Strange Problem?

Hi,

Thanks for clicking on my post.

I am having a strange problem.

My download speeds have dropped ALOT lately. Called the Mac store close to me and was told that the ISP has caused some issues. It works just fine on my PC, the MAC is the one that has the problem.

Basically, according to this guy, the ISP has made some changes to block certain ports, VOIP (skype...etc), and something to do with time stamp tracing. So they have just blocked this and thats why the MAC can not be traced easily and therefore the speed has dropped drastically or keeps dropping.

He tells me that some code has to to be entered to modify the OS to allow it to do some time stamp or soemthing (not sure) and then the connection should be fine. He is wanting to charge me money for this??

Can anyone, please help me???

I am getting really frustrated.

Thanks in advance

all i can do is bump this thread to the top.

I did not quite get that??

He means he cant answer your question, but he can help you out by keeping your thread near the top of the forum

Oh ok, thats cool!

But anyone?? any replies???? would really appreciate your help.

THanks

Not sure if what you were told really makes much sense. There are some things that you can try to troubleshoot the problem. It may not solve the problem entirely, but it may point you in the right direction.

Do some download tests with Safari and another browser, such as Firefox. I have noticed on my system that Safari is more sensitive to timeouts, especially when there are a large number of different URLs on the page. Firefox does not have appear to have this problem. If there is a difference, here there is a problem with Safari. Don't know how to fix it, but someone here or at the store might be able to offer some more advice (I am still a Mac newbie)

Is your Mac hard wired, or is it a wireless connection? If it is wireless, try doing a wired connection to the cable modem/router. If speeds improve, then you may be in a dead spot, or relative dead spot for you wireless. Changing channels sometimes helps.

Reboot your cable modem or router (or both).

Run a packet capture using Wireshark (www.wireshark.org) with your computer hard wired (must be hardwired, not wireless to the cable modem or router. It will show you any dropped packets and give you the necessary ammunition to have the problem fixed. Using Wireshark is an art, but it is usually fairly easy to see the problem. Follow the instructions for installation carefully, it is tricky to set up on a Mac.

My experience has been that most ISPs do not know much about Macs to do the proper troubleshooting, but it you can get to the second tier of support, you will frequently find a person who knows enough to really help. Sometimes, getting them to send a technician to the house will do the trick. Many technicians will call into a second support tier and then you can talk to someone who can work the problem properly.

Hope that helps.

Michael