iMac slow internet, makes others slow too.

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Imac slow on internet and makes others slow too.

Hi folks, my broadband has become very slow but the machine seems to work fine with everything else. Also the other computers in the house run just fine on the broadband, until I connect mine – then all of them become slow.

We have 3 computers on our broadband, my imac running OS X 10.6.8, my wife’s newer imac running 10.9.1 and my son’s PC.

I’m wondering if I’ve got some malware that’s taking up all the bandwidth, or if there’s some conflict between the router and the mac. We have BT broadband.

It’s a really strange situation, does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?
 
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MacInWin

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Probably not malware, but you might have a network conflict in IP addresses. Can you check on your router to see what IPs are assigned and who is who? All of them should be using DHCP and you turn on DHCP on the router and it sorts them all out for you automagically.
 

bobtomay

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15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
What iMac do you have? And how are you connecting to the router - via wifi or ethernet?

Some of the early Intel Macs did not have 'n' wireless capability - they maxed out at 'g' speeds.
Some of them (my first Mac) had the capability of 'n' speeds, but, it was not enabled until you paid $1 for the firmware update to enable it.
If yours is one of those, then every time you connect via wifi, it is going to slow the entire wifi network down to 'g' speeds.

I still have 1 'g' device left here. Hence, I run 2 wifi networks - one that is 'n' only and one that is a combo network to avoid just this issue.

edit:
If you are using wifi - hold the option key and click on the wifi icon on the menu bar - that will provide you with more detailed info about your connection - in this case you would be looking for the 'Transmit Rate'.
 
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Thanks. I clicked the THANK button for MacInWin but can't see how to do the same for bobtomay???

I'm connected by wifi. My imac isn't that old, about 2.5 years old, imac11,2 running at 3.06 GHz so doubt if that would be running at G?

Anyway transmit rate is 117, what can I infer from that?

Thanks for the help I really appreciate it. R
 

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Interesting. When things are bogging down, Open Activity Monitor from Applications/Utilities and click on the Network Tab. Do you see anything constantly using bandwidth there?
 
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Thanks. I clicked the THANK button for MacInWin but can't see how to do the same for bobtomay???

I'm connected by wifi. My imac isn't that old, about 2.5 years old, imac11,2 running at 3.06 GHz so doubt if that would be running at G?

Anyway transmit rate is 117, what can I infer from that?

Hi Rich - you already have some of the 'seasoned pros' here responding, but maybe a little more information would help: 1) What ISP are you using for your broadband?; 2) What is the brand/model/age of your router? and 3) What router protocols are being used, i.e. 802.11 'g/n' (or even 'ac')? Have you 'power recycled' your modem & router (may be one device) - pulled the plugs and waited a while and re-powered, modem first, then router?

Have you checked your DL/UL speeds on the 3 computers, first w/ yours not on Wi-Fi and then w/ all 3 using wireless? (Speedtest Net is a good choice) - just wondering how your speeds change when your iMac is connecting, especially the download numbers? Dave :)

P.S. I'm assuming that the 3.06 GHz quoted above is the speed on your CPU; 'g' is the Wi-Fi protocol, specifically 802.11 g which runs at the 2.4 GHz band at 'ideal' speeds up to 54 Mbps, if that helps.
 

bobtomay

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...

I'm connected by wifi. My imac isn't that old, about 2.5 years old, imac11,2 running at 3.06 GHz so doubt if that would be running at G?

Anyway transmit rate is 117, what can I infer from that?

...

You're running at 'n', but, on a single channel instead of dual channels which would give you 300. Here's a quick tidibit on channel bonding.

I'd probably grab iStumbler - that version requires OS X 10.8 or later - check the channels being used by your neighbors surrounding networks and change the channel of your network.
 
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+1 for what bobtomay suggested. I just helped a friend who was unable to do anything wirelessly until I moved her off of channel 6 on the 2.4ghz band where a neighbor was camped (that is the default setting for most routers). Now it's humming. Another way to avoid the jam on 2.4Ghz band is to move to the 5ghz band. There are more channels up there so there is room for more networks in a confined space. When I set up my WiFI router, I set up with different names for the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels. That way I've been able to tell all my computers and devices to connect to the 5 side, leaving 2.4 for visitors and guests in my home.
 
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......... When I set up my WiFI router, I set up with different names for the 2.4 and 5 ghz channels. That way I've been able to tell all my computers and devices to connect to the 5 side, leaving 2.4 for visitors and guests in my home.

Hi Jake - thanks for the information - attached is a screen capture from an app called WiFi Explorer showing my 4 networks on an AirPort Extreme (plus my neighbors) - this was from my laptop in another room, so the lower signal strengths - the laptop is currently on the 5 GHz band, channel 149 (highlighted in blue - crossed out my name).

Now being new to a dual band router last spring, I did not give each band a different name, but the laptop seems to automatically go to the 5 GHz one - from your experience will my MBPro (spring 2013 model) always seek this higher band? I'm also wondering about my other devices, such as the Rokus - will need to check? Thanks for any comments. Dave :)

.

Screen Shot 2014-02-17 at 12.41.01 PM.png
 
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RadDave, open System Preferences/Network and then select your WiFi network in the left window. In the right window, click Advanced. Under the WiFi tab you will see a window with all the WiFi Networks the system has seen, in the priority order it uses to connect. As the window says, you can drag the networks into the order you prefer. If you want to remove any networks, select them and click the "-" button.
 
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RadDave, open System Preferences/Network and then select your WiFi network in the left window. In the right window, click Advanced. Under the WiFi tab you will see a window with all the WiFi Networks the system has seen, in the priority order it uses to connect. As the window says, you can drag the networks into the order you prefer. If you want to remove any networks, select them and click the "-" button.

Hi Jake - thanks for your prompt response - I followed your instructions, but the listing combines my 2.4 & 5 GHz networks (since each has the same name), so I cannot put them in an order - guess that I'd have to go into the Airport Utility and rename (to split out the two frequencies)? I'll periodically use the app mentioned in my other post to see which network my laptop is connected to and check my Roku devices - Dave :)
 
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Yes, the default for Airport is that the two channels have the same name. You can change that, then tell each machine which of the two is to be preferred. Normally, devices connect to whichever was last, if it's available, or the strongest it can detect, if the last is not available. The preferences change that behavior to look for networks in that order and only if it cannot find any of them to look for the strongest it CAN see.
 
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Reply I attempted to post yesterday but failed because internet is tanked:


Thanks Dennis, if I open Activity Monitor I presume you mean clicking on the Network button? TBH it doesn’t show much except levels of data sent and received. Data sent seems consistently much higher than data received and there seems to be a lot of data being sent even when I’m not using the internet but have windows open. Is that normal?

Thanks Dave, the ISP is BT Broadband – I’m in the UK. The router is a BT Homehub, type A, less than 6 months old. Don’t know about the protocols, I’d have to ask the provider. Yes I have powered down the router a number of times, if I turn it off and on again, the speed improves for a while then gets slow again. I will do the speed test later when all family members are present. Yes 3.06GHz is the speed of the CPU.

Cheers Bob and Jake I did phone the provider and he said he’d reset our router to automatically change channels if it was receiving interference from neighbours. I’m not even sure how to change channels myself.

All the best, Rich G
 
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MacInWin

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In activity monitor in the upper window when you have selected Network, click on either Sent Bytes or Rcvd Bytes to sort them so that the big users are at the top. That will tell you what applications are using the bandwidth the most.
 
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Thanks Dave, the ISP is BT Broadband – I’m in the UK. The router is a BT Homehub, type A, less than 6 months old. Don’t know about the protocols, I’d have to ask the provider. Yes I have powered down the router a number of times, if I turn it off and on again, the speed improves for a while then gets slow again. I will do the speed test later when all family members are present. Yes 3.06GHz is the speed of the CPU.

Hi Rich - as to the portion of your post above - you can obtain a LOT of Wi-Fi information by opening 'System Information' (plenty of ways but a quick one is to type that into Spotlight) - below is a screen capture from my laptop which shows that I'm using an AirPort Extreme supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n (blue arrow); also, I've blocked out my main network of 4 w/ this router, but my MBPro is connected via 802.11 n on channel 149 (other useful information is also provided) - hope this helps. Dave :)

.

Screen Shot 2014-02-18 at 4.53.43 PM.png
 
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You're running at 'n', but, on a single channel instead of dual channels which would give you 300. Here's a quick tidibit on channel bonding.

I'd probably grab iStumbler - that version requires OS X 10.8 or later - check the channels being used by your neighbors surrounding networks and change the channel of your network.

For Bobtomay & Jake - I used iStumbler on my Windows PCs back in those days, as I recall; will the program give me any more information than I'm seeing w/ WiFi Explorer (screen capture shown a few below the one posted above), i.e. I'm seeing my neighbors' WiFi networks along w/ the channels being used?

Also in that chart, my main network shows 2 channels, so I assume my AirPort Extreme router is automatically used 2 channels to broadcast (don't remember setting that feature up, so presume that it's a default?). Also, if I go into 'Net Utility', my link speed is shown to be 450 Mbps (assume that reflects use of 2 channels for Wi-Fi broadcast?).

NOW that is all 'well & good' for transferring data around your devices w/i your home network but my 'bottleneck' is the speed Time-Warner is bringing into the house on their modem, i.e. about 20 Mbps - no way when I'm streaming from Netflix or Amazon that the much higher 'in-house' speed is going to help - kind of a pain! Thanks - Dave :)

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Screen Shot 2014-02-19 at 11.22.35 AM.png
 
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Dave I don't know if my imac is different to yours bcs I'm in UK but there is no *System Information* on my machine, I supposed you must mean About This Mac and then I clicked the More Information button. By going down to Network and Airport I got the following info. Notable that there are a lot of other networks detected. Not sure how that helps?

Software Versions:
Menu Extra: 6.2.2 (622.2)
configd plug-in: 6.2.5 (625.6)
System Profiler: 6.0.1 (601.1)
Network Preference: 6.2.2 (622.2)
AirPort Utility: 5.6.1 (561.3)
IO80211 Family: 3.2 (320.1)
Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x8F)
Firmware Version: Atheros 9280: 2.1.14.6
Locale: ETSI
Country Code:
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140
Wake On Wireless: Supported
Status: Connected
Current Network Information:
BTHub3-749Q:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 0:3:d8:0:8e:ba
Channel: 11
Country Code:
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -43 dBm / -96 dBm
Transmit Rate: 117
MCS Index: 14
Other Local Wireless Networks:
BTHub3-ZCQK:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 0:3:d8:10:92:3a
Channel: 1
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -56 dBm / -96 dBm
BTWiFi:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 2:3:d8:10:92:3a
Channel: 1
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: None
Signal / Noise: -57 dBm / -96 dBm
BTWiFi:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 2:3:d8:0:8e:ba
Channel: 11
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: None
Signal / Noise: -41 dBm / -96 dBm
BTWiFi-with-FON:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 12:3:d8:10:92:3a
Channel: 1
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: None
Signal / Noise: -55 dBm / -96 dBm
BTWiFi-with-FON:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 12:3:d8:0:8e:ba
Channel: 11
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: None
Signal / Noise: -41 dBm / -96 dBm
moira:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: fc:75:16:4:45:ac
Channel: 1
Country Code: TW
Network Type: Infrastructure
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -79 dBm / -96 dBm
 
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MacInWin I can't separate Sent & Received bytes in my activity monitor. I don't know if it's different? I will attach a saved version.
 
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Dave I don't know if my imac is different to yours bcs I'm in UK but there is no *System Information* on my machine, I supposed you must mean About This Mac and then I clicked the More Information button. By going down to Network and Airport I got the following info. Notable that there are a lot of other networks detected. Not sure how that helps? .........

Hi Rich - well, I'm assuming that we're running different OSs and 'System Information' may have been reported differently - my experience goes back to Mtn Lion (i.e. 10.8) only, but there is still a wealth of information of available.

I just took a few snippets (quoted below) from your posting - first on the list is your AirPort Extreme supporting 802.11 a/b/g/n. The next items are the first two wireless networks listed (put their names in bold), both are running on the 802.11 n protocol on different channels, i.e. 1 and 11. Your security is WPA2, your S/N is shown in dBm, and transmit rates are given.

I"m assuming that if your wireless networks were transmitting over multiple channels that both would be listed (like in my screen shot shown previously) - BUT there is certainly plenty of data here and hopefully our more experienced network pros will chime in w/ some comments. Thanks for finding this info - Dave :)


Interfaces:
en1:
Card Type: AirPort Extreme
Supported PHY Modes: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Supported Channels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…..140

Current Network Information:
BTHub3-749Q:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
Channel: 11
Security: WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise: -43 dBm / -96 dBm
Transmit Rate: 117

Other Local Wireless Networks:
BTHub3-ZCQK:
PHY Mode: 802.11n
BSSID: 0:3:d8:10:92:3a
Channel: 1
 
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This had caught my eye as I am experiencing the same thing!!!

I have the very latest iMac late 2013 (bought in 2014), with CAT6 connection to a Cable Modem. ISP is Telstra Bigpond in Australia. My down speed is up to 26Mbps, but the DNS lookups and page loads are almost unbearable. Even GMAIL loads so slow that it is asking to use legacy html instead.

I have Intego internet protection and Cookie. I have ran a complete scan and have no viruses or other malware.

I really would like to get to the bottom of this.

Might try turning off my iMac, and then try using a Windows 7 laptop and see how the performance is.
 

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