Weak connection speed on Mac vs. PC

Hi.
My MBP 17" which is a year old has since day one been having problems with download/upload speeds compared to my old PC.
When I put them both up for a test on my 30/30 mbit connection I get the following results:
Wired
PC: 3,9 MB/s download - 3,5 MB/s upload.
MAC: 2,4 MB/S download - 2,3 MB/s upload.
Wireless
PC: 3,1 MB/s download - 3,0 MB/s upload.
MAC: 2,2 MB/s download - 1,9 MB/s upload.
As you can see the Mac is always about 1-1,5 MB/s slower than the PC regardless of connection method. Please notice they are both standing in the same room, next to eachother with nothing to disturb the wireless signal. I've also tried changing their position.
Please help me gain my full connection speed with my Mac, be it wired or wireless, there must be some settings or things to tinker with.
Note that I am running with a fully upgraded Lion, this didn't change my speeds.
Below are some specifications for my Wi-Fi and router: (also note that I am not able to change the router as it delivers my optical TV through the internet (which doesn't work with any other routers, I've tried)
Wi-Fi
PHY Mode:          802.11g
BSSID:          00:21:29:08:cb:be
Channel:          1
Country Code:          FR
Network Type:          Infrastructure
Security:          WPA2 Personal
Signal / Noise:          -50 dBm / -91 dBm
Transmit Rate:          54
It's a Linksys WRP-400 router. With default settings (only added a WPA2-key and changed the SSID)

If you want my honest opinion based on my real life experience, almost all Linksys routers out there are anti-macs... I've had 4 and all have been crap, as soon as I changed the router to a USRobotics, 3COM, 2Wire, Airport Extreme, Vizio, NetGear, etc. it all worked fine...
You might get better answers if you try their forum too:
http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wireless-Routers/bd-p/Wireless_Routers

Similar Messages

IWeb publishing to .Mac/iDisk- interruptions: does connection speed matter?

Greetings,
I posted an earlier message somewhere in the iWeb08 forum regarding my suddenly experiencing lack of completion of publishing iWeb site to .Mac. Publishing just stops - no error message comes up. I have however noticed that my internet connection has been also varying in speed - down to a few dozen kbps in the last day, which is when I started experiencing this problem. Does connection speed affect such publishing? in other words, if connection speed goes down tremendously, does publishing to .Mac sort os "times out"???
Will appreciate input!
- Roger T

More than likely you are seeing a cached copy of your website. Sometimes this is a local phenomenon and a simple clearing of your browser cache does the trick (Safari>Empty Cache). However sometimes your ISP is the culprit with caching at their level. This seems to be a chronic problem with ISPs in the UK for some reason. And the only thing you can do is to wait it out.
You can try adding a "?" to the end of your URL to force Safari to fetch a non-locally-cached copy of your site, but even this won't help if your ISP is overzealously caching material.
Anyone in the UK can shed light on this ISP phenomenon???
If you find this information useful, please don't forget to provide me with feedback by marking my reply as "solved" or "helpful" using those little buttons that you see in the title bar of this reply. I really appreciate it!

Connection Speed reading for external USB Modem ????

In previous versions of the Mac OS, I've been able to see a readout of my connection speed achieved with a dial-up modem and telephone line (e.g. 28 kbps, 33 kbps, 50 kbps etc etc) but under this latest 10.5 Version of OS X I can't see this speed in the networking software that controls my Apple USB modem.
Has this feature been dropped with 10.5 ?
If not, how do I see the speed. It would be very helpful to see it as I sometimes travel to some pretty remote areas where phone lines are poor - so if you know the actual connect speed you have a good idea of what sort of size of downloads to attempt and not to attempt while on-line.
I can see such parameters as my time connected and IP address assigned by the ISP, but no connect speed.

I realize the speed that used to be shown was the initial speed the two modems involved, mine and the ISP's, negotiated to establish the connection and I also realize that is not the actual download speed.
But it's still helpful to know that initial speed because it is a rough indicator of line quality ands gives one an idea of how rapidly he will be able to communicate - clearly there will be a significant difference for the better in performance for the online session if one can achieve a connect speed of, say 50k, as opposewd to 28k or less on a poorer line.

What is the best way to set up connection from my Mac Mini to my Seagate Black Armor NAS

I am new to the MAC scene (loving it). I have My Seagate BA220 NAS setup with My Belkin N600 Router in my living room which is pretty much central everywhere.
I have all my media, itunes library, docs, pictures everything on the NAS and all computers connect to the NAS
I have a PC W7 wirelessly connected to the Network and speeds are great with the NAS
I have my mac mini connected on the same Network (wirelessly) but connection to the NAS is very poor. I do not have an ethernet connection in this room.
I was wondering if anyone could suggest what might help obtain a better connection.
I was thinking along the lines of power over ethernet, but i am not sure if this is compatible.
The other thing I was thinking, would it pay for me to attach an External Hardrive to my mac, then back it up to the NAS via Time Machine, but then this would be pointless having the NAS??? Really not sure what to do.
Any suggestions are more than welcomed. I'm at a loss as what to do next.

Who told you that you have unwanted software on your Mac?
How did they find out that this was the case?
Did you allow someone to remotely connect to your Mac?
What is the name of this software?
Only after we know the validity of this information will it be time to do something about it.
At the present time I would not load any crapware on your Mac such as AppZapper. It is never needed for any reason on a Mac.

IMac no longer sees network or gets very weak connection

Here's the deal:
I have an iMac that was purchased in 2010. I have used it in an office connecting through a network router using the iMac's airport capabilities. The connection had been good for over a year. Airport would show four full bars every day, day in and day out. Connection speed was high, and everything was rosy.
About two weeks ago, I noticed my download speed was decreasing. The airport status would show only three or two bars. Sometimes it would disconnect and say that the network was not available. Then, I could reconnect, but I would only have two bars. Even then, it wouldn't stay connected long. The situation then deteriorated rapidly. Now, I can only see the network half of the time, and when I do, it shows as only one bar.
First, let me say nothing changed. Nothing on the computer changed, nothing on the router changed. It just came out of no where.
Here's what I did in troubleshooting:
Reset the router and made it an unsecure network to make sure it was not a security problem (which I didn't really think it was to begin with because the problem was not seeing the router, not an inability to get on the network).
I sat the iMac right next to the router. Then, it connected fine at full strength. But if I move it from the router too far (but still within the operating range it had for over a year), it drops dramatically.
Reinstalled the operating system on the Mac. None of these things worked.
Here is the real kicker. There are three other Macs that operate in this office, and all show full strength and connection to the network. I can set my MacBook right in front of the iMac and connect full strength.
We also put a router in the same room with the iMac. Even when it is sitting just 6 feet or so from the iMac, it only shows as 2 bars of strength.
So what is the deal? I cannot set this iMac right next to the router. It used to work just fine where it sits, now it can hardly see anything via airport while all other computers can just fine.

HI,
Go to /Library/Preferences. Move all the files in the System Configuration folder to the Trash, restart the iMac.
That doesn't alter your settings, just resets Airport.
Carolyn

Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013) - Cant get proper 802.11ac WiFi-speed. Mac or router issue?

Hey
Im from Norway and just bought the 2013 Macbook Pro Retina 15 inch. My router is an Asus RT-AC66U, which should be capable of 1.3 Gbps connection speeds. When i connect my mac to this router on a 5 GHz network with N+AC only mode, i only get a link speed of about 200Mbps, often lower aswell. I was under the impression that you should get the theoretical maximum speed of the 802.11x youre using, as link speed. When i go to "about this mac"-"system report"-WiFi" it clearly says that im connected with 802.11ac. Why do i get such a low transmission rate? Its a problem with bootcamp aswell (Windows 8.1), which leads me to belive that the router mighth be the issue?

It seems that i have found a solution to the problem, but at the same time encountered a new one. The router was the problem. I live in an apartment building with many other students, and there are tons of other WiFi signals from other apartments. The router was in N+AC (there doesnt seem to be an AC only mode as of now?), and the signal strenght was around -40dB (Macbook placed three meters from router with no obstacles in the way). I downloaded a program called inSSIDer for Office and scanned all the network and associated channels and it turned out the router hadn't exactly choosen the optimal channel. When I changed the channel to a less populated one (44), the link-speed suddenly jumped from around 200 to a little over 1000 Mbps. I really didnt know just how sensitive to interferrence WiFi truly is.
The strange thing in windows though is that even though the linkspeed is great (i get much lower link-speeds in Windows, 400-600 (seems to be stuck at 802.11n in windows) compared to 800-1300 in OSX) i max out at 30 Mbps download (speedtest.net), while upload speeds remains unaffected at 94 Mbps (100/100 Mbps subscription). And when I turn on automatic channel selection on the router the link speed goes down to about 200 again (because of the interference issue), but the download speeds go up to 94 Mbps. This is not an issue in OSX, so maybe its an Windows Boradcom driver issue or something?

My Lacie Big Extreme Hard drive does not show connection speed

*My Concern*
Hi I have a Lacie Big Extreme Hard drive, which although works fine is not showing its connection, shows up in the system profiler as 'Connection Speed Unknown'. -Should I be worried? I have other drives connected to my G5 Dual 2 gig machine and no problem their they all show their connection speeds.
*Other Firewire 'Unknown Speed connection' related Problem*
I had a DVD LaCie Dual layer portable Firewire drive which recently suffered from the same problem and I had to send it back. This was due to it slowly developing a fault of not being able to burn dual layer disks properly.
*What I have done to try and remedy the situation.*
I have been able to do the following but I am afraid with no change in the system Profiler;-
1 Trashed the whole system and rebuild
2 repair my permissions
3 empty out all my caches with OnyX (third party app) version 1.8.5
4 Disconnected all drives and reconnected them one by one to see if there are any anomalies within the system
5 switched my G5 off removed the plug from the wall waited 30 sec for it to reset itself this was the 1st attempt. On my 2nd attempt I then cold booted the machine and reset Pram settings
6 used Tech Tools Pro 4 version 4.1.2
7. Replaced Power supply of the offending unit (didn't have to but I wanted to be safe and eliminate this fronm the equation.
9.tried changing around the order in the chain to which the drives were connected to the G5but alas no joy!
Summery
So my concern is if a device which is Firewire shows up in the system profiler as connection speed unknown should I begin to worry even though it appears to be functioning.
Thank you ahead of time for any help on this matter
*Supporting evidence*
Please see below a shot of my System profiler so you can see what I mean:-
*(Important Note)*
The Lacie Big disk has 800/400 Firewire connection speeds I have connected it straight to my G5s firewire 800 port then daisy chained the LaCie's via its other 800 port to the two other 800 Firewire Hard drives.
When the LaCie DVD DL drive was connected, I connected it straight to the 400 firewire port. As it needed direct access to the G5 for it to function optimally.
*System Profiler Info under OSX Tiger 10.4.11*
FireWire Bus:
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
LaCie d2 Extreme LUN 0:
Manufacturer: LaCie Group SA
Model: 0x0
GUID: 0xD04B710B061FB5
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
LaCie d2 Extreme LUN 0 Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x102
Product Revision Level: P22O
Sub-units:
LaCie d2 Extreme LUN 0 SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 153.38 GB
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk2
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
disk2s6:
Capacity: 153.38 GB
Available: 102.21 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: HFS+
d2 quadra (button):
Manufacturer: LaCie
Model: 0x4136
GUID: 0xD04B840A07A9A5
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
Connection Speed: Up to 400 Mb/sec
Sub-units:
d2 quadra (button) Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x484944
Unit Spec ID: 0xD04B
d2 quadra Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x110
Product Revision Level:
Sub-units:
d2 quadra SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 465.76 GB
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk4
OS9 Drivers: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
disk4s3:
Capacity: 465.64 GB
Available: 250.79 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: Journaled HFS+
LaCie Big Disk Extreme LUN 0:
Manufacturer: LaCie Group SA
Model: 0x0
GUID: 0xD04B741A058BFC
Maximum Speed: Up to 800 Mb/sec
*Connection Speed: Unknown --------------------------**{this is where my concern lies}*
Sub-units:
LaCie Big Disk Extreme LUN 0 Unit:
Unit Software Version: 0x10483
Unit Spec ID: 0x609E
Firmware Revision: 0x102
Product Revision Level: 912
Sub-units:
LaCie Big Disk Extreme LUN 0 SBP-LUN:
Capacity: 931.52 GB
Removable Media: Yes
BSD Name: disk3
OS9 Drivers: Yes
S.M.A.R.T. status: Not Supported
Volumes:
disk3s6:
Capacity: 931.52 GB
Available: 181.67 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: HFS+

Hi BDAqua - thanks a lot for replying - really appreciate your help. I was using Time machine to back up on the old lacie drives that I have - I just backed up on both lacies and they backed up faster for some reason but that might have been because they were very small back ups as I did full back ups on Tuesday night - this is the info under the USB section > hardware > about my mac - it didn't show the speed like the example you gave me though but it still backed none the less :
USB Bus:
Host Controller Location: Built In USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBOHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x0035
PCI Revision ID: 0x0043
PCI Vendor ID: 0x1033
Bus Number: 0x15
Bluetooth USB Host Controller:
Product ID: 0x8207
Vendor ID: 0x05ac (Apple Inc.)
Version: 19.65
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Apple Inc.
Location ID: 0x15200000
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 0
I also got a reply back from WD on the hard drive and they said the following - exactly the same as you about it being a problem with the power supplied hence why the disk won't mount - so you were spot on - so I'm thinking I should go ahead and get the newertech 7 USB port 4 amps as you suggested - let me know what you think and then I'll just order it - and thank you - really do appreciate your help on this - thanks Jayas
Dear Jayas
Thank you for contacting Western Digital Customer Service and Support. My name is James.
If the drive is working fine on one system but failing on another especially with the "clicking" sound this is an issue with the system not being able to supply enough power to power the device.
These devices require power from the machine to make them operate if there isn't enough power supplied the drive will fail to work. This is why you are having no issues with one system but are on another.

Connection speed high but pages have been loading slowly for last 4 days.

My Broadband has performed well for the last two years but 4 days ago web pages have suddenly begun to take ages to load (10 to 15 seconds or more).
Checking my connection speed gives, typically, 7816 kbits downloaded in 1.542 sec.
The problem persists with Safari, Internet Express, Camino and Firefox.
Another problem cropped up at the same time in that a web site I use regularly suddenly became unavailable to me - but still OK for others. This also applied to Google UK until yesterday but now that is back.
Can anyone help?
Regards
Chris

Look at these links
Mac Tune-up: 34 Software Speedups
http://www.macworld.com/article/49489/2006/02/softwarespeed.html
52 Ways to Speed Up OS X
http://www.imafish.co.uk/articles/post/articles/130/52-ways-to-speed-up-os-x/
Tuning Mac OS X Performance
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/performance.html
11 Ways to Optimize Your Mac's Performance
http://lowendmac.com/eubanks/07/0312.html
The Top 7 Free Utilities To Maintain A Mac.
http://mac360.com/index.php/mac360/comments/thetop_7_free_utilities_to_maintain_amac/
Mac OS X: System maintenance
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607640
 Cheers, Tom

E3200 - Dropping wireless connection on the Mac

Pros: Gig Eth switch, no front-facing indicator lights, familiar web interface...
Cons: WiFi Protected Setup doesn't belong. Continually drops wireless connections to my Mac Book Pro (but none of my other devices), which worked just fine on the E3000 this unit replaced and works perfectly on other WiFi networks. REALLY SLOW web interface - average time to move from one page to the next is something north of 9 seconds. Again, never a problem with the E3000 that this unit replaced. Price? I wouldn't complain about price if this thing actually worked as expected.
Other Thoughts: I'm hoping it's just a flaky/defective unit and not indicative of the overall quality of newer Linksys products. Firmware isn't the issue - it's running the latest one from Linksys' site.

First of all please verify that you have got a 802.11n card in your computer. New generation routers (i.e. E3200) speaks an entirely different language with 802.11g cards, so while those adapters can work with the E3200, but they are not optimized to provide good performance. It is like having to translate from one language to another in real time when going from N to G.
Well, there are few things you should keep in mind with regards to N routers:
1) For the best possible speeds, you need to be using WPA2-AES as your security mode. Any other security mode will see your speed/range capped.
Any G devices in your wireless network will tend to hamper the performance of your overall network.
Ensure that your router is running the latest firmware from homesupport.cisco.com The new firmware includes performance enhancements and fixes.
The router by default uses a channel setting of auto, which means that it would keep switching channels depending on the interference. I’d recommend you set it to a fixed channel. Usually, 1, 3, 6 and 9 give you the best performance depending on your environment of course. I’d suggest you try different channels, observing each for a while, to see which gives you the best performance. You can follow the link here on how to change channels.

Has anybody solved the slow wireless connections speeds of the new Imacs

I have just purchased the new imac...and was made aware of the disastrous connections speeds using wireless.. Does anybody know if apple have come up with a solution...or are they just not dealing with the problem?

I am a brand new Mac user with a new 24 inch iMac purchase. Macs are supposed to be hassle free right? Right. No question I was about ready to throw it out the window because the wireless connection to the expensive AP base station was, oh, 100x slower than my Dell laptop side by side about 1 foot away. Nothing changed even if I connected directly to the AP using an ethernet cable. My connection consists of an Actiontec DSL gateway connected directly to my AP extreme that allows wireless to my PC laptop as well as my new iMac. Hours and hours go by until I find this help link on Mac Orchard Forums:
+" Re: My New Intel Based iMac is SLOW+
+« Reply #7 on: May 18th, 2007, 4:57am » Quote Quote Modify Modify+
+WOW!! everyone else with this problem read this! i was having these same huge speed problems using the internet with my new 24" dual core intel imac with 2 gigs of ram and found a posting on another site's thread that fixed it completely.+
+"Try setting your DNS servers to OpenDNS (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220) and see if that helps at all. Maybe the ISP's changes increased the load on their DNS servers."+
+my guess is that somehow these DNS servers work the way tiger likes them to while others dont, i have no clue other than to say it works!!+
+heres a site i found that helped me understand how to change the settings:+
+http://portforward.com/networking/static-Mac10.4.htm "+
With the new Leopard installed I went to the "portforward" link first and followed the instructions exactly to set a static IP address, then I reset my DNS servers with the exact numbers you see above - IT WORKED IMMEDIATELY!!!!! I didn't have to call my ISP or anything, it just worked exactly as it should with both Safari and Firefox. Now this Mac is flying and I will not be tossing it back to Jobs.
Good Luck!

Software to test LAN speed for mac

Hello,
I am looking for software for my mac to test my router LAN speed. Anyone has any suggestion?
thanks....

http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-to-see-your-current-wi-fi-connection-speed-in-m ac-os-x/
more
http://www.netspotapp.com/wireless-network-speed.html
https://www.google.dk/search?q=measure+wifi+speed+mac&oq=measure+wifi+speed+mac& aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5231j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

Slow connection between two Macs in LAN

Why does it take so long to connect one Mac to another Mac's public folder on LAN?
Mac mini 2.4 GHz (the latest model with 4 GB RAM) is connected to LAN with 100 Mbps LAN cable;
MacBook Pro 17" 2.33 GHz (2 GB RAM) is connected to LAN with AirPort 802.11 (G) via Linksys router WRT54GC.
Both computers are in the same room, Linksys WiFi router is 6-7 meters away, excellent signal strength. It takes about 50-55 seconds while MacBook Pro connects to the Mac mini. Why so long??? Do they use 2kbps connection speed? I thought with these network speeds (54Mbps for WiFi, 100Mbps for LAN) it should be almost instantenious…
Both Macs run 10.6.4.

I'm having the very same problem, but only when connecting to one of the 3 Macs on my network. it eventually connects, but only after about 55 seconds. Connecting to the other 2 Macs is almost instant, so it leads me to believe that there is something wrong in the setup of the "problematic" Mac. This slow connection happens using either "Back to My Mac" or just trying to connect via Finder. Any ideas would be very welcome!

Does an iPod 1 have to be connected to a Mac to download stuff

Does an iPod 1 have to be connected to a Mac to download stuff

If you have a wi-fi router or gateway, it is still best to user ethernet if it is convenient like for a desktop computer. If it's a laptop or portable device then use wi-fi is OK, but you might not get the same speeds depending on the equipment and how far you are from the wi-fi router or gateway.

Slow dial-up connect speeds

I need help! I've had my mini for 9 months. It's used primarily for internet/e-mail and occasionally some iphoto and itunes fun. I live really rural so dial-up internet access is my only connection option (No DSL/cable available). I have used the same ISP since my PC days (before the mini). The mini used to connect around 36K, but modem connection speeds have degraded overtime to 14K or less (have seen 9600!). I regularly run the maintenance scripts and occasionally repair permissions...I use YASU. Also reset the PMU. My mini went to Apple repair once for slow connect speeds but I was told it is my ISP.
Yesterday, I pulled the old Windows PC out and powered it up and using the same phone/modem cable from the mini was able to consistently connect to my ISP at 42-44K!! Wow! High speed!! Replugged the same modem cable into the mini and was able to connect at a blazing speed of 14.4K! There obviously is something wrong with my mini or its modem. Any suggestions or is it time to retire the mini and go back to the big, noisy, awkward Windows PC?...after all web surfing and e-mail is my primary computer usage.
mini 1.25Ghz/512MB/40GB/combo Mac OS X (10.4.2)

I just bought a new 12" Powerbook and it will not connect to my local dial up ISP any faster than 28k. I've had the same ISP for over ten years. I've had the same phone line in my same apartment for over ten years. The G3 iBook I just sold connected at 56k almost every time. The G4 iMac I have at home connects at 56k almost every time. The Performa 6400 I used to have connected at 56k almost every time. The G4 Sawtooth I have in my music studio a couple of blocks away using a different phone line connects at 56k almost every time. Same ISP for over ten years, two different phone lines that work fine with four other Macs, the only Mac I've had that won't connect at 56k is my brand new Powerbook. It won't connect at 56k using OS 10.3.9 or 10.4 or 10.4.4. I tested the connection with CNET's online modem bandwidth test page and the Powerbook modem was connecting at about 26k.
so I took my PowerBook to the Apple store in San Francisco, they sent it to be repaired and when it came back said they replaced the modem, but it still won't connect at 56k when all my other Macs will.
so I took my PowerBook back to the Apple store in San Francisco, and they connected it to a phone line and got a 31k connection and told me, Well the modem connects, so as far as we're concerned it works, and the 56k is only the maximum theoretical connection speed and Apple does not guarantee you will actually get that modem baud rate, so we are not going to do anything else about it. I told them that there is nothing theoretical about all my other Macs connecting to the same ISP at higher speeds than the PowerBook and that Apple should be able to test the PowerBook to determine if their own tech guys can get a 56k connection with my PowerBook. The Apple store guy called his manager, who refused to do any more work on the computer.
iMac, Sawtooth, Powerbook Mac OS X (10.3.9)

PC HD speed on Mac

Hi mac people,
I need to share a USB2 external HD with PCs, but when connected to the mac (usb2 port) it W/R at 1,25 mb/sec at top speed.
I'm wondering why.
It's formatted NTFS.
Any clues ?
Thanks
Paolo

Hi Paolo,
have a look at http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050521110452194 for a useful discussion of NTFS and Macs.
Its probably not the best way to approach the problem. I'd either (best solution) use one of the utilities that lets PC's read Mac HFS+ disks or (less desirable , but cheaper), use FAT 32, in a situation like yours.
Cheers
Rod

Weak connection speed on Mac vs. PC

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for