communication between devices on the same network.)

You can see how this is would be a very important detail to get right.  

[KenG]

Thanks Tim for your detailed reply. I will try to be equally clear. I use the camera access point, and I have established a separate Wi-Fi in my phone. I have been able to use the App at home and away without a problem for several months. On Dec. 27th when I attempted to transfer a few photo's I was able to view them on the phone and when I tried to make the transfer nothing. I have not been able to get it to function since. I have set to camera back to factory default, I have cleared Wi-Fi settings, I have also deleted and reinstalled the EOS App. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

                                            Thanks to all, Ken

[KenG]

I decided to try the infrastructure mode on my home Wi-Fi network and it works. But the camera access point mode still does not function. 

                                                                 Very mysterious to me, regards Ken

[TCampbell]

Perfect... you're using ad-hoc (camera access point) mode and you've remember to tell your phone to join the camera's network.

One other area that can be a real problem for wifi is interference.  WiFi networks use an unregulated area of the spectrum (unregulated is probably not the right word... unlicensed is probably more accurate).  This is the 2.4GHz range.

It turns out, this is the ONLY radio frequencies which is able to vibrate water molecules.  As such, it is the ONLY frequency that a microwave oven can use to heat your food.  That's a law of physics... we can't arbitraily decide to have the microwave oven cook your food at, say, 3 GHz... it's 2.4GHz or nothing.  

Because of this, the FCC doesn't use the 2.4GHz bandwidth for anything important.  The police, fire department, airports, etc. don't use it because if they did, they would not be able to count on it to be reliable -- and therein lies the first hint of what may be happening here.

Just about everything you own that uses radio but did NOT require that you get a license to operate it (your cellphone doesn't count because while YOU don't have a license for your cellphone to use it's frequencies... your carrier DID have to get licenses to use those frequencies -- so it is a licensed device, but not licensed by you personally) is using the 2.4GHz spectrum.

This list of unlicnensed devices includes baby monitors, cordless phones, bluetooth headsets (or any bluetooth device really... keyboards, mice, etc.) your garage door opener and of course... your wifi networks (which is what you want to use now) and the highly disruptive microwave oven (probably topping the list).

You mentioned you've been using the "easy" mode (as opposed to the manual mode) but it turns out the manual mode isn't very difficult to use.  

In both modes you have to pick the network name (aka the "SSID" which stands for "Service Set Identifier" -- which is what you get when you let you technies decide what to call it -- "network name" would have been a more consumer friendly phrase but alas Canon didn't get to decide what it's called... SSID is an industry term that means "network name".)

The two major differences are that in manual mode YOU get to pick the channel number that will be used for the network.  The other difference is that you get to decide if you want encryption on or off and if on... what to use as an encryption key (in "easy" mode encryption is always ON... and Canon just generates an 8 digit random number as the "key" ("key" being the "password" needed to join the network.)

You might download a "wifi scanner" app for your android phone (there are several available.)  This allows the phone to listen (promiscuously) in on all of the valid wifi channels and make an evaluation of how much traffic or noise is present on that channel.  It then gives you a report and YOU can then identify the best channel choice available at the time (keeping in mind that when you change locations... you may have to re-scan the channels.)

Knowing this, you could try to use "manual" mode (rather than "easy" mode, and tell the camera which channel number you'd prefer to use.)

Good luck!

[KenG]

Thanks Tim for the speedy response, I will get to work in this. I will also take the camera to work an see if it is able to set from there.

                                                                Totally grateful,  Ken