Apple services do not work with Internetbox 3

    • Dear community

    We have had Swisscom VDSL with Internetbox 3 (previously UPC) for a few months now. Since then, we have had the problem that certain Apple services on all Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, macOS) no longer work. In particular, you can no longer manage subscriptions or change account settings, for example.

    For example, open “App Store” on the iPhone, click on “Account” and select “Subscriptions”. First it takes forever to load and then the message “No connection to the internet” appears. I’ve already contacted Apple Support and they said “turn off the WiFi” and everything worked promptly. Of course, Apple support no longer helps at that point.

    For example, if I need to use these Apple services on an iPad, I can only do this by connecting to the iPhone via hotspot and using the 4G connection. Otherwise you can use the Internet as normal.

    Unfortunately, we also have problems with iMessage and iCloud - although these generally work, there are always “unexplained” problems with the synchronization.

    We also have the 5G booster on Internetbox 3, but IPv6 is switched off as recommended by Swisscom.

    I hope that someone here might have a tip as to what could be causing this.

    Show original language (German)

    • @Louis771 wrote:

      […] We also have the 5G booster on Internetbox 3, but IPv6 is switched off as recommended by Swisscom.

      I hope that someone here might have a tip as to what could be causing this.

      Swisscom does NOT recommend switching off IPv6.

      Can you exclude the affected Apple devices on the router from boosting so that they can only access the Internet via the DSL connection?

    @Louis771 wrote:

    […] We also have the 5G booster on Internetbox 3, but IPv6 is switched off as recommended by Swisscom.

    I hope that someone here might have a tip as to what could be causing this.

    Swisscom does NOT recommend switching off IPv6.

    Can you exclude the affected Apple devices on the router from boosting so that they can only access the Internet via the DSL connection?

    Show original language (German)

    Have you tried turning it off and on again?

      I just found the function to not let individual devices run on the booster.

      Now Apple services are working again!

      First of all, a huge thank you for your tip! Of course I would be interested to know what the problem is and whether it is worth switching off the booster completely?

      Show original language (German)

      OK, yes, I didn’t know this message because I don’t use a booster myself. Then if a booster is used - but only then - it is actually the case that Swisscom advises against IPv6. Oh well.

      The booster is just a crutch solution that was introduced in order to be able to sell customers higher bandwidths even with slow copper lines. Personally, I have little to no understanding of the bandwidth craze when it comes to more than 50Mbit/s, but that’s just how people want it. I think IPv6 is by far the more important feature.

      Show original language (German)

      Have you tried turning it off and on again?

      Hi @PowerMac

      Personally, I have little to no understanding of the bandwidth craze when it comes to more than 50Mbit/s, but that’s just how people want it. I think IPv6 is by far the more important feature.

      If you live in the country with poor mobile reception and share your 50 Mbit/s with 4 other people, you will relatively quickly stop talking about bandwidth madness, at the latest when your brother’s XBOX pulls a 100GB patch and you ask for mercy from the CoDel have to beg 😉.

      By the way, the booster can only use TCP even under IPv4 (nothing other than an MTCP proxy)

      Is the booster the optimal solution? No

      In an era of QUIC and IPv6, should the booster support more than TCPv4? Absolutely, yes!

      Am I still not getting fiber optics? Yes

      🤷‍♂️

      @Louis771 I also have Apple devices with IB3 and the booster, I’ll try to reproduce your problem tonight so that it might work again with booster later 😉

      LG

      r00t

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      @r00t I would be very interested to know if you also have the same problem. I have now excluded the individual Apple devices from the booster, and no more problems since then.

      I’m thinking about removing the booster entirely, as our 5G reception is very poor anyway and it hardly brings any increase in performance. However, I cannot manage to activate IPv6 in IB3. When I click on the checkmark and save, it disappears again. That’s why I’ll leave it like that for now - as soon as I turn on the Internet here in the house, I have three girls on my neck who start to panic :-).

      Show original language (German)

      Hi @Louis771

      @r00t I would be very interested to know if you also have the same problem.

      Oh, sorry, thought the case was closed for you 😊. Yes, I have the same problem too. To protect you from a potential flood of emails, I have submitted my case to [Internetbox 3 + Internetbooster 5G - Apple Services](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Router-Hardware/Internetbox-3-Internetbooster-5G -Apple-Services/m-p/775360#U775360) moved. But since you’re interested, I didn’t have to do that 😅.

      I’m thinking about removing the booster entirely, since our 5G reception is very poor anyway and it hardly brings any increase in performance.

      This will certainly be the easiest method for the time being - I don’t want it for me because +3⁄4 of the power comes from the booster. So I’ll stick with it 😉

      However, I cannot manage to activate IPv6 in IB3. When I click on the checkmark and save, it disappears again.

      I can’t test it right now because I can’t access the GUI 😅. Have you ever restarted the box after setting the checkbox?

      That’s why I’ll leave it like that for now - as soon as I turn on the Internet here in the house, I have three girls on my neck who start to panic 🙂

      Simply announce a maintenance window at 3 in the morning 😋!

      LG

      r00t

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      Connect your own hardware firewall between the cable modem (here Internet Box 3) and the home network.

      Completely block QUIC data traffic (and IPv6) with your own hardware firewall. See:

      [https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Internet-general/Glas Fiber Ausbau/m-p/669736#M62750](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Internet-general/Glas Fiber Ausbau/m-p/669736#M62750)

      Use a traffic shaper in your own hardware firewall to ensure that the data transmission capacity of the Internet connection is distributed as fairly as possible among the “3 girls” and the other residents of the house. See:

      [https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Internet-general/Internet-L-zu-M-nur-noch-500Mbit-UP/m-p/711743#M65595] (https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Internet-general/Internet-L-zu-M-nur-noch-500Mbit-UP/m-p/711743#M65595)

      I don’t know how well the cable modem used (here: Internet Box 3) functions as a “traffic shaper”. Therefore, it is probably appropriate to bring the data traffic load distribution (traffic shaping) under your own control with your own hardware firewall.

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      6 months later

      same problem here. Access only possible if you set up a hotspot on the IPHONE. Note from Appel support (which was first class)… “contact Swisscom, Appel services need specific ports that need to be open on the router - that doesn’t seem to be the case for them”. All services that require identification are affected. There is also a support document for this from Appel TCP and UDP ports used by Apple software products - but I haven’t had the courage to discuss this with Swisscom yet… ..

      Show original language (German)

      Hi @Pleuckienniff97

      Unfortunately misdiagnosis on the part of Apple (The problem is not entirely trivial, however.)

      Please do not open any ports on the Internet box - Apple’s table means outgoing connections. These are all allowed by default. You don’t need to make any adjustments.

      You can also exclude individual devices from the booster. I explained how to do this here.

      Swisscom is aware of the problem and is working on a solution.

      LG

      r00t

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      9 days later

      Experiencing the same issues! Just spoke to your internet router teams and they tell me that I am in the wrong, there is no issue on Swisscom end, it’s simply an issue with Apple Devices. I have been experiencing the same issues as above, on multiple Apple devices, and the issues are only resolved when you connect to a 5G on a phone or through a phone’s hotspot. I am absolutely gobsmacked by how Swisscom technicians talk to their customers, and refer them to a paid Swisscom service to resolve their issues.

      What timeline is Swisscom committing to in an effort to resolve this for their customers?

      This post is in English

      Hi all,

      I completely disconnected the 5G BOOSTER and the problem is solved! I have also switched on IPv6.

      This post is in English

      Same here, I had to completely disconnect the 5G booster. Which is of course sad because I paid for it and makes the internet connections slower. Too bad that Swisscom won’t look into this issue at all.

      This post is in English

      Hi @Louis771

      Too bad that Swisscom won’t look into this issue at all.

      This is not true.

      As I mentioned earlier, Swisscom acknowledged the issue and is working on a solution. Until then, there are the following workarounds:

      - Enable private relay on the Apple devices

      - Exclude the devices from the internet booster (This way, non-apple devices can still use the booster)

      Best,

      r00t

      This post is in English

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      @“x”#842306I’ve complained to Swisscom in July 2023 and they did not acknlowledge that there is anything wrong on their side and blamed Apple. Given that the issue still exists (6 months later), I just wonder what it means when they say “we look into it” despite many people complaining on this thread.

      Also, just disabling devices from the Internet Booster didn’t work. It appeared to work but after a few days the problems started again.

      The only way to get Apple services working across the whole network is to disable the Internet Booster and I think that this has been confirmed by others now. Also, given that basically all our devices are Apple devices, it does’t make a difference.

      This post is in English

      Hi @Louis771

      I’ve complained to Swisscom in July 2023 and they did not acknlowledge that there is anything wrong on their side and blamed Apple. Given that the issue still exists (6 months later), I just wonder what it means when they say “we look into it” despite many people complaining on this thread.

      I can understand your frustration. Unfortunately, sometimes “simple” issues have complex causes that cannot easily be resolved.

      Also, just disabling devices from the Internet Booster didn’t work. It appeared to work but after a few days the problems started again.

      Make sure to disable “Private WiFi-Address” before excluding the device, as a MAC-address change will cause the internet box to start boosting the device again, as it cannot recognize it.

      Best,

      r00t

      This post is in English

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      4 months later

      I have a firewall behind the Swisscom router on which the Internet Booster is connected, which means the only Mac addresses that the Swisscom router knows from my network are those of the firewall(s).

      In this respect, I cannot exclude my numerous Apple devices from the traffic that goes through the booster.

      The only solution is to unplug Internet Booster (deactivating it via the software didn’t help) and forget that the part connects me to the CHF. It cost 150.00 for nothing 😞

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