SUPER slow internet

desrosiers13 · May 13, 2007

ok, i have a macbook pro and the internet couldnt be slower. We have high speed ethernet and wireless and i feel dial-up would fit me better! im so upset. We have a Belkin Router and there are 4 computers with ethernet on it. They are all running Windows and its running super fast. Here i am with OSX and its super slow. I am the only one who experiences this. It took 22 seconds to load amazon.com and even just to get to my home page. I have tried the wireless and the ethernet. Both are terrible. I dont know what else to do. It downloads items extremely fast, but trying to just surf the web...forget about it. I use my parents XP computer. I went so www.speedtest.net and here were my results.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/125776949.png

Incase that does not work, my results were:
Download: 4324 kb/s
Upload: 284 kb/s

PLEASE, any help would be awesome! i dont know to much about wireless so im not sure what to do. heres the model of my Router aswell. Its not really that great, my brother just came home with it one day.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00008ZPJU/?tag=macforums0e4-20

Thanks again!
-dave

bobtomay · May 13, 2007

Your speed looks fine, although you didn't give us a comparison from your wired computers. And if your downloads are coming through fine would suggest it is probably the browser that is having an issue.

What browser are you using (Safari?) - have you tried a different one (Firefox or Opera?)

Would suggest emptying the cache in which ever browser it is you are using.
Safari - Empty Cache
Firefox - Clear Private Data
Opera - Delete Private Data

dtravis7 · May 13, 2007

Agreed completely with bobtomay. Also give Camino a try. It's super fast here on my DSL with about the same throuput as your Broadband.

desrosiers13 · May 13, 2007

thankyou so much. i had camino this whole time, forgot about it. it seems to be a bit faster than safari. Maybe ill try firefox. I do empty my cash daily. The results from the wired XP computer were very similar to mine. Stil in the 200's for upload. So im not really sure why it is so slow. il let you know. thanks
-dave

dtravis7 · May 13, 2007

Upload is always a lot slower than download with most Broadband. You can get faster uploads if you pay a lot but for the little I use Uploading the 500+ kbps I get here is fine.

jaynorris · May 13, 2007

Ugh, 4324 kb/s translates roughtly into 500KB - thats fine for a download speed?

You also might want to check your DNS or Gateway entry. Make sure you're using the right gateway... Not sure if you're using DHCP or Static, but either way check these settings. If you're using DHCP, you might just want to assign a static IP just so you know you're connecting to the router with absolute settings.

dtravis7 · May 13, 2007

I was talking about UPLOAD and not Download. 4000k is more than most DSL that I have used gives.

What speed are you getting with your Broadband? DSL here in Calif rarely goes any faster than what he is seeing unless you pay a LOT of $$$ a month.

KB3GZW · May 13, 2007

That internet is not slow! The DSL I have in around 1500kbps download and 350 upload.

dtravis7 · May 13, 2007

KB3GZW said:
That internet is not slow! The DSL I have in around 1500kbps download and 350 upload.

exactly. There is nothing wrong with his internet speed.

bobtomay · May 13, 2007

jaynorris said:
Ugh, 4324 kb/s translates roughtly into 500KB - thats fine for a download speed?

Yes, that is fine.
1 Kilobyte (KB) = 8 Kilobits (Kb)
1 Megabyte (MB) = 1024 Kilobytes

desrosiers13 · May 14, 2007

ok, the numbers may read fast, but actually sitting here and it taking 5-10 minutes to check a simple email should not be. Physically seeing how slow this actually goes is what im speeking of. My brother saw it today and was also amazed at its slowness. I dont understand it. I was at someone apartment the other day and the internet was zooming, it only seems to be slow here at my house.

Under ethernet and airport it shows i am using DHCP. I dont know how to set up a static IP address nore do i see the option to use that. I am more than willing to learn and try whatever may fixit. So i thank anyone who has given me advice, and im not just looking to hear..."the connection is fine" im just looking for answers. So thankyou everyone

Also, how do i check the Gateway settings? Like i said before, i dont really know that much about wireless or setting up routers. I can do anything but.
-dave

Aptmunich · May 14, 2007

Well what part takes long?

Actually contacting the site or the individual pieces that load?

dtravis7 · May 14, 2007

The reason I said what I did about your internet connection speed is the one poster telling you your speed is slow. It's not. And you say other machines at your place do not act like that. Did you try all the other browsers? Any improvement? If not trying to think of what maybe going on.

Also what Email do you use? Web based or POP3 based. If POP based you using Mail to get the messages? Who is the email provider?

desrosiers13 · May 14, 2007

sorry, number 1. my apologies. I misunderstood.

I tried the other browsers and its all the same.

Alot of it is contacting the site. Also, loading all the individual images and and text takes a bit to. Some pages happen to fly and others like amazon, newegg, yahoo, google, all of those seem to take forever to contact and load. I wish i could be more technical with my responses like with system prefs and all of that.

dtravis7 · May 14, 2007

desrosiers13 said:
sorry, number 1. my apologies. I misunderstood.

I tried the other browsers and its all the same.

Alot of it is contacting the site. Also, loading all the individual images and and text takes a bit to. Some pages happen to fly and others like amazon, newegg, yahoo, google, all of those seem to take forever to contact and load. I wish i could be more technical with my responses like with system prefs and all of that.

Strange. Those sites here are very fast. I added another question to my other post so re-read it and let me know. Hope we can help.

desrosiers13 · May 14, 2007

What does POP based mean?

I use Yahoo mail and also Central Michigan University Mail.

dtravis7 · May 14, 2007

desrosiers13 said:
What does POP based mean?

I use Yahoo mail and also Central Michigan University Mail.

You using an email client like Mail to check the email or is this all Web based?

Reason I ask is I take my iBook and Compaq AMD 64 with me to friends houses and on computer service calls and often use that persons Internet to check my Mail. I always use a Mail client. At some houses on both the AMD 64 and Mac iBook the email seems to CRAWL coming down yet their internet is very fast overall. Other places and here at home it flys.

That one poster that mentioned DNS has me thinking a bit too.

desrosiers13 · May 14, 2007

they are all web based.

MiraPoint is the webmail provider for school...is that considered web based?

dtravis7 · May 14, 2007

desrosiers13 said:
they are all web based.

MiraPoint is the webmail provider for school...is that considered web based?

Yes. So all the slowness seems to be WEB related. Let me try a few things and get back to you. Real fast, who is your ISP? In other words who provides your internet to your house?

desrosiers13 · May 14, 2007

Wide Open West. I dont know how big it is over there, but its popular around the Detroit area