Fluctuating Download Speed

I have just moved house had had my infinity re-installed.
The router had to go in the hallway as the by engineer didn't wan to install it anywhere else.
This means my ps3 needs to be connected over wireless rather than wired.
I expected a slight drop in wireless connection speed. However, This has dramatically dropped my download speed to 2meg (should be getting 70meg from router).
On the advice of BT, I bought a power line connector for the sockets to Ethernet the PS3.
When I do a speed test tho, I get mixed readings on the ps3 of around 800k dl and then up to 20meg dl.
It changes each time and it's fluctuating like mad.
Any ideas?
Thanks

Speedtesting on the ps3 is the worst you can do as it doesnt give an accurate indication of your speed at all.
Id make a complaint against the engineer who installed it as they are meant to install where you want.

Similar Messages

Infinity 2 download speed fluctuations

I had had BT Broadband Unlimited for over a year with a solid 14Mbps down and 1Mbps up connection. I participate in the SamKnows monitoring programme and have their white box installe on Lan Port1 on my present Home Hub 5 router and the Netgear I used prior to that. BTW I moved to HH5 before getting Infinity as it is a cheap deal for a dual band router and has good range. My PC (iMac) is connected to the SamKnows Bridge.
I moved to Bt Infinity 2 on the 14th May and the Openreach engineer moved my Master socket to the extemsion that I have always used for my ADSL router: it was installed by BT about 5 years ago.
For the first few days all was well 75 Mbps down and 18 Mbps up logged by SamKnows and also confirmed bt BT Wholesale Test.
After that the SamKnows logging started to show big fluctuations throughout the day in the download speed: it does an hourly test adn the download was dropping to less than 40 Mbps but upload was only doent to 14 to 15Mbps.
I called BT Tech Support and was asked to remove the Sam Knows bridge on Lan 1 and connect my PC direct into Lan port on HH5, shot down all wifi and powerline devices and range extneders and doa hard reset on my HH5. Did all this and was then asked to monitor the line for 24 hours using the BT Wholesale Test to see if the issue persisted.
The issue persists logging shows the line fluctuating between 75.24Mbps Down and 27.34Mbps down. Here is the raw data so far.
30/05/2014 21:42:00
60.54
15.94
30/05/2014 21:53:00
71.88
15.86
31/05/2014 22:33:00
70.57
16.29
31/052014 08:30
75.34
15.94
31/052014 09:30
42.30
14.29
31/05/2014 10:00:00
59.81
16.00
31/05/2014 12:30:00
52.94
16.44
31/05/2014 12:45:00
55.25
15.76
31/05/2014 13:00:00
27.34
11.94
It seems to me that there must be excessive contention in the cabinet my line is on which is strange as the excahnge onlt opend for FTTC at the start of May.
My question is what approach should I take when I go back to BT tech support on this issue this evening? Any suggestions much appreciated.
And why do BT tech support not provide you with a ticket ID from their helpdesk system for tracking the issue or are the actions so far logged against my account and line number?
Solved!
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Thanks to Valthos for a very helpful and eloquent response: it must have taken quite a lot of thought and effort for them to write as a troll they obviously have problems with both their basic literacy and interpersonal skills
Anyway, your contract with BT is not one of "best effort" it provides a profile giving a minumum level of service. I believe that as taxpayers we have contributed something like £2.9 billion towards the construction of the Openreach FTTC/P infrastrucutre. IMHO £26.00 pcm is quite a reasonable amount to pay BT for a VDSL2 service and is in line with what other ISPs charge.
After several sessions with BT support and having been asked to reset and monitor the line using the BT Wholesale Performance Test the issue was chased to a fault in the line configuration at the exchage. After a change the line has now settled down to 75 Mbps downand 18Mbps up so I am a happy customer again.
Thanks again to Valthos for their critical insight and help with this issue.

2009 Macbook issue: download speed limitation

Hi
Mi wife got a late 2009 white macbook that's driving me crazy. Despite we got a 7Mbit ADSL connection and all others macs at home (we got 2 more 2008 macbooks and a 2008 macbook pro) with the very same OS version (10.6.4) and network settings are working properly and downloading at full speed, her one looks to have some kind of speed limitation in download to around 1.5 Mbps.
The ping and upload speeds are the very same of other computers, and apparently randomly the download speed also on that computer gets back to around 7 Mbps...
I just spent the afternoon doing tests and I got nowhere but maybe I found a pattern...
First what I excluded:
-doesn't depend on how it's hooked to the net, same behavior by ethernet or wifi in both cases the other service was off
-any other mac using the same connection is working properly, did side by side tests
-ping is always the same on both computers used for test
-it is not a DNS issue
-deleted and created a new position in Network panel
-did several restarts, no solution
-doesn't depend on a specific app being used (but maybe apps can matter, see below)
-none of possible fixes I found online did work
-probably it isn't related to OS version or updates, this issue has likely been there since a lot of time, and over more os updates (not really sure of this, we had unrelated netwok issues and changed provider for that reason in last year, we cot a stable and uniform environment just recently)
Now what I noticed:
-As soon as the computer is started and I open a single browser (be it Safari, Chrome or Firefox doesn't change) speedtest.net test is ok, 7Mbps download.
-work and navigate with it, it's ok, download speed remains 7Mbps
-As soon another internet using application is opened (Mail, another browser) the connection speed drops to 1.5 Mbps (this is ALWAYS the limit, no relevant fluctuation in this)
-If I close any of above apps and remain with a single browser, running tests initially report still the 1.5 limit, but shortly after (one or two minutes) the speed gets back to 7Mbps
My wife needs to work with Mail, Skype, and at least two browsers open, so this limit is giving her great troubles

taylor.henderson wrote:
-none of possible fixes I found online did work
This doesn't really help narrow down the problem
{quote}
doh, you are right... sorry... the possible fixes I had found around are the ones reported right before...
Create a new user account on the problem computer and see if the slow speeds and strange behaviour persists in it.
I did, it does...
- created a new user and logged in
- opened Safari, speedtest returns 7Mbit/s in download
- opened Firefox, after a little speed drops to 1.4
- some successive test starts slow (1.4) then sometimes speeds up, but most remain at 1.4
- start chrome too, same behaviour
- close Safari and Firefox, wait a little (1 or 2 minutes) do the test with Chrome, back to 7Mbit/s
Then go through stuff like this http://www.gballard.net/macrant/osx_troubleshooting.html.
I went through it and did most of what's suggested there (it's a little complex because when I am not working my wife is usually using her macbook to study and needs to use it all the time)...
- unused disk space is 95,6 GB
- booted in single user mode and did a fsck -fy
- repaired permissions
Nothing changed, both the behavior takes place in new user account, and in main one, where any internet using application (Mail, Skype...) opened together causes the download slow down...

BT Infinity 80/20 true download speed not matching...

I upgraded to the BT Infinity 2 (80/20) service in April having previously been on the Infinity 1 (40/2) service. However since then no matter what time of day (or night) I try I cannot truly download anything at close to the speed I was quoted.
The speed I was quoted for my line was 76/20 and from running the BT speed test I believe my IP profile is set to 77.43 down and 20 up. The download speed quoted from the BT speed test site appears to reflect this:
BT speedtester: 72.28Mbps/9.51Mbps (ip profile 77.43 down and 20 up) although upload seems low.
I also get a similar result from speedtest.bbmax:
BBMax: 74938kbps / 12139kbps
However whenever I attempt to actually download anything at all (windows files, bbc iplayer download, thinkbroadband files, and many other download files) I get no where near this and tend to average around 35Mbps-45Mbps. The speed/download also seems to fluctuate and pause quite a lot. The highest speed I have ever got that lasted for more than a few seconds was around 54Mbps but this was a one off.
Here are the results of some other tests I ran:
Speedtest.net (Dublin): 58.88Mbps / 10.18Mbps (I live in Belfast and this seems best one)
Visualware Single Threaded: 48.1Mbps / 17.0Mbps (this seems to closely reflect what I see on downloads)
I am testing with Ethernet cable direct to BT HomeHub 3 (so no wifi or powerlines) and I have tried 3 different PC's/Laptop's just to rule out any issue with my own PC, setup, etc. I've also tried switching off firewalls, antivirus, etc.
I am hoping someone can please help with suggestions of what this could be. At the moment I can only think of congestion (that's 24/7!!), or there is some issue with my profile (maybe its set too high?), or there is throttling at play here (I have read from other posts that there have been problems in Northern Ireland so maybe this is BT trying to stabilise things?).
Any help appreciated.
Thanks
Rob
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smartie wrote:
RobW1977 wrote:
Cheers for the advice. I'll try out a few of the download managers you mentioned to see what I get.
Makes sense I suppose although the visualware results I am getting are still throwing me (when I know others are getting much better) and that's perhaps playing into my thoughts something strange was going on. The fluctuations and pauses/delays are still slightly annoying too but maybe that's another story...
Trust me, it will solve your speed issues! Oh and below is a screenshot I just took of a download I did from bbc iplayer, top gear episode which was nearly 600mb & downloaded in less than 1 minute, maxed out my connection at just over 9mb/s, the transfer rate in the image is a tad bogus as I max out at 9.4mb/s, not 9.7 it shows but you get the idea
Finally got chance to try the IDM download manager tool as well as a couple of others and I got the high speeds (very similar to what you had) so I guess I can see my higher speeds being used after all :-)
I'm still a little bit wary that my connection isn't the best as does still seem to fluctuate and pause a lot and my ping is usually high 30's or 40's whereas I have seen other people report getting ping in the 20's.
However happy to mark this as resolved. Cheers for everyones help.

Very slow download speeds with ATT U-Verse

Hello,
Experiencing very slow download speeds with Macbook Pro 2011, on Lion, and ATT UVerse Max, which should allow for an avg. 11-12 MBPS speed. Instead, I get a fluctuating 60-370 kbps speed. I am not experiencing this problem on my Windows machines (Laptop running Windows 7 and Desktop on XP), it is only affecting the Macbook pro. I wonder if this issue is a known problem with ATT U-Verse and Macs, I spent hours yesterday with their support online and they couldn't help me, stating that from their side all settings were OK; the first representative from ATT re-booted the router remotely and that seemed to work for about 10 minutes, and then it went back to a crawling speed...
Any suggestions welcome!
Thanks

Do you have QOS enabled in your router? Did you try plugging the win7 laptop directly and check the speed?

ITunes download speed

Im experiencing severe fluctuations in download speed from iTunes. One minute its fast and then it slows right down. Is anyone else experiencing this? doing it on my iPhone and PC. I have never had this problem before. Not sure if its iTunes or my ISP, but I can download web pages with no problems.

In the last month or two iTunes Store in the UK has become so slow that it's virtually useless at times, and I think it's probably ISP throttling to blame, but Apple may also have a hand in it.
Virgin Media in the UK openly throttles traffic according to a complex and ever-changing customer disservice policy http://www.virginmedia.com/traffic
However, I've studied the current Virgin throttling policy and it doesn't account for the abysmal iTunes Store download speeds we're experiencing. Specifically:
- It is not unusual for my 100Mbps down Virgin service to actually run at close to rated speed, and it almost always tests (ookla speed test website, or FTP to a server with a gigabit internet connection at my company's UK data centre) at least 40Mbps down.
- Virgin claims that "fair use" of my 100Mbps service is 10GB during the period 4-9pm, and that once I've used that they will throttle my download speeds by 50% for 5 hours.
- It's not that unusual for me to exceed the 10 GB limit.
- If Virgin's policy is to throttle me 50% from 100 to 50 I should be seeing something like 50 down. But actually I NEVER see that (even if I'm on a gigabit fibre connection at the office, so I think Apple DOES have some sort of throttling), but I do frequently see iTunes running at 18-20 down. So being throttled by Virgin from 100 to 50 should make no real difference.
- HOWEVER, on my Virgin connection, evenings in the last 2 months I'm FREQUENTLY getting 2 Mbps OR SLOWER itunes downloads.
- Now here's the rub: at the same time I'm being effectively prevented from using iTunes or Apple TV, I can run a speed test (or download a file from my data centre OR pull streaming video from a server at my data centre) at 20-60 Mbps.
SO... It appears that Virgin may be SELECTIVELY throttling iTunes and/or Apple is throttling us.
Anyone have any further input on this? Or corroboration?

Fluctuating internet speed

Hi
My boradband download speed on my iMac (late 2009 Intel, OS X 10.7.2) fluctuates wildly from 0.5Mb to 37Mb for no apparent reason. Even when I run Speedtest.net on my iPad 1 and iMac simultaneously I get ten times faster speed on the iPad. Both devices access my TalkTalk fibre connection through my new Time Capsule, on wifi. When I switch the iMac to the TalkTalk router, bypassing the TC, the situation improves and I get a much faster speed. But even via the TC the speed can occasionally go up to high thirties Mb. And of course I want to connect to the TC to enable back-ups. Any ideas on what might be going wrong? Thanks in advance for your help! Happy to answer any further questions.
James

I'm no expert on this but from noticing other posts on here concerning wifi issues a few things come to mind. No guarantee any of these will help but they won't do any harm. Might be worth trying them one at a time to see if they make a difference.
1. If the router is running b/g and n change it to b/g only. If it's running b/g change it to b/g and n (i.e. just change it from whatever it is currently on).
2. Add two new DNS numbers. System Preferences>Network>WiFi>Advanced Button>DNS tab - Click the '+' at the bottom of the window next to IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and type: 8.8.8.8 click the + again and add 8.8.4.4 - OK it and save the settings.
3. If you are using WEP wifi security change it to WPA/WPA2 (apparently Macs don't play nice with WEP, plus the fact it is not very secure).
4. Check there are no firmware updates for your router.

Fluctuating Broadband speed - consistently poor BT...

I'm really coming to the end of my tether with BT - what a shower! They do not seem to understand the concept of "customer service" So this is my last "port of call" before I completely lose my sanity...
BT line
Belkin Wireless Router F5D8636-4 v2 (01) installed in November 2011 & provided stable service up to about 2 weeks ago when we started suffering MASSIVE speed fluctuations as per the example below, the download speed has actually been down as far as 440kbps …
Have complained to BT on several occasions, the line has been tested & I finally got an engineer round a couple of days ago, but apart from replacing the master socket “just in case” offered no other help or assistance

the graph says the figures are connection speed and show large fluctuations. If the figures are connection speed then your router must be dropping connection often to get different connection speeds but this does not seem to be confirmed by your noise margin still at normal 6. with all these drops I would expect a far higher noise margin - unles the graph is reporting download speed and not connection speed as it says.
running btspeedtester and posting results would help
If you like a post, or want to say thanks for a helpful answer, please click on the Ratings star on the left-hand side of the post.
If someone answers your question correctly please let other members know by clicking on ’Mark as Accepted Solution’.

In Firefox can not see the Downloads window, in the jump in the boot to be seen - the download speed Downloaded much and now can not see how to fix it?

in Firefox can not see the Downloads window, in the jump in the boot to be seen - the download speed
Downloaded much and now can not see how to fix it?

I hate the new downloads-in-a-tab scheme. This was an unnecessary change in my book (if it aint broke, don't "fix it").
So in order to get it back, I performed the about:config browser.download.useToolkitUI change, but now all I get is a blank download window that pops up every time I download something.
Is there something else that I need to do? I've checked the change and it was saved, but it didn't resolve my issue as much as it just caused me a new issue.

WRT310N Playstation 3 Slow Download speed and general lag

Hey guys, I just recently bought the WRT310N and got both of my computers working with it. One is wired directly into the router, while the other is running off wireless. My Playstation 3 is able to connect to the router but I am getting an extremely slow connection speed.
Right now, both PC's get about 6.4-6.5 Mbps download speed while my Playstation is anywhere from 600 Kbs to 1.2 Mbps. I have plugged in my Playstation 3 directly into the modem and got a speed of 3.2 Mbps and was downloaded a demo very fast, but I do not recieve anywhere near those results when using it wireless.
Any advice? I have tried opening the ports, but that only seemed to slow it down. A couple of days ago I opened the ports specific to the game NHL 10 and for two days I was getting such a good speed in the game that it felt like I was playing offline, which was great! Then this morning, it just seemed do a complete 180. Now when I play the game I get an extreme amount of lag, and my other games like CoD4 get random lag spikes. Like, I'll be running and I get a lag spike which seems to happen fairly consistently every minute or so.
Any advice? Should I try opening the ports again or what?
Message Edited by Nimer on 10-02-2009 03:58 PM

I think you need to adjust the wireless settings of your Router, The wireless settings on your Router must have been setup to its default that's the reason you are receiving low signal strength on your PS3.
Open an Internet Explorer browser page on your wired computer(desktop).In the address bar type - 192.168.1.1 and press Enter...Leave Username blank & in Password use admin in lower case...
For Wireless Settings, please do the following : -
Click on the Wireless tab
- Here select manual configuration...Wireless Network mode should be mixed...
- Provide a unique name in the Wireless Network Name (SSID) box in order to differentiate your network from your neighbours network...
- Set the Radio Band to Standard-20MHz and change the Standard channel to 11-2.462GHz...Wireless SSID broadcast should be Enabled and then click on Save Settings...
Please make a note of Wireless Network Name (SSID) as this is the Network Identifier...
For Wireless Security : -
Click on the Sub tab under Wireless > Wireless Security...
Change the Wireless security mode to WPA, For Encryption, select TKIP...For Passphrase input your desired WPA Key. For example , MySecretKey , This will serve as your network key whenever you connect to your wireless network. Do NOT give this key to anyone and remember the key.
NOTE : Passphrase should be more that 8 characters...
Click on Advanced Wireless Settings
Change the Beacon Interval to 75 >>Change the Fragmentation Threshold to 2304, Change the RTS Threshold to 2304 >>Click on "Save Settings"...
Now see if you can locate your Wireless Network and attempt to connect...

Loss of download speed using airport extreme and express.

I have Wifi using an Airport extreme base station and an airport express extender. However, the download speed drops from 21 Mbps to 8 Mbps. Any suggestions to boost the express other than an ethernet connection which would be difficult.

Temporarily, power down the AirPort Express and take speed measurement at that exact location.
Whatever that is.....likely in the 8-10 Mpbs range......is what the Express will try to "extend".
In other words, the Express can only extend the bandwidth or speed that it receives. It cannot make the connection that it receives go any faster. In that regard, the term "repeater" is probably a more accurate description of what the Express is trying to accomplish.
If you want the Express to extend faster speeds, then it must be located closer to the AirPort Extreme. In addition, anything that you can do to reduce any obstructions in the signal path between the AirPorts will help.
Ideally, you want a line-of-sight relationship between the AirPorts to help reduce the amount of speed loss that occurs with any wireless connection.

New Infinity 2 poor real life download speeds

Hi
I'm hoping someone can help. I had infinity 2 installed on Tuesday and have had poor download speeds since. Now I use mainly iPads and iPhones for connecting to the internet.
My connection downstream on my modem says I'm connected at 78.12 Mbps however I can stand right next to it and try download something from sky go and this downloads at 11-12mbps. This doesn't seem right to me however as it is wireless devices the BT help centre will not help me.
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Are you sure that it is your speeds that are slow or are you possibly confusing your Megabyte (MB) with Megabit (Mb)
A Megabyte (used for file size) and a Megabit (used for download speeds). People often assume that a download speed of 1 Megabit per second (1 Mbps) will allow them to download a 1 Megabyte file in one second. This is not the case, a Megabit is 1/8 as big as a Megabyte, meaning that to download a 1MB file in 1 second you would need a connection of 8Mbps. Most downloads are shown as MB/s
If this is not the problem can you use this speed tester then carry out the further diagnostics and post back a screen shot of all the results including your IP profile for up and down. This test must be done with a wired connection for an accurate reading.
http://speedtest.btwholesale.com/

Slow Internet download speed, OSX 10.9.5

Since updated to 10.9.5, my Mac Pro Internet download speed down to 7 Mbps,
and same on My MacBook Pro 10.9.5 too. both use to be 70 Mbps.
I am paying $50.00 extra to get the highest speed from Time Warner.
My iMac is 10.9.3, tops 70 Mbps.
My iPhone 5s tops tops 30 Mbps
All in same WiFi network.
Upload speed all seem to be fine with 5 Mbps.
Mac Pro = Mid 2010
Processor 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Memory 16 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 ECC
Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024 MB
Mac Book Pro = Retina, 13-inch Late 2012
Memory = 8 GB
Something wrong!

Even the 'respected' tools like Onyx, if you look at what (each and every update) states in the "what is new" and changes will be to improve compatibility.
Never use or install anything (and I include OS X updates in that category) without cloning your system and having TimeMachine that is current, and backup(s) that will be off line.
Some cannot be trashed or deleted or removed without using an "uninstall app" or the installer, doing so without can mean having to reinstall first.
Or wipe the drive and restore from a known good backup set.
Some tips:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6522256
What to look for if your system is slower than normal etc:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4873022
for malware, check out this user tip (and his other pages too!)

V e e e r r y S l o o o o w Movie Rental Download Speeds

My setup: In my home office is a cable modem connected to my locally owned and operated ISP's coax feed. It's a city operated fiber network (Ashland Fiber Network), not a ComCast/Charter/Verizon conglomerate. The modem is connected to a Time Capsule (500 MB) via ethernet. Also connected to the Time Caspsule via Ethernet is a 2.4 GHz 24" iMac. The Apple TV is in my living room about 30' away through one wood-frame wall.
I get consistent >8 Mb/sec download speeds from Speedtest.net both on my office (Ethernet) iMac and on my MacBook via 802.11g while sitting next to the Apple TV in my living room. The Apple TV shows 5 bars on its signal strength meter, and is running the latest (2.02) software. I have the Airport Utility setup to run 802.11n (802.11b/g compatible) so that it'll work with both the Apple TV and my 802.11g MacBook. There are no 2.4 GHz wireless phones in my house, and no other WiFi devices connected. There are several other WiFi networks within range in my neighborhood, but I use WPA2 Personal security to isolate my network.
My problem: I have tried only 1 SD movie download. but it took 37 minutes to reach "Ready to Play," and then choked after playing for 56 minutes. So rather than wait for more of the movie to download, I went to bed and watched the rest of it the next day. I've rented 2 HD movies, the first download notice told me that it would take 13 hours to be ready to play, and the next said 11 hours. Both times I just went to bed and watched the movie the next day.
Trailers generally take anywhere from 2-5 mins. to begin playing, and they almost always choke after about a minute and have to download more to continue playing. They play much faster on my iMac when downloaded from Apple's Quicktime site, though I can't be sure if different servers are involved there.
This scenario does not jibe at all with what Apple tells me I should expect from the Apple TV, nor with what I read about here on the Apple Discussion boards.
Things I've tried: 1) Changing the WiFi channel from Auto to a discrete channel--I've tried four different channels now. 2) Switching to 802.11n only--both at 2.4 GHz and at 5 Ghz. 3) Unplugging and removing the batteries from my 5.8 GHz wireless phones. 4) Moving the Apple TV a 6' HDMI cable's length away from the TV and sound system in my living room. 4) Resetting everything several times, even once back to 2.0 before reinstalling 2.02. 5) I even unplugged the microwave in the kitchen. About the only obvious thing I haven't yet tried is stringing an ethernet cable from my Time Capsule to the Apple TV because I don't have one that long and would rather not strip down my entire setup just to test that. But it looks like I'm going to have to.
I've had four conversations with Apple tech support, the last one after being bumped up to level 2 support. They had me do (among other things) a 100-ping test using Network Utility between the my iMac and the Apple TV--no dropped packets and the network speed was, according to them, well within spec. When I told them all the other stuff I've tried, they had no suggestion other than: "Something is interfering with your signal."
I took the Apple TV to my local Apple Authorized Dealer (the nearest Apple Store is 300 miles away). It checked out fine and ran great on their network. I got to try downloading a few trailers there and they ran almost instantaneously. Now, they informed me that their network runs at ~15 Mb/sec, but they also have about 30 computers hooked up to it.
Anyway, I read here that almost all of you are seeing much faster download speeds on your Apple TVs, even those of you with DSL. And it seems pretty clear that I'm experiencing some sort of interference here, but can't seem to locate the source. So, my question is: What other possible sources of interference might I be getting, and how might I go about locating them?

cause i bot stock wrote:
How does downloading via your iMac respond?
I haven't tried downloading a movie from iTunes to see if there's a substantial difference, and you can't rent HD movies from iTunes, only SD. Trailers download faster, but there's no telling if they're coming from the same servers as Apple TV's trailers (nor if iTunes movies are, for that matter).
I'm quick to blame the time capsule and time machine. Similar to your problems with AppleTV, I've never had time machine work properly. All it does is suck up all my resources while taking days to do anything.
Unlike some, I've had zero setup or operating problems with my Time Capsule. Works like a charm and doesn't seem to slow anything down on my iMac as far as I can tell.

Transmit rate vs. Download speed: should I switch everything to 5GHZ or does it matter?

Thanks in advance for any help that you can give me. I am not well-schooled in networking so, after doing a lot of research and not being able to get clarity, I figured I would write what I understand and hope that somebody here could point me in the right direction. I have 3 airport stations (a time capsule dual band is the primary and 2 airport expresses) and they are all ethernet wired. All my devices are 802.11n capable and all the base stations are n capable. I have no strictly b/g devices, only n devices. No matter what base station a device is connected to, the speedtest.net rate is about 17mbps (I pay for 18mbps) so that is good. However, the "transmit rate" (and I don't really understand what this does) varies depending on what base station my device hooks into. Whenever I am near the time capsule (primary station), my devices hook in at 5Ghz and I get a transmit rate of about 240 to 300 and a 17mbps download speed. But when I hook into either of the other 2 aiport expresses, it shows that I am hooked into 2.4Ghz and the transmit rate is about 50 to 130, but I still get the 17mbps download speed. I know I can change both expresses to only do 5Ghz. Keep in mind, the speedtest.net test always shows about 17mbps download speed no matter what base station my device connects to. I am not sure I understand what the transmit rate indicates. I want to make my network the fastest it can be no matter what base station I use.
So, my question is should I change the other 2 airport extreme base stations to operate as 5Ghz n network only so that I have 5Ghz operating throughout my whole house which will give a higher "transmit rate" and will that make my experience faster even though I already get maximum 17mbps download speed? Also, if you could, please explain to me the difference between ISP download speed and "transmit rate" because I don't really understand the difference...I mean how does download speed affect my experience vs. how does transmit rate affect my experience? Do I really need to have a higher "transmit rate" to increase my speed or is just having 17mbps download speed necessary and the transmit rate doesn't matter?
One other thing you might need to know: I don't have any 2.4 ghz devices that might interfere with my network (my cordless phones are 1.9Ghz)
Thanks again for the help.

Think of it like this.. Change moving data in air to water in pipes.
You have a 1/2" pipe coming from the ISP into your house..
Inside your house you have 5" and 2" pipes.. (this represents the speeds or flow rate if you like, 1/2" is all the ISP gives you.. but your ethernet is a huge pipe.. think of it as infinite for this situation,, and 5" pipe that is 5ghz and 2" pipe is 2.4ghz.. this is just illustration remember it is area not diameter that matters).
If you transfer files between the computer on the TC to the TC hard disk.. you get all the 5" pipe.. very fast.
If you copy a file between computer on the TC and device on the express.. you are limited by the 2" pipe.. everything goes at the speed the 2" pipe can manage.
Now you do something with internet.. 5" pipe can get the same throughput as the 2" pipe because it is only 1/2"
Pipes btw are still in imperial even if you are in a metric country pretty often.
But I hope that illustrates the situation..
If a computer on 5" pipe and computer on 2" pipe are both trying to access internet .. they both still have to share the 1/2" pipe. In a perfect world they both get half your 18mbps if they are accessing it at the same time.. (QoS represent a flow valve that says this pipe should get more flow even if it is smaller so I shut the valve down on 5" to make sure it only gets what the 2" can get.. no more.. to be fair.).
Same as water in pipes.. the 1/2" pipe can never fill the 5" or even the 2" pipe.. the 2" cannot fill the 5" so the fastest would be everything on 5" pipes.. since you are unlikely to be able to afford a 5" pipe from the ISP then you accept everything is going to go slower when internet is involved.
Jumping out of my illustration..
Apple made 2.4ghz max out at 150mbps..
Although some of the later stuff can get better than that,, 217mbps.
The 5ghz is faster because it is has more bandwidth.. up to 1200mbps in the newest AC .. 450 on Gen3,4 TC and 300 on the older gen1,2
BUT the range is poor.. so generally better sticking with 2.4ghz for express.. they are not high power devices at all.
2.4ghz has better range and penetration.. you are going to be just fine with internet access.. and your setup is actually working really well.. There are some overheads on wireless so you do not quite hit wired speeds.

Fluctuating Download Speed

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