10-15-2009, 11:57 AM

Greetings! Newbie here. Had my Mac Pro desktop for a couple of years, love it. Running Tiger (10.4.11) with 2 x 2.66 Dual Core Intel Xeon and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2. I'm a little behind on the OS because I use Pro Tools, and there's always a compatibility lag there. Waiting to make a jump. Anyhow...

I also experience the "slow internet" problem from time to time, despite my network (cable modem) being just fine. Pulling 5.31 MB/s download, 1.05 MB/s upload (speedtest.net results). My Pro is hardwired to my router(D-link) via ethernet cable.

When my Mac starts crawling online (both Safari & Firefox), as others have reported, my daughter's PC on the same network (wirelessly) will still fly right along, loading the ad & video heavy CNN.com in under 15 seconds, while the Mac chews on it for over a minute, if it decides to load it at all.

Here's the kicker (and maybe a clue?): If I start up Parallels on my Mac, and surf the 'Net from *inside* the Windows environment (Vista, using IE), the 'Net performance is BLAZING, even though the performance in the Mac OS remains snail-slow. That's right. Same computer. Same connections. Two very different experiences.

Problem seems more pronounced at night. Is something "filling up?" Just looking for ideas.

Thanks!

Scott

10-16-2009, 03:13 PM

You may be experiencing a DNS problem. For some reason Windows is able to resolve DNS addressing much better than Mac OS X. Try this:

Open System Preferences, Network. Highlight your Ethernet connection and then click on the Advanced button to the bottom right. Select the "DNS" tab at the top menu. At the bottom of the box which says "DNS Servers" click on the small + sign. Add this address: 208.67.222.222 click the + again and add this address below the first one: 208.67.220.220

If there is already an address listed and it's grayed out, ignore it. That's the address of your router. After adding the addresses, click OK and leave System Preferences. Reboot your router and your computer.

Let us know if that helps.

Regards.

10-16-2009, 06:15 PM

OpenDNS - nice

10-17-2009, 12:23 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

You may be experiencing a DNS problem. For some reason Windows is able to resolve DNS addressing much better than Mac OS X. Try this:

Open System Preferences, Network. Highlight your Ethernet connection and then click on the Advanced button to the bottom right. Select the "DNS" tab at the top menu. At the bottom of the box which says "DNS Servers" click on the small + sign. Add this address: 208.67.222.222 click the + again and add this address below the first one: 208.67.220.220

This sounds really logical. Thanks! I'm a tad confused, though. When I follow the steps, I'm not finding the "Advanced" button.
Where do I go from here? Or am I in the wrong place?

Thanks again.

Scott

10-17-2009, 12:49 PM

You're in the right place. It's been awhile since a lot of us used Tiger.

Keep the Built-in Ethernet highlighted and click on Configure - may have to browse around a little since the preference pane has changed to find the DNS settings.

10-19-2009, 10:20 PM

I was having the slow browsing problem tonight. I found the DNS server section in Tiger, plugged in the suggested numbers-BINGO! Problem gone. Surfing at lightspeed. (or that's what it seems like. )

Thank you soooo much.

Scott