Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Enthusiast Zone > Networking > Slow dowload speeds on Mac OS X

Slow dowload speeds on Mac OS X
Thread Tools
Applefreak01
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 23, 2006, 04:47 PM
 
I think this has been talked about before but I've noticed this problem. On my PC running either XP SP2 or Vista beta 2 I can go to any broadband testing speed site and get what I should be getting, 5mb download 512k upload.

On my Mac I can go to the same sites and get 600-900k download and 512k upload. I've tired Safari, Firefox, and Opera. Both the Mac and PC are connected to the same router (Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless B with the latest firmware update) wired or wireless the speeds report way below what I should be getting.

I've completely removed the PC physically from the router and ran the test, same result. I've updated to Mac OS X 10.4.6 using the combo updater because I've heard that using the Software Update somtimes doesn't update everything and still the same results.

Anyone have any clue why this is happening?
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 02:16 AM
 
Update: I was wondering if it was a 10.4.x update that kills the speeds. So after the storms I reinstalled 10.4. Right after installation I went to speakeasy.net and charter pipeline speed test sites. Speakeasy reported 3.5mb and 400k. Charter reported 4.1mb and 507k. I'm thinking on of the 10.4.x updates is what is dropping my download speeds to incredibly slow for 5mb cable.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 08:23 AM
 
I'd look at the ethernet settings on your Mac. It's possible that the latest update returned them to some default (and slower) configuration. I'd particularly look at whether your MTU is set correctly for your connection. Cable should be 1500, but DSL needs 1492 (or less).

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 03:36 PM
 
Well it was fine. But today again my speeds are dropping to 900k or below again. My MTU on both the router and my Mac is 1500 and again I can boot into Vista and get 3-4.6mb on speed test.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
amazing
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 05:42 PM
 
Just out of curiosity, what Mac are you using? A newer Mac would get faster speeds than an older Mac.

Also, have you tried connecting the Mac directly to the cable or DSL modem via ethernet? In other words, taking the Linksys router out of the equation? I'm curious how the speeds would compare with and w/o the Linksys.
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 05:47 PM
 
Originally Posted by amazing
Just out of curiosity, what Mac are you using? A newer Mac would get faster speeds than an older Mac.

Also, have you tried connecting the Mac directly to the cable or DSL modem via ethernet? In other words, taking the Linksys router out of the equation? I'm curious how the speeds would compare with and w/o the Linksys.
I have a iBook G3 900MHz with 640MB of RAM. Connecting to directly to the modem I get the same results.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 06:38 PM
 
I just changed my MAC address of my ethernet to that of my PC. Hooked up the cable modem directly to my iBook. Same results. I never really noticed this until I started using my Mac more for downloading files that I usually do on the PC.

I'm wondering if installing a Linux for PPC will do the same. That's my next test I guess. If I'm going to get slow speeds I might as well ditch the 5mb and go down to 768k. Save money for speeds I'm not getting.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
amazing
Professional Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 07:09 PM
 
2 weeks ago I did some upgrades and maintenance on my son's 14" G3 iBook-800. It was surprisingly sprightly, but the downloads speeds weren't as good as my 12" PB-1.33. I don't specifically recall the diff, just a glancing realization that downloading the OS updates on my PB and using a USB flash drive to transfer them to the iBook would be faster.

Nothing scientific, in other words, but if the iBook is your main internet access, then there really is no need to pay for a fast line. Unless you're gonna be upgrading to a MacBook soon?

The iBook-800 was totally adequate for light browsing, email, and word processing. Of course, it wasn't as fast as my former Titanium-400, and definitely lagged behind the 12" PB-1.33.
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 07:38 PM
 
I do plan on getting a MacBook soon. However I don't get why the iBook can't download at anything over 1mb. Just out of curiosity I called my mother and had her bring her 800MHz iBook G3 over. I changed her MAC address and hooked up to my modem directly...again only around 900kbps or less on the download whereas the upload would hit around 300-400kbps. I don't get this. So again I reinstalled OS X 10.4, right after installation I ran test again. Same result this time unlike my first reinstall for this problem where I was getting 4000kbps and 300-400kbps up and download.

I just ran test again this time hooked up the router. PC got 4205kbps down 472kbps up, my iBook got 787kbps down 352kbps up.

I would like the speeds I should be getting as I download at for work. I wonder if it's just my ISP (Charter Communications) hating Macs or what.

Next attempt after installing Linux for PPC will be next.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 24, 2006, 10:15 PM
 
Well installed Ubuntu PPC linux on partition 2. Same thing. So I guess it's not OS X. I then thought SOMEONE has to be having this problem too. It's not my ISP, it's not any OS I can put on the iBook, there has to be something up. I decided to check out the Apple Support discussions. Come to find one post in the iBook section about a guy with a iBook G3 that had the logic board problem and replaced (just like me) and since then his download speeds have dropped. Hmm. I wonder if the problem lies in there.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
ghporter
Administrator
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Antonio TX USA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 25, 2006, 03:27 PM
 
Just out of curiosity, how exactly are you connecting your Mac-wireless or wired? If your problems are wireless, what happens when you plug in via your built in ethernet?

Glenn -----OTR/L, MOT, Tx
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 25, 2006, 06:16 PM
 
It does it wired or wireless as well as wired to the modem only. I just ran a test on speakeasy.net/speedtest and again my iBook only got 768k speeds. My PC 4.7mb. Wish I could figure out what is slowing me down. I don't run any P2P software on my iBook. I mean yeah the PC will get anywhere around 2-4mb but my iBook isn't even close to that, it usually gets 600-900kbps.

I've tried just about everything I can think of sort of calling my ISP. I know they'll do what they always do and say it looks good to them. I've reset the router to default settings, re appiled the latest firemware upgrade, cleared the cable modem settings, restarted my iBook a lot, reinstalled Mac OS X 10.4 twice, hooked the iBook directly up to the modem, hooked my mother's iBook directly up to the modem, tried a Linux for PPC OS. I'm out of ideas. Maybe I'm right and my ISP just hates Mac hardware.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 26, 2006, 02:14 AM
 
Well if I can get through to Charter, I'm going to give them a call tomorrow. My PC started getting the same speeds as my iBook. Weird though it just now slows down when the iBook has been having this problem for a long time now. I think it could be the singal level as I had that issue last year about this time. I'm at +38db for download and +53db for upload. Not much really I can do as far as moving the modem to another part of the house so I'm stuck with what I get. But I do think it's the signal repeater box out on the streetlight pole that needs adjusting again. We did have a outage a week ago and maybe something happend there too.

I just don't get why the PC would report 2-4mb speeds when the iBook would on rare occasions then drop below 900kbps. Oh well if I have to force them to look at it by saying I'll get DSL then I will.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
Applefreak01  (op)
Senior User
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Nebraska
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jun 26, 2006, 03:07 PM
 
Well after getting through to Charter this morning I had a long talk with the girl on the other end. We did everything we could think of. She did mention that the way the provision the modems had changed so she cleared out the modem settings in Charter's system and my modem and we tried that...still no luck. I would get 2-3mb speeds for a few test and then everything would drop back down to below 900kbps. She said yeah that my speeds were WAY below what I should be getting and if it was her she would be calling too. Even when I told her I got the 2-3mb speeds she said that still sucked, which it does when I'm basically getting 3mb service but paying for 5mb.

So she scheduled a tech to come out tomorrow morning. I know they'll check the levels and say it looks ok and leave. I've been taking screenshots at random times throughout the day today to show them what I'm getting when they are not here.

If they can't fix it I guess its still better than DSL here and I'll just drop to the 3mb plan again.
[Riding a circus elephant]
Peter: Look Lois, the two smybols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a fat white guy who is threatened by change. - Family Guy
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:49 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,