Internet appears connected but pages fail to load after 3-5 minutes! HELP!

Question

I purchased my Macbook three weeks ago and it immediately found my network and connected. A few days later my computer failed to load internet pages (both in firefox and safari). The connection would not disconnect, or seem to slow. I diagnosed and found no problems. To get it to work for small amounts of time I turn off airport and then turn it back on and get a few minutes before I get "Problem Loading Page".
I have updated the firmware in my router. I use a D-Link Router WBR-1310 and a D-Link Cable Modem DCM-202. I have called my cable provider, Comcast, and they tested the connection saying it was strong. I connected directly to the modem and it never failed to stop loading pages the full 20 minutes I was connected.
My computer has no problem connecting to other connections: The Library, neighbors, my parents' home. There are no time outs and it automatically connects through Airport, no problem.
I have called D-Link about the router. They're a bit confusing in troubleshooting the problem. They told me to connect my Ethernet cable to the computer and manually put in IP address, subnet mask, router address, and name server address. First, I don't know where to find any of that except for the IP address. Secondly, do they expect me to connect and leave the ethernet cable in my computer?
Have there been any problems with Macs and this router? What am I doing wrong and has D-Link given me good steps to take? My experience with them hasn't been so great so I'm skeptical. All of this is very upsetting, I can't enjoy my new Macbook at home.

Answer 1

FrankInColorado wrote:
Yes I had read about this. The point is, especially with something such as wireless, it has to inter-operate with everyone else out there. You would think Apple would do some testing before going to some "recommended" standard that obviously is not widely used in the real world. To someone who just bought a new MacBook, it doesn't matter that Apple is using the "new" recommended way. They just want to be able to connect everywhere they go.
No, networking is a world of standards and recommended procedures. This all used to be a lot easier when there were actual engineers who understood the RFCs running most networks.
You seem to think Apple just throws software over the wall. If that's true, you should swing by Cupertino some time and see if you can meet with a member of their software test groups; I'm sure they'd love to know that you think they don't do anything.
Or perhaps Apple is supposed to test their software with every ISP on the planet first.
And how many people posting in these forums have said when they turn Airport off and back on, then things work again for a while. If the issues are on the other side, why would that make any difference?
Did I or anyone else here say that changing to OpenDNS' servers would solve every issue with every person in each and every one of these threads?
But there have been many cases where switching to OpenDNS' servers does solve people's network delay issues. Hmmm, I guess Apple's cluelessness doesn't apply in those cases.
Come on. He connected directly to the modem and was loading Web pages for 20 minutes without any problem. He goes back to using Airport and the problem reappears. And you think it's reasonable to assume it was just a coincidence that the supposed DNS issue went away while he was connected to the modem and reappeared when he went back to Airport?
It depends now, doesn't it, as I just said.
Perhaps he tried "surfing to a few sites" while connected directly, and when that worked he went back to AirPort. Did he try going to the same sites? Different ones? We don't know.
In fact, even if he did visit the same sites, that wouldn't tell us anything either way as the DNS resolutions for those sites would have been cached when he was connected to the wired network.
This is the same thing that has happened to me since upgrading to Leopard. My wireless started going bad after some minutes of accessing Web sites. If I rebooted the machine, it would be fine again for a while. I finally just turned Airport off and plugged in an Ethernet cable. I have not had any trouble with accessing Web sites since - same ISP (Comcast), same DNS servers.
Tell me there is no Airport issue.
I never said there weren't issues. No one did. Except you implied I did.
Your approach to troubleshooting seems to be "Ah, Apple's software is broken, why bother."
1) There are many people whose problems have been solved by switching to OpenDNS' servers. That's fact.
2) There are many ISPs who have broken DNS servers. That's also fact.
3) Comcast has a variety of DNS servers spread across the country, so your results in Colorado may differ from those of a Comcast subscriber in a different state. Fact again.
4) You asked for reasons, I gave them, you don't like them. Obviously I must be an Apple shill. Funny, I'll have to ask why I haven't received a paycheck from Cupertino. Ever.
I understand your frustrations if AirPort isn't working for you, but don't turn around and drop into troubleshooting threads and tell people why suggestions we're making can't possibly address their issues just because they haven't solved your particular issue.
That would be just as silly as me assuming that because I haven't seen an AirPort drop since 2007, all of those posting in threads here are simply delusional or incompetent.
The only way to find out what's wrong in each case is to be methodical, and step one in diagnosing network delays is to see if DNS is at fault.
If it is, great, problem solved. If not, on to step two of a nearly infinite sequence.
One step at a time.