Usually from germany, if you want me to ping/traceroute any servers I’m happy to help.
It wouldn’t hurt to see a traceroute from your computer to sync.omnigroup.com
.
Im in the UK.
ping seems to be disabled so it stops before reaching the host itself but till then it’s:
traceroute sync.omnigroup.com
traceroute: Warning: sync.omnigroup.com has multiple addresses; using 204.128.250.212
traceroute to sync.omnigroup.com (204.128.250.212), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 fritz.box (192.168.178.1) 1.777 ms 1.252 ms 1.811 ms
2 217.0.119.71 (217.0.119.71) 17.628 ms 17.321 ms 17.741 ms
3 87.186.192.22 (87.186.192.22) 20.945 ms 19.159 ms 20.024 ms
4 217.239.40.78 (217.239.40.78) 112.161 ms 119.804 ms 119.608 ms
5 192.205.34.181 (192.205.34.181) 111.710 ms 112.031 ms 111.406 ms
6 cr1.n54ny.ip.att.net (12.122.105.14) 189.560 ms 191.507 ms 192.147 ms
7 cr2.cgcil.ip.att.net (12.122.1.2) 195.231 ms 195.791 ms 191.942 ms
8 cr2.st6wa.ip.att.net (12.122.2.118) 195.534 ms 195.575 ms 197.901 ms
9 12.122.146.209 (12.122.146.209) 187.843 ms 188.836 ms 188.836 ms
10 12.118.34.10 (12.118.34.10) 190.338 ms 189.650 ms 188.963 ms
11 sea1-ar3-xe-0-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.247.154) 185.445 ms 184.551 ms 185.376 ms
12 *
I am not very experienced in networks, but the largest delay by far in that traceroute seems to be happening within Deutsche Telekom’s network (hops 3 and 4). I’ll forward your information to our Operations team in case they might have more insight. Thanks!
Here’s mine:
traceroute to sync.omnigroup.com (204.128.250.204), 64 hops max, 52 byte packets
1 10.0.1.1 (10.0.1.1) 0.450 ms 0.328 ms 0.244 ms
2 lo0.10.central10.ptw-bng01.plus.net (195.166.128.170) 20.397 ms 19.843 ms 19.700 ms
3 irb.10.ptw-cr01.plus.net (84.93.249.1) 20.001 ms
irb.10.ptw-cr02.plus.net (84.93.249.2) 20.048 ms 19.909 ms
4 te-3-4.car5.london1.level3.net (217.163.45.181) 20.844 ms
te-4-2.car5.london1.level3.net (217.163.45.249) 20.373 ms 20.470 ms
5 te-3-4.car5.london1.level3.net (217.163.45.181) 20.644 ms
ae-2-52.edge3.washington12.level3.net (4.69.146.219) 93.891 ms *
6 xe-11-1-0.edge3.london2.level3.net (212.187.201.209) 20.468 ms *
ae-2-52.edge3.washington12.level3.net (4.69.146.219) 94.363 ms
7 sea1-ar3-xe-1-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.250.14) 161.470 ms
ge-13-0.miamfl6lcx1.wcg.level3.net (4.68.111.214) 94.441 ms 94.050 ms
8 ae-2-52.edge3.washington12.level3.net (4.69.146.219) 99.921 ms *
sea1-ar3-xe-1-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.250.14) 161.938 ms
9 * ge-13-0.miamfl6lcx1.wcg.level3.net (4.68.111.214) 100.852 ms *
10 * * sea1-ar3-xe-1-0-0-0.us.twtelecom.net (66.192.250.14) 168.991 ms
Although it doesn’t feel like it’s a sync speed issue to me, more of a sync frequency issue.
When I make a change in Things or Todoist I can see that change pushed/synced straight away, whereas with OmniFocus it seems it just syncs at certain time intervals.
Having said that, as I said previously it is better after doing what CatOne suggested.
Yes I also think this can almost be considered a “bug” in 2014. My expectation 100% also is: when I change anything on my iPhone, it syncs right away to make sure I’m always “in sync” on all devices.
The workaround here for me is that after every change I manually click on the “Sync” button. Otherwise it often doesn’t work for me. Let’s say I go into a perspective on my iPhone and check off a task there. Right after that I click the home-button to do something else. Now often it won’t be synced even an hour later…
I really really hope that get’s improved. At least OmniGroup give us a preference “sync after every change” - if you think that will cause too much traffic for your omnisync-servers - make it an option for webdav-users only.
@Marco, are you seeing similar slowness when accessing your own WebDAV server, or only when syncing with the Omni Sync Server?
I think Marcos point is not referring so much to speed but that tasks are synced reliably, given the app is closed immediately after entering. Best case, the trusted system syncs any changes to all the clients, worst case You enter one task on Your iPhone, one on Your iPad and one on the Mac while all the others are not appearing there because the app needs to be active to sync changes/ only updates every 30’. From what I know both should not be the case, right?
ok… I just ran a test on my own, created three tasks shortly one after the other, syncing with Omnisync and sitting in Germany: after creating all three and immediately exiting OF on the iPhone, the first two were on my Mac in about 20 seconds, which is nice… the very last task, however, doesn’t pop up even after 5 minutes. Only after revisiting the app the third task was transferred… what are the time intervals to be expected for background syncing?
I have a phat pipe and I’m syncing to the Omni Sync Server, either over WiFi or over LTE. The problem is usually when I get 200+ zip files, which can happen if OmniFocus accidentally orphans a client (i.e. I eventually look and see I have my iPhone 6 and my iPhone 6 in the settings). Then I get a few hundred .zip files and sync takes a minute or more, until I go to the sync settings on a Mac and remove the old one and go sync everything.
I just think the sync process is too finicky. It’s entirely intolerant of situations where every client doesn’t sync regularly.
As Mat pointed out speed is 100% fine since I’m on WebDAV. Before it was terrible but now I’m happy. I also don’t mind running webDAV since I’ve a domain I pay for anyway and this doesn’t produce extra costs for me.
The problem is exactly what Mat states, they Sync on the iPhone simply isn’t reliable. If you’re lucky you have the app open long enough and it syncs…if not not. So right now I always manually hit the “sync” button to make sure things stay in sync. This isn’t nice because it’s something I have to think about each time I do a change on my iPhone.
Maybe like on the Mac-Version of OmniSync there’s a way to set additional parameters to fix this. Setting some paramters I found on http://braintags.com/blog/2014/05/omnifocus-2-configuration/ (setting sync times much faster) it works fine on my Mac. Now if I could also set those on the iPhone…it should be OK.
Or best version would be if you could fix the app to sync reliably :)
OmniSync is driving me crazy, too. For me, it’s slow and unreliable. If I don’t sync manually, I am getting a lot of out-dated notifications popping up around me all the time.
That’s why I switched back to Things temporarily – just to enjoy their fast sync service. Right now I am giving Todoist Premium a chance. They sync amazingly fast and reliably, too. Unfortunatlely both, Things and Todoist, don’t fit my needs as good as OmniFocus does.
I wish OmniGroup would be able to provide a better sync experience.
So tired of this.
We tend to try equal routes, at times, pal… I really enjoyed the deep integration of Todoist, but as you framed it nicely, the featureset is much less defined. Let’s see how the different companies proceed in evolving the different task management paradigms, and may the best mendel out of the primordial goop that we’re stuck in currently.
Yes exactly. The rest of this posting is going to be a bit off-topic, but anyway…
I like Todoist’s clean interface and fast sync, but when it comes to features, it lacks a lot of what we appreciate in OmniFocus. And it doesn’t follow Apple’s UI guidelines. Some things are surprisingly difficult to manage or accomplish in Todoist.
By the way: When I was switching back to Things recently I re-discovered a nice little feature that I’d really like to see in OmniFocus: “Show in Today” – the ability to show tasks in the Today view even when they don’t have due dates. That’s cool for less-important tasks that should be done in the near future. This way you’ve got them “on radar” without having to postpone them daily – great!
If Things had individual reminders, a subscribe-able calendar and a better forecast view (more than just “Today” and “Next”) I’d switch over immediately, to be honest. I like its clean design, ease of use, and its fast and reliable sync service.
I wonder if we’ll see any new kids on the block next year. I really hope so.
To speed up the sync a lot you can setup a WebDAV service. It really really helps. Though the Sync will still be unreliable and you have to sync manually like in 1995… ;)
If you didn’t check it out, have a look at 2do. It’s very close regarding the features…and the sync works.
Naaah, quiet! Shoo, shooo! Heresy!!! Help!
(I so can’t wait for things to become deeper)
In the end, the app will not determine our productivity, right? BUT while it’s all the same road, the ride is a different one in the bus or on Your Harley… And finally THAT is what will make the difference with task managers… I agree with Marco that 2Do has it all and the interface is splendid- but sync is terrible with an even medium-sized db in my hands… having all the features is not the key to oversight, to me the cagebars Omnifocus comes with has lend some support when I was in a free-falling state- I am rather willing to take their limitations in other areas as a trade-off. Focus is not about seeing it all but seeing the important thing at the right time. Choose you weapons, guys (and tell me about them, so I can have a look ;-)…)
Using OF alternately on a Mac, my iPhone and two iPads, I’m bothered with similar problems like others in this thread; most of the time it takes hours until changes are spread over all devices (if at all), often enough I get duplicates because repeating tasks are completed on two devices etc.
As a result, I’m too starting sync manually nearly every time I open or close OF on iPhone or iPad.
Unfortunately, from my point of view, Omnigroup increased the problem with the current design of the iPhone/ iPad app’s sync button placement and sync display:
For whatever reason, OF does not support the iOS sync indicator in the header row, a common functionality in the most standard apps and also supported by a lot of third party apps (namely by several of OFs competitors). OF delays the sync on start for some time (never really understood why), so you never know if sync has started or is already underway without going back to the OF home screen and pull the view down.
The same goes for the sync button itself; you have to return to the home screen, pull the view down, push the sync button and return to your custom perspective.
Having the sync button in a similar easy accessible way such as, for instance, the always visible Inbox button overlay would be a big help, at least for me. Of course a faster, more reliable sync functionality would be the better solution, but I don’t hold my breath for this…
Just wondering if others feel the same.
Thomas
I have given up on OF for the moment being. It is just too slow. And using a local webdav would remove the possibility of emailing tasks to OF (which is SO useful when working in a Windows only environment). So, I am enjoying the quick syncing of Things at the moment. Yes, there’s no emailing tasks - but I can live with typing in landscape mode. But it really is a shame that OF is so let down by poor syncing outside US.
I’ve given up on OmniFocus too, and gone back to Things.
The sync is rock solid, and I also prefer the simpler UI.