Internet way slower on Mac?

taylorwilsdon · Sep 16, 2006

I've had my macbook for about a month now, and I'm generally impressed (I kept it

) but I have one major problem with it. The internet is slow. I assume this is due to some sort of misconfiguration; but I don't really know where to look.

A little background - this isn't percieved slowness, its actually slower. I'm not talking about browsers or page rendering speeds, I'm talking about real-world speedtests (dslreports, speakeasy) on my Sony laptop vs. my Macbook (both 801.11g), my Desktop vs. ethernet connected Macbook (both gigabit) and for each of the 10 tests that I ran over multiple testing sites, the macbook was ALWAYS at least 3 times slower in upload and download speeds.

So far I've tried these same tests (yes, I made extra sure it wasn't in my head) on three (yes, 3) different connections. Two Comcast cable connections and one Cogent communications fractional ds3 line. Each had identical results, comparatively (of course, the actual speeds were different, but comparatively, the results were the same).

Any tips?

kevin_msu · Sep 17, 2006

Wow... that's strange. I'm thinking its a hardware issue.

i have my MacBook, a Dell D400 and my PC via a linksys usb thingie all on a D-Link Range Booster G.

they are all fast. my Mac is really fast. they're usually at around 2 MB when i test it on toast.net

if it was a software issue, more people would be complaining about this.

wakerider017 · Sep 17, 2006

taylorwilsdon said:
I've had my macbook for about a month now, and I'm generally impressed (I kept it ) but I have one major problem with it. The internet is slow. I assume this is due to some sort of misconfiguration; but I don't really know where to look.

A little background - this isn't percieved slowness, its actually slower. I'm not talking about browsers or page rendering speeds, I'm talking about real-world speedtests (dslreports, speakeasy) on my Sony laptop vs. my Macbook (both 801.11g), my Desktop vs. ethernet connected Macbook (both gigabit) and for each of the 10 tests that I ran over multiple testing sites, the macbook was ALWAYS at least 3 times slower in upload and download speeds.

So far I've tried these same tests (yes, I made extra sure it wasn't in my head) on three (yes, 3) different connections. Two Comcast cable connections and one Cogent communications fractional ds3 line. Each had identical results, comparatively (of course, the actual speeds were different, but comparatively, the results were the same).

Any tips?

when you plug it in directly with an ethernet cable it is slower too?

wow, wierd...

Try this place:

http://www.testmy.net/

taylorwilsdon · Sep 17, 2006

Testmy confirms the same results. I did all the tests on matched hardware.

Do you think I've got a bum machine? I'm inclined to say no, because it works (albeit slowly)
I've never heard of a hardware issue that caused slowing, but not failure.

trpnmonkey41 · Sep 17, 2006

Go to Applications -> Utilities -> Network Utility

what is your Link Speed listed as there?

mac57 · Sep 17, 2006

I am thinking that your network settings may be set for the wrong speed. What is the top speed your are achieving? Any possibility that you are set for 10 Mpbs instead of 100 or 1000? I had this happen on a machine once. As soon as I reconfigured the network interface to the correct speed, all was well.

taylorwilsdon · Sep 17, 2006

en0 and en2 lists 100mbps speed in network utilities.

Mac57, how did you go about doing such a thing?

wakerider017 · Sep 17, 2006

Just take it in to an apple store and have them look at it....

dtravis7 · Sep 17, 2006

I tried doing my usual speedtests with SpeakEasy and DSL Reports on a FAST PC with XP and also Vista RC1. All my Macs here get the exact same speed results as my PC in either OS.

mac747 · Sep 17, 2006

Just realized everything is set the way its supposed to be.

Go Apple!

Tim

trpnmonkey41 · Sep 17, 2006

en1 is airport extreme which is max of 54mbs
en0 is ethernet which is max of 1gbs. Unless you are using cat6 cables you will probably show as 100mbs

taylorwilsdon · Sep 17, 2006

The switch I'm running off is 100mbps, so thats why it lists as such.

I'd really rather not make the trip to the Apple store unless its totally necessary, because its not like its right across the street

Gas is expensive, kids =P

dtravis7 · Sep 17, 2006

I know about Gas trust me! :biohazard

I have never had your issue here and I have many PC and Macs. I don't know what is going on.

I have one thing you can check. Open System Preferences, Networking and go to the Ethernet tab. Click Manual. Are you on Cable or DSL? Set the MTU to 1492 if you are on DSL or 1500 if you are on Cable. That is the only thing I can think of that can slow it down. Hope it helps. If not, sorry.

taylorwilsdon · Sep 17, 2006

Cable.

Yeah, the MTU is right on. I guess a trip to the Apple store is in order.

black96gtvert · Sep 17, 2006

i have the same issues. It is slower, ive even run Mac OS X on a pc and its the same. I'am not sure why but its the same way on my intel iMac

taylorwilsdon · Sep 30, 2006

Still slow. I've finally got my car un-broken(everything Ford sucks) so I can take it to the apple store if absolutely essential. However, if someone has a fix that doesn't involve me driving 20 minutes each way, that'd be nice too

asolo · Sep 30, 2006

taylorwilsdon said:
Still slow. I've finally got my car un-broken(everything Ford sucks) so I can take it to the apple store if absolutely essential. However, if someone has a fix that doesn't involve me driving 20 minutes each way, that'd be nice too

Strangeness...but I'll bet the folks at the store can straighten it out. One impressive difference I noticed instantly with my iMac upon delivery 3 months ago was that all internet activities were faster, not the same or slower, using exactly same cable and modem side-by-side. Previous PC was fast/clean pentium 4 3.4ghz and it wasn't slow either but iMac is faster. Accordingly, I have little doubt your machine is capable -- unless something is wrong in there.

CWMac · Sep 30, 2006

Weird . My MB runs much faster. loads pages quicker etc.

taylorwilsdon · Sep 30, 2006

CWMac said:
Weird . My MB runs much faster. loads pages quicker etc.

taylorwilsdon said:
I'm not talking about browsers or page rendering speeds

And yes, the desktop is much faster then my Macbook but that doesn't affect internet speeds (it affects percieved speeds, but both are well-spec'd machines)

davetheblaze · Sep 30, 2006

I just stuck 1gb of extra ram into mine and it is now flying on the web, it was really bugging me being so slow but its like a different machine all over again.

Internet way slower on Mac?

taylorwilsdon

kevin_msu

wakerider017

taylorwilsdon

trpnmonkey41

mac57

taylorwilsdon

wakerider017

dtravis7

mac747

trpnmonkey41

taylorwilsdon

dtravis7

taylorwilsdon

black96gtvert

taylorwilsdon

asolo

CWMac

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taylorwilsdon

davetheblaze

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