Preface

Please read before you proceed.

Welcome to our Network Guide!

We're happy to provide it and we're sure that it'll help our customers. We do however ask that support responsibilities are respected and not confused:

Neither network configuration nor network troubleshooting are part of Remote Buddy's featureset or anything else we're selling. As a pure TCP/IP server application, Remote Buddy lives several abstraction layers away from any hardware and is not responsible for the network itself. Like a telephone, it's ready to be called, but totally depends on the network for receiving a call and it can't do anything about wrongly routed calls, defunct or interrupted phone lines, wrong phone numbers, etc. It's not its task and not within its sphere of influence in the ecosystem that it's a part of. And of course, you'd contact your carrier, not the maker of your phone, to report there's a problem with the network and ask for assistance.

Likewise, the network Remote Buddy builds upon is provided and operated by the network stack of Mac OS® X (configured through System Preferences) and the network hardware you are using. Remote Buddy is not involved here. We therefore kindly ask that you contact the makers of the operating system(s) and network hardware you use, if you need personal support in configuring or troubleshooting your network. Thanks for understanding that we can't provide individual support for products that aren't ours.

Please download the Remote Buddy trial version and use it to verify that your network meets the requirements and permits use of the AJAX Remote, before you make a purchase.

Thanks!

Start Guide »

Are Mac® and device connected to the same Wi-Fi® network?

The screenshot on the right shows Home screen > Settings > Wi-Fi®. Please verify that

• Wi-Fi® is turned on on both your Mac® and your device (you can see the respective symbol - circled in blue - on both devices)
• (ideally) the respective quality indicators (circled in blue) show best quality as pictured
• both are connected to the same network (the name of the network must be identical)

Proceed to Firewall check »

1/3: Open System Preferences

Open System Preferences, and select "Sharing".

Proceed to 2nd step »

2/3: Switch to "Firewall"

Switch to the "Firewall" tab. Next, check, whether your firewall is active. If your firewall isn't active, you don't need to complete the firewall instructions and you can jump directly to the subnet IP check - without making any changes.

If the firewall, however, is active, press "New".

Proceed to 3rd step »

3/3: Add the permission

Now fill out the sheet as pictured, then press "OK" to complete.

Proceed to Subnet IP Check »

1/3: Open System Preferences

The following instructions are for Leopard. If you are running Tiger, please click here.

Open System Preferences, and select "Security".

Proceed to 2nd step »

2/3: Switch to "Firewall"

Switch to the "Firewall" tab. Next, check, whether your firewall is set to anything else than "Allow all incoming connections". You only need to complete the firewall instructions, if that is the case. Else you can jump directly to the subnet IP check.

If your Firewall is set to anything else than "Allow all incoming connections", please be sure that it's "Set access for specific services and applications". If Remote Buddy isn't already listed, press the "+" below the table view and select Remote Buddy.app.

Proceed to 3rd step »

3/3: Add the permission

Finally, to complete, make sure that "Allow incoming connections" is selected for Remote Buddy's entry.

Proceed to Subnet IP Check »

1/2: Determine the IP address of your device

Please tap your device's screen at the places highlighted by a red circule in the image. Then proceed to the 2nd step.

Proceed to 2nd step »

2/2: Compare device and Mac® IPs

Go to Remote Buddy > Preferences > AJAX Remote. There, locate the URL entry for the network interface you are (or believe to be) using to connect to the same Wi-Fi® network as the mobile device. Then compare the IP addresses (circled in green here). These need to be identical for the first three numbers (in the example pictured here, the first three numbers of the address would be 10, 0, 1 - and, in the example, they're identical for both IP addresses). If they're not, chances are high that your Mac® and your device can't exchange any data, that the two are connected to different networks or that each is kept in isolation by the base station.

Proceed to Reliability Check »

1/2: Determine the IP address of your device

Please tap your device's screen at the places highlighted by a red circule in the image. Note down the IP Address of your device. Then proceed to the 2nd step.

Proceed to 2nd step »

2/2: Perform reliability check

Launch /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app and type:

Press return. Now let ping run for about two minutes. During that time, keep your device from sleeping (f.ex. by pressing the home button every now and then). When the two minutes are over, press Ctrl-C on your keyboard to end ping. Ping will now output its statistics:

The packet loss figure expresses how much data that was sent over the network during the test has been lost by the network. For a truely reliable network, the value of this figure has to be zero percent. Any other value means that your network is loosing data, which can (and most likely will) lead to problems. For as long as TCP/IP's error correction can keep up with the packet loss, you may just see sporadic, bad responsiveness. If it no longer can keep up, however, you'll see interrupted connections, incomplete transfers and web 2.0 applications will be rendered partially or completely unusable.

Read about what can cause packet loss »

What can cause packet loss / bad network reliability?

Here are a few things that can have a negative impact on the reliability of your network:

• the distance between Wi-Fi® base station and Wi-Fi® clients (such as your Mac® and your device) is too great
• concurrent use of Bluetooth® (please see here for more info)
• bugs in Wi-Fi® drivers (we strongly recommend to use OS X 10.5.2 or later)
• other nearby wireless networks sending on the same channel (recommended read: Optimizing AirPort® Connectivity)
• microwave ovens (while in use)

Recommended reads

• Optimizing AirPort® Connectivity
• Optimizing AirPort® performance while using Bluetooth™
• AirPort® troubleshooting guide (at apple.com)
• AirPort®: Potential sources of interference (at apple.com)

Select Apple® support documents related to this topic

• Apple® - Support - AirPort® (at apple.com)
• AirPort® Manuals (at apple.com)
• Optimizing AirPort® performance while using Bluetooth
• AirPort® Quick Assist (at apple.com)
• AirPort® troubleshooting guide (at apple.com)
• AirPort®: Potential sources of interference (at apple.com)