Internet slow (FIOS) on Imac with both Safari and Firefox

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Fairly new imac 20", ver 10.4.10. From time to time, my internet on this mac runs very slow or not at all. No errors, just have pages loading or just stalls. I check the pc next to me and fires right, same pages. Try releasing my ip and reseting the dlink router (I am wired) and still long pause or nothing comes up? I've cleared safari cache and it still pauses....way too long for a super fast pc and fios internet. any ideas?
 
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I just stumbled upon this and it worked great for me, I have an imac 20" 2.4 OS 10.5 Leopard. My internet was slow as molasses, now it screams.

Go to system preferences, select Network, select Ethernet and click "Assist Me". Click on Diagnostics, under "Network Diagnostics" select "yes" and continue. You may have to select a different "Location" (I did, my wife did not), choose continue, select Ethernet and click continue the "Quit" You may also be able to do this with the Airport, I don't know.
Let us know if it works for you. I am new to Mac and figuring this out was an accident.
 
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Same problems

I have the exact same issues with my new fios 3 bundle. I had the 2 bundle and things were fine. Now I have 20/20 and certain times things are fine and other times (especially at night) pages load very slowly. I went to my pc and things are fine. My email is [email protected]. Please let me know if you figure it out and/or if you send your address I'll do the same. BTW. I'm not quite sure what the other post was talking about.
 
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Maybe router

Quick update... It seems to be a router problem. I've read a few post on other sites and that seems to be the consensus. Try this. When you have a site that's taking forever loading, stop the load (the x button) swap the network cable on the back of the router from its present port to another open port and try reloading the same page or site. It should scream loading up. Unfortunately the next page or at best a few pages down will be slow again. My immediate suggestion is to get a new router from Verizon but who knows if that one will be any good. Stay tuned.
 
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PC vs MAC

There seems that there may be a firmware issue with the Actiontec routers. No confirmation but it makes sense that PCs work and not Macs.
 

chscag

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Hi Guys:

To you folks who are using Verizon FIOS - I had the same slowdown issues as has been described. It's not the router or firmware it's the way Verizon derives its DNS settings for FIOS.

If you go into the router setup menu, you'll probably see all zeros for the primary DNS and secondary DNS settings (under WAN\LAN menu). Normally this is OK because the system will generate a DNS setting on the fly. While this works great for Windows PCs, it does not always work correctly for Mac airport or Mac ethernet.

Here's how to resolve the problem: First go into System Preferences and open Network. If you're Airport Connected, it'll show up that way by being highlighted. Now click on the Advanced button. Click on DNS.

Add these settings in for Primary DNS and Secondary DNS:

Primary = 208.67.222.222
Second = 208.67.220.220

Click OK and go back one step. Now choose ethernet and put in the same settings for DNS Server. Close the dialog.

Now go into your router and do the same thing for primary and secondary DNS settings. Reboot the router.

Those settings for primary and secondary are for OpenDNS. Standard DNS servers which are separate from Verizon or any other ISP. They're fast and work well. I finally found someone at Verizon FIOS support who understands Mac machines and OS X and he agreed with me.

Give it a try but before you do, make sure you write down all your old settings so you can go back in case things don't work out.

Regards.
 
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OK, I have no idea what the last post was about but then again I am kinda stoopid when it comes to computers. Surely there is a simpler way os dealing with this. Both my Safari and Firefox are sooooo slooow. They were fine two weeks ago, and I mean really fast. It's a new MAc (only two months old) I've checked the router, I've checked my download speed with Talktalk and everything their end is fine so it's definitely my Firefox and Safari (or Mac). Someone mentioned clearing my browser cache or something. Again not sure as I don'y know *** to do this. Any new suggestions? Anyone spoken to Apple about this?
If you have any ideas it would much be appreciated if you can explain it to me as if I were three years old and not a computer literate genius, because I am defintiely not one of those O:)
Much thanks,
David x
 
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I just stumbled upon this and it worked great for me, I have an imac 20" 2.4 OS 10.5 Leopard. My internet was slow as molasses, now it screams.

Go to system preferences, select Network, select Ethernet and click "Assist Me". Click on Diagnostics, under "Network Diagnostics" select "yes" and continue. You may have to select a different "Location" (I did, my wife did not), choose continue, select Ethernet and click continue the "Quit" You may also be able to do this with the Airport, I don't know.
Let us know if it works for you. I am new to Mac and figuring this out was an accident.
I followed your suggestion - for location I selected Automatic instead of Westell - HUGE difference.
BIG Thank you
 
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Also followed the above advice and it did absolutely nothing for me. In fact, if possible, is slower than ever. My internet download speed is brilliant but so slow on this NEW mac. Does Safari of Firefox have any suggestions?
 
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2 chscag
It really works! Now I've got a very stable internet connection via ethernet cable.
 
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Mac/Verizon slow connection

I too have been having a problem with my Verizon connection. I swapped from Charter for the fast connection but immediately I lost my ability to use Ichat / video - with my family overseas. I contacted Verizon and set the ports etc on the admin page but that did not work. My internet speed is fast if I sit next to the modem with a hard connection via ethernet, but I still have no video chat
I have the Wifi modem (action tech) and even with a full signal I get sluggish pages loading etc. in fact sometimes they even freeze.
The Verizon tech came out to trouble shoot the problem and with his old school PC laptop (a quarter of the power of my 3 macs) his internet was blazing fast.

Verizon and action tech say they cannot do anything to help me in regards to troubleshooting the mac. not much help.

Also I tried using Skype with my family and I managed a audio connection on both ends - my mother can see me on video but i cannot see her ? more voodoo!

Does anyone know if there is a fix for all this or would I have been better sticking with Charter?
 

chscag

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To musicyardmalibu:

Are you on Verizon FIOS or regular Verizon DSL? Post back and let me know.
If you like, post to me via Private forum mail.

You're correct about the techs at Verizon. If you can find one that understands OS X and Macs, better write down his\her name for future reference. I too dropped Charter because of their poor service and went with Verizon. The techs at Charter are likewise not knowledgeable about Macs.

Regards.
 
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Fios

Finally got things working. Very simple solution. Why nobody knows this, i don't know. Go to System preferences > Network > Built in ethernet and in the DNS Server field enter 4.2.2.5. Apply and close and restart. This worked for me after days of searching for an answer and on the phone with Verizon. Try it out and see if it works for you. Good Luck.
 

chscag

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Tom:

Interesting. Where did you come up with that fix? And does it work for an airport connection?

Regards.
 
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In theory it should but we are talking about a godzillion other factors when we start getting into wireless. With me it was a problem loading pages via ethernet. My speeds were fine when tested through speakeasy but the pages just didn't want to load up. Setting a static DNS server address fixed the problem. Try it with wireless.
 

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Sounds like something I may experiment with. Verizon FIOS is a horse of a different color when it comes to DNS. Most, if not all ISPs assign a set of DNS addresses for their various servers. Verizon FIOS, however, instead relies on a series of servers which are assigned by locale. That's why they specify 0,0,0,0. for a primary and secondary DNS address.

Previous to June - July of this year, it worked well in my area. No issues. But then Verizon expanded their coverage to other areas in and around North Texas. And that's when the trouble began. Using Open DNS resolved the problem for me on both Airport and Ethernet. The strange thing about all of this is that it (Verizon DNS) at no time had any impact at all on my two PCs. They continued to work fine at FIOS speeds.

I'm going to reset my DNS addresses to the static ones and see what happens. I'm assuming that will likewise have to be done in the router setup.

Thanks for the info.

Regards.
 
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On going issues / slow speed w/MAC & Verizon FIOS

Thank you for the suggestions CHSCAG
I did try your DNS settings and unfortunately for me they did not resolve the problem. I am FIOS by the WAY.
I called Verizon several times and finally got lucky and talked witH a tech who was an ex MAC phone support guy, problem though, he was stumped and admitted that there is an issue with MAC and FIOS - he had me try several things and then finally his suggestion was to go back to Charter - not what i wanted to hear having gone through the madness of porting numbers etc (if anyone has gone through that they'll know what a time sponge that ordeal is - i was without any phone or internet for 10 days as they screwed up the wires going into my house), the Verizon tech said they really don't support MAC and have no clue how to resolve this issue although they are aware of it. Baffles me why they would not be clear about this when one is ordering service.
I did manage to get skype going with audio and video - still no ichat which really sucks cause most of my people are on MAC and use ichat. I am now a stepchild with screaming fast internet costing me 70 bucks a month that behaves like a dial up modem. I also now have no internet on my my MAC in the studio although it sees a strong signal.
Any more ideas would be welcomed greatly ... Thank you
 
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similar issue

Thanks for all the posts. I'm getting a bit confused between what applies to airport and wired. My new imac (my first, I am a pc user) is slow in loading pages, and extremely slow in sending data to my wireless printer. My imac is a bit far from the router, but my pc's work fine the same distance. I also just got FIOS. Is there something I should try to speed up the connection using airport? Where can I go on the imac to see how strong my wireless connection is? Any help would be appreciated.
 
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It worked!

Hi Guys:

To you folks who are using Verizon FIOS - I had the same slowdown issues as has been described. It's not the router or firmware it's the way Verizon derives its DNS settings for FIOS.

If you go into the router setup menu, you'll probably see all zeros for the primary DNS and secondary DNS settings (under WAN\LAN menu). Normally this is OK because the system will generate a DNS setting on the fly. While this works great for Windows PCs, it does not always work correctly for Mac airport or Mac ethernet.

Here's how to resolve the problem: First go into System Preferences and open Network. If you're Airport Connected, it'll show up that way by being highlighted. Now click on the Advanced button. Click on DNS.

:*
**Note (from Lahn)- I selected AUTOMATIC for LOCATION
Then under the Tab TCP/IP there is a box DNS Servers. In this box I added both of the codes below. It didn't have another box for the Secondary. I am the kind of user that needs screenshots (LOL). And I got this to work! YEY! Thanks!!!***

Add these settings in for Primary DNS and Secondary DNS:

Primary = 208.67.222.222
Second = 208.67.220.220

Click OK and go back one step. Now choose ethernet and put in the same settings for DNS Server. Close the dialog.

Now go into your router and do the same thing for primary and secondary DNS settings. Reboot the router.

Those settings for primary and secondary are for OpenDNS. Standard DNS servers which are separate from Verizon or any other ISP. They're fast and work well. I finally found someone at Verizon FIOS support who understands Mac machines and OS X and he agreed with me.

Give it a try but before you do, make sure you write down all your old settings so you can go back in case things don't work out.

Regards.

** I added the little steps I did to get this to work. Thanks sooo much. It worked instantly!
 

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