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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > Slow internet on Mac, not on Win 2000

Slow internet on Mac, not on Win 2000
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kjb
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Aug 18, 2004, 08:23 PM
 
I have a 1 gig eMac and an iBook 500 on an 802.11b network routing a 1.5 Mb DSL line at home. Both of them are painfully slow on the net- loading sights like www.schwab.com or www.bankofamerica.com take 3-4 minutes per click. Yahoo takes a good 20 seconds to load.

On my PII 350 running windows 2000 on the same wireless network, I have no speed problems whatsoever on the net.

File transfers are painfully slow- to the point of being useless. This is a fairly recent phenomenon. I'd say in the last month and a half or so. Can anyone think of anything I can do on the Macs to make them any faster on the network?

Thanks in advance

Kevin
     
Brass
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Aug 18, 2004, 08:27 PM
 
What software are you using for this? In particular, what web browser(s)?
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 18, 2004, 08:35 PM
 
Originally posted by Brass:
What software are you using for this? In particular, what web browser(s)?
I've tried them all on the Mac front- mostly it's Safari, but IE is no better or worse.

On the PC side, I'm running Firefox, whatever the latest release number is.

Kevin
     
Orion27
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Aug 18, 2004, 08:57 PM
 
Just loaded Bank of America, in dial up, in 13 seconds using Safari. This was a non cached page too! I haven't visited BOA in a week.

Originally posted by kjb:
I have a 1 gig eMac and an iBook 500 on an 802.11b network routing a 1.5 Mb DSL line at home. Both of them are painfully slow on the net- loading sights like www.schwab.com or www.bankofamerica.com take 3-4 minutes per click. Yahoo takes a good 20 seconds to load.

On my PII 350 running windows 2000 on the same wireless network, I have no speed problems whatsoever on the net.

File transfers are painfully slow- to the point of being useless. This is a fairly recent phenomenon. I'd say in the last month and a half or so. Can anyone think of anything I can do on the Macs to make them any faster on the network?

Thanks in advance

Kevin
     
Brass
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Aug 18, 2004, 09:04 PM
 
What do you mean all? You mentioned only 2, of which IE, is known to be dog slow (on Mac), and Safari is not the best either (although much faster than IE).

Have you tried Firefox on the Mac? Also, I've heard reports that the new version of Netscape (7.2) is very fast on the Mac. I use Camino, and it's usually faster than Safari for me. I believe the new version of OmniWeb (5) is also very good.
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 18, 2004, 09:11 PM
 
Originally posted by Brass:
What do you mean all? You mentioned only 2, of which IE, is known to be dog slow (on Mac), and Safari is not the best either (although much faster than IE).

Have you tried Firefox on the Mac? Also, I've heard reports that the new version of Netscape (7.2) is very fast on the Mac. I use Camino, and it's usually faster than Safari for me. I believe the new version of OmniWeb (5) is also very good.
I guess my biggest question is what might cause this to pop up all of a sudden? I'll try Netscape and Firefox and let you know how it goes.

Thanks,

Kevin
     
bergy
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Aug 18, 2004, 09:24 PM
 
First of all go under Safari and "reset" safari ..

If that doesn't help ...
Safari Speed Tips
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...ht=safari+tips
Tiger 10.4.8
     
Brass
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Aug 18, 2004, 09:30 PM
 
Have you tried logging out and back in again?

Restarting the Mac?

Creating a new user, and trying it from the new account?
     
milhous
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Aug 19, 2004, 12:02 AM
 
if it's taking that long to load, then the wireless network could be the culprit. i just emptied my cache and it took 3 seconds to load schwab.com on my pismo 500 and then i clicked 'market insight' which loaded up in 5 seconds.

bankofamerica.com also took about 5 seconds with an empty cache and then clicking on 'about bank of america' took about 2 seconds to load.

eliminate the variables--take your 1ghz emac and plug it into ethernet, make a new location document and just have it set to use ethernet only. clean your cache and now try to get to those sites. i guarantee you you'll get better results.

and be sure you have all your updates in place.

when you've dealt with wireless networks, one knows that it may not only be the computer that has the problem, but the infrastructure in general. good luck.
F = ma
     
Appleman
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Aug 19, 2004, 03:51 AM
 
Schwab takes � 7 secs, with iMac DV SE 400 MHz, from the Netherlands, connected to Airport Express ADSL
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 19, 2004, 08:59 AM
 
Originally posted by milhous:
if it's taking that long to load, then the wireless network could be the culprit. i just emptied my cache and it took 3 seconds to load schwab.com on my pismo 500 and then i clicked 'market insight' which loaded up in 5 seconds.

bankofamerica.com also took about 5 seconds with an empty cache and then clicking on 'about bank of america' took about 2 seconds to load.

eliminate the variables--take your 1ghz emac and plug it into ethernet, make a new location document and just have it set to use ethernet only. clean your cache and now try to get to those sites. i guarantee you you'll get better results.

and be sure you have all your updates in place.

when you've dealt with wireless networks, one knows that it may not only be the computer that has the problem, but the infrastructure in general. good luck.
I was wondering if the 802.11b device might be the culprit. The thing that has made me think otherwise is that the Win machine doesn't have the same problems. 802.11g devices are so cheap now, I might just pick up a new wireless router and see what happens.

As for trying Camino and Firefox, Camino is a little faster, but not markedly so. Firefox is fast, but downright ugly. I haven't yet tried OW 5.

Thanks for the replies.

Kevin
     
Appleman
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Aug 19, 2004, 09:02 AM
 
Originally posted by kjb:
I was wondering if the 802.11b device might be the culprit. The thing that has made me think otherwise is that the Win machine doesn't have the same problems. 802.11g devices are so cheap now, I might just pick up a new wireless router and see what happens.
As stated, I use a 802.11b since I do not have a 802.11g in my antique iMac DV SE 400 MHz.
i would say there is something else going on.
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 20, 2004, 09:22 PM
 
Okay, so what does everyone think about the following two scenarios:

When I connect the Mac directly to the DSL modem, I get the superfast connection I've always had. For example, bankofamerica.com loads in <3 seconds. Yahoo is instantaneous, even on a clean cache.

When I connect the Mac via ethernet cable to the wireless router, I get the superfast connection I've always had. BOA.com still loads in <3 seconds. Yahoo and Google are still instantaneous.

Is it possible that my wireless router is just kaput? Is there something in the Airport setup that makes my router renew the PPPoE connection with every click?

Thanks again everyone!

Kevin
( Last edited by kjb; Aug 20, 2004 at 09:32 PM. )
     
larkost
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Aug 21, 2004, 01:57 PM
 
You have not really described your network setup, so that would be a really good idea. My imagination is tossing up the idea that you might not be using NAT on your router, and that all three computers might be trying to establish their own PPoE connections, and so they are constantly fighting over the connection.

You should have only one PPoE connection, and that is setup on the router, and the computers should be NATed behind that.
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 21, 2004, 02:36 PM
 
Originally posted by larkost:
You have not really described your network setup, so that would be a really good idea. My imagination is tossing up the idea that you might not be using NAT on your router, and that all three computers might be trying to establish their own PPoE connections, and so they are constantly fighting over the connection.

You should have only one PPoE connection, and that is setup on the router, and the computers should be NATed behind that.
I thought that might be it, too. But I've each computer set to DHCP, PPPoE on the router is set up, and that's it.

I must say, it seems like since I powered the router off/on, the connection at least "feels" faster. It's not as fast as being connected via ehternet cable, but it is much more tolerable than before.

Thanks again for all the replies!
     
Toyin
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Aug 22, 2004, 04:48 PM
 
Originally posted by kjb:
I thought that might be it, too. But I've each computer set to DHCP, PPPoE on the router is set up, and that's it.

I must say, it seems like since I powered the router off/on, the connection at least "feels" faster. It's not as fast as being connected via ehternet cable, but it is much more tolerable than before.

Thanks again for all the replies!
Still sounds like somethings wrong with the wireless connection. I'm no network guru, but broadband shouldn't even come close to overloading the bandwith of 802.11g or 802.11b. There should be no difference between ethernet and a decent wireless signal.
-Toyin
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"It's all about the rims that ya got, and the rims that ya coulda had"
S.T. 1995
     
Squozen
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Aug 25, 2004, 07:29 PM
 
You might want to check that the Macs are getting assigned the correct DNS servers on wireless.

From the terminal type 'dig www.randomwebsitename.com' and look at the bottom of the response text. 'Query time' should be well under a second even on dialup, and 'Server' should be the same on wireless and ethernet.
     
SMacTech
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Aug 25, 2004, 07:35 PM
 
Originally posted by Squozen:

From the terminal type 'dig www.randomwebsitename.com' and look at the bottom of the response text. 'Query time' should be well under a second even on dialup, and 'Server' should be the same on wireless and ethernet.
Thanks for that tip !!
     
kjb  (op)
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Aug 25, 2004, 08:38 PM
 
Originally posted by Squozen:
You might want to check that the Macs are getting assigned the correct DNS servers on wireless.

From the terminal type 'dig www.randomwebsitename.com' and look at the bottom of the response text. 'Query time' should be well under a second even on dialup, and 'Server' should be the same on wireless and ethernet.
When I direct the command at Macnn.com, I get 37 msec for the query time. I do have to say that overall, the wireless router reset has had the greatest impact so far. I am absolutely all ears for more suggestions, though.

Cheers,

Kevin
     
   
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