Why is internet download much slower than new macbook air than my old macbook

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HI,
As the title of my question suggested, download speed using my new macbook air is much slower than my old white macbook.
Not sure why as for both, I use firefox as a browser with same plugins and extensions. Everything identical except download speed.

Anyone has any idea please? Any suggestion to improve is welcomed.
 
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chas_m

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can you do a speedtest measure and post the results from the two machines?
 
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Thanks for your comment. After doing a google search, apparently it is a common problem with Mac book Air. So I have decided to take it back to apple store and see if they can fix it or suggest alternative.
 

pigoo3

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Thanks for your comment. After doing a google search, apparently it is a common problem with Mac book Air. So I have decided to take it back to apple store and see if they can fix it or suggest alternative.

If the research you did convinces you that there really is problem...ok. But the problem with doing internet searches for issues like this is...many times you are only hearing from folks who are having problems...and usually this is a very SMALL minority of all users. And many of these users have probably misdiagnosed or misidentified what the source of the problem is.

Sometimes folks don't understand that depending on the internet service someone has...internet service speeds can vary...and sometime vary a lot. That's why the suggestion that "chas_m" made is really the best first thing to do.

If you check multiple computers with speedtest.net (at about the same time under the same conditions)...and all of the computers score about the same speed...then the problem is NOT the computer hardware...but simply variation of the internet service.

- Nick
 
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If the research you did convinces you that there really is problem...ok. But the problem with doing internet searches for issues like this is...many times you are only hearing from folks who are having problems...and usually this is a very SMALL minority of all users. And many of these users have probably misdiagnosed or misidentified what the source of the problem is.

Sometimes folks don't understand that depending on the internet service someone has...internet service speeds can vary...and sometime vary a lot. That's why the suggestion that "chas_m" made is really the best first thing to do.

If you check multiple computers with speedtest.net (at about the same time under the same conditions)...and all of the computers score about the same speed...then the problem is NOT the computer hardware...but simply variation of the internet service.

- Nick


Hi to both chas_m and Nick,

I did the speed test for both computers. Results as follows:

2013 MacBook Air:
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results

Old macbook:
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results

Both speed test produced similar results but when I download a large movie file from iTunes together, the old macbook download twice as fast. The macbook air will eventually grind down to a halt. I really don't understand why this is the case.
 
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chas_m

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Now we're getting somewhere! Next question:

If you're using a network *other than your home network,* are the results the same or different between the two machines?
 
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Now we're getting somewhere! Next question:

If you're using a network *other than your home network,* are the results the same or different between the two machines?

Hi,

Both of my machines are logged on with my home wifi network, so I don't have any other network to choose from. However, I tried iPhone hotspot to create a different network, and the results are as follows:

Old MacBook speed test and ping test results:
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results
http://www.pingtest.net/result/94228884.png

Macbook Air results:
Speedtest.net by Ookla - My Results
http://www.pingtest.net/result/94229056.png

Can you interpret the results and let me know what is wrong with my macbook air? Thanks.
 
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chas_m

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I can't see that anything at all is wrong with the MacBook Air. Both your previous results and your new ones indicate that both of your machines are uploading and downloading at comparable speeds. Perhaps your MacBook Air is close to full?
 
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I can't see that anything at all is wrong with the MacBook Air. Both your previous results and your new ones indicate that both of your machines are uploading and downloading at comparable speeds. Perhaps your MacBook Air is close to full?

No, it's not at all full. It still has 453G left on the hard drive! I am really stumped by this..Thanks for looking at it anyway.
 
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Sounds like the MBA is downloading something else in the background. Possibly updates. How long have you had it and have you check software update to see if it is downloading anything.

Still something seems not right. What does your signal strength look like on your wireless connection? Really sounds like the MBA could have a antenna going out, I would have the iStore check it out and have them test the antenna.. Under small load it could be fine, but under heavier load could heat up the antenna causes it to start failing and loosing packets.
 

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