MyWhoosh vs Zwift

[ColinJ]

Sounds really slow, the update on my iPad took less than 5 minutes. How fast is your connection? Download Speedtest from the app store on the ATV and see how much bandwith you ACTUALLY have in the place the ATV is located.

It used to be 15-16 Mb/s but for the past year or so it has only been about 6-8 Mb/s. I never did find out how/why that happened but it is still above the 5 Mb/s in my contract so the ISP won't be too bothered.

To check though, I will download the app.

And the answer is... 7.91 Mb/s download; 0.41 Mb/s upload - by modern standards, slowwwwww!

MW has finished downloading, but now I am feeling a bit rough so probably best not to use it right now. I will have something to eat and see if I perk up later on.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Sounds like you are on a dial up connection from about 2001

 

[Brusgaard]

And the answer is... 7.91 Mb/s download; 0.41 Mb/s upload - by modern standards, slowwwwww!

MW has finished downloading, but now I am feeling a bit rough so probably best not to use it right now. I will have something to eat and see if I perk up later on.

Ok, not fast. Is it 7,91Megabit (Mb/s) or 7,91Megabyte (MB/s)? I can download at around 700Mbit/s on my 1Gbit fibre - a bit faster on the PC using cable.

 

[ColinJ]

Ok, not fast. Is it 7,91Megabit (Mb/s) or 7,91Megabyte (MB/s)? I can download at around 700Mbit/s on my 1Gbit fibre - a bit faster on the PC using cable.

Megabits! So, that is just under 1 MB/s, which explains why 6.6 GB took around 2 hours (7,200 s).

I hadn't considered how fast the Apple TV WiFi connection itself is/will be... (Checks)... WiFi 6, so it should be good for hundreds of Mb/s, though (obviously) my current setup can't provide more than a small fraction of that.

The slow BB also explains why YouTube has been stuttering (or even freezing) if I try to watch anything more demanding than HD/30 Hz.

The weather here is looking iffy again tomorrow so if I feel better I will give MW a trial then. Hopefully, there will not be another big forced update for a while!

 

[Brusgaard]

Megabits! So, that is just under 1 MB/s, which explains why 6.6 GB took around 2 hours (7,200 s).

I hadn't considered how fast the Apple TV WiFi connection itself is/will be... (Checks)... WiFi 6, so it should be good for hundreds of Mb/s, though (obviously) my current setup can't provide more than a small fraction of that.

The slow BB also explains why YouTube has been stuttering (or even freezing) if I try to watch anything more demanding than HD/30 Hz.

The weather here is looking iffy again tomorrow so if I feel better I will give MW a trial then. Hopefully, there will not be another big forced update for a while!

Don’t count on it! I am not sure how well MyWhoosh handles unstable and/or really slow internet - never tried it. I suspect it is a bit more demanding than the 2014 game called Zwift. I am on Wifi 6 (802.11ax) as well, but use cable where ever possible - including to my (livingroom) ATV 4K 3rd gen.

 

[CXRAndy]

The rule is the download rate is 10% of the alleged broadband speed. Eg 10mb broadband equates to 1mb download speed.

 

[Alex321]

The rule is the download rate is 10% of the alleged broadband speed. Eg 10mb broadband equates to 1mb download speed.

No it isn't. Not if you are using the same units, as you are there.

It is a little over 10% (would be 12.5% if there were no overheads) if you look at Megabytes being downloaded, as the speed is always given in megabits.

But then you should say 10Mb connection speed equates to 1MB actual download - note the capitalisation, defining it as bits(b) or bytes (B).

 

[ColinJ]

Don’t count on it! I am not sure how well MyWhoosh handles unstable and/or really slow internet - never tried it. I suspect it is a bit more demanding than the 2014 game called Zwift. I am on Wifi 6 (802.11ax) as well, but use cable where ever possible - including to my (livingroom) ATV 4K 3rd gen.

I don't have the cable option - it is the WiFi-only 64 GB model!

The Apple TV box will only be about 6 metres from the router with the bedroom floor between them.

 

[Brusgaard]

I don't have the cable option - it is the WiFi-only 64 GB model!

The Apple TV box will only be about 6 metres from the router with the bedroom floor between them.

My ATV sits within 20 cm of the router in the living room!

 

[IrishAl]

Fired up the ATV this evening as omit was wet outside and threatening to start raining again. Didn’t fancy getting the feet wet. Anyway I was also faced with a MW update - it was a painfully slow download - guessing around 10 mins for the first 1.5GB. I gave up on the idea of an indoor cycle at that point and went for a good walk instead (yes feet got wet) 😂
My internet is normally good enough for steaming etc so not sure what the deal is with the MW download 🤔

 

[ColinJ]

I will definitely be going for hundreds of Mb/s once the tech guys have finished pushing fibres down the local drains and connected them up!

It is incredible how quickly technology has improved - I remember how excited I was to get 1 Mb/s broadband in 2003! (Mind you that was a huge step up from what I had been used to, which was a poxy 30-40 kb/s.)

 

[Brusgaard]

Fired up the ATV this evening as omit was wet outside and threatening to start raining again. Didn’t fancy getting the feet wet. Anyway I was also faced with a MW update - it was a painfully slow download - guessing around 10 mins for the first 1.5GB. I gave up on the idea of an indoor cycle at that point and went for a good walk instead (yes feet got wet) 😂
My internet is normally good enough for steaming etc so not sure what the deal is with the MW download 🤔
View attachment 774402

Wifi/internet speed in the bedroom… I think you need to update your speed test program, if it claims that 80Mbps is very fast.

 

[ColinJ]

I think you need to update your speed test program, if it claims that 80Mbps is very fast.

It IS compared to mine!!

 

[ColinJ]

I had half an hour to spare this evening so I thought I would (finally!) give the turbo trainer a quick test on MyWhoosh. I only did about 20 minutes but that was enough to note some positives and negatives. My observations, in no particular order...

• The Apple TV graphics were fairly basic, but perfectly acceptable to me.
• Fans are definitely needed. I did a Free Ride for less than 20 minutes on a lumpy Switzerland course and at least 5 minutes of that was just a warm up. I didn't bother connecting the fan for such a short test ride. That was a mistake - I was absolutely dripping by the time that I got off!
• The route included a short ramp at 16%, the maximum gradient that the Victory is rated at. I felt slightly overgeared on that ramp even in virtual gear number 1 of the 30 available.
• I only used up to virtual gear 23 and was doing 45 km/h (downhill!) in that.
• So... I can afford to put a larger sprocket on the trainer to lower the effective gearing. I think there is a 15 on at the moment. I'll try one 2 teeth bigger.
• Using the Apple remote for virtual gear shifting is absolutely awful so instead I used the MyWhoosh link app on my tablet. That has on-screen up/down gear selector buttons. A big improvement, but still not great. I had the tablet on a DIY mount next to the bike and was desperately stabbing at the gear selector buttons with my finger when I hit ramps over- or under-geared. Those stabs often didn't register.
• If a tablet on a DIY mount is going to be desperately stabbed with a sweaty digit, make absolutely sure that the DIY mount is constructed properly... Mine came loose and rotated mid-grovel, almost dumping the tablet on the floor!
• I will try a Bluetooth keyboard or other device as a gear selector. I want physical buttons as sweaty digit stabbing targets!
• There was a rumble from the setup as I was pedalling. I haven't fitted the rocker feet yet. I am fairly sure that once fitted, that rumble will be minimised. The overall setup was otherwise pretty quiet. The fan will drown out any residual noise, and background music should drown out most of the fan noise.
• I felt that I will enjoy doing training sessions on this setup once the gearing is lowered, when I am using better gear selectors, and when I have the fan and music switched on.

I aim to a proper test soon, fitted in around my road cycling.

 

[Legs]

Isn’t the virtual gearing configurable so that the physical gearing doesn’t need changing?

Instead of changing the gear, how about just not riding courses that have 16% ramps in them (yet)? If you’re not racing, this doesn’t really limit your experience at all. It’s just really about turning the pedals to generate power, after all!

Most of my virtual riding is done as workouts in erg mode, wherein the terrain and scenery (and all associated statistics such as speed and distance covered) are completely irrelevant to the experience. You could do the same workout on a flat course or up Alpe de Zwift and, if you were blindfolded, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.