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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Macs Slower Than PC's Connected on Same Network
Eric85 - Dec 23, 2005 - 1:28 pm
I have a home office with 3 computers connected to the internet via Earthlink's 5mbps cable modem service through the Time Warner network. The cable modem is a new generation Motorola Surfboard. My 3 computers are:
PowerBook G4 connected via Airport
IBM ThinkPad T43 connected via Airport
Bondi Blue iMac G3 connected via Ethernet
I have any Airport Extreme base station connected to the cable modem and a DLink switch off that to connect the printers and iMac via Ethernet.
The problem I've noticed is that both Macs are significantly slower than the PC on the network. For example, I can download a file off my ISP's local server at about 620 KB/s using the PC but only 260 KB/s using either Mac. Off the Internet, I can go to a site like Speakeasy and get results around 4,500 kbps from the PC but barely hit 1,700 with the Macs.
I've tried directly connecting all three computers to the cable modem and the results are the same. This indicates to me that the Airport network isn't slowing things up. I've also tried numerous things on my Macs to clear up the problem. I've deleted caches, rebuilt adapters, installed and uninstalled Apple's Broadband Tuner, installed other broadband setting scripts, used Cocktail, etc all without any noticeable difference.
My iMac is running Panther while my PowerBook is running Tiger. This seems to rule out something unique to a version of the OS. So with Airport and the OS version ruled out, I'm really stumped as to what could be the problem.
As an example of how this is affecting performance, I can download a large movie trailer through iTunes on my PC and watch it straight through without any delays. The connection can keep ahead of my viewing. On the Macs, I sometimes have to wait 5 minutes before the same trailer is downloaded and can be watched.
I'm out of ideas and would really appreciate any help anyone can offer. Please let me know if additional details are needed.
PowerBook G4 connected via Airport
IBM ThinkPad T43 connected via Airport
Bondi Blue iMac G3 connected via Ethernet
I have any Airport Extreme base station connected to the cable modem and a DLink switch off that to connect the printers and iMac via Ethernet.
The problem I've noticed is that both Macs are significantly slower than the PC on the network. For example, I can download a file off my ISP's local server at about 620 KB/s using the PC but only 260 KB/s using either Mac. Off the Internet, I can go to a site like Speakeasy and get results around 4,500 kbps from the PC but barely hit 1,700 with the Macs.
I've tried directly connecting all three computers to the cable modem and the results are the same. This indicates to me that the Airport network isn't slowing things up. I've also tried numerous things on my Macs to clear up the problem. I've deleted caches, rebuilt adapters, installed and uninstalled Apple's Broadband Tuner, installed other broadband setting scripts, used Cocktail, etc all without any noticeable difference.
My iMac is running Panther while my PowerBook is running Tiger. This seems to rule out something unique to a version of the OS. So with Airport and the OS version ruled out, I'm really stumped as to what could be the problem.
As an example of how this is affecting performance, I can download a large movie trailer through iTunes on my PC and watch it straight through without any delays. The connection can keep ahead of my viewing. On the Macs, I sometimes have to wait 5 minutes before the same trailer is downloaded and can be watched.
I'm out of ideas and would really appreciate any help anyone can offer. Please let me know if additional details are needed.
bobw - Dec 23, 2005 - 1:37 pm
Hi Eric
Try this, worked for me. Open the Network PreferencePane. Show>Built-in Ethernet. Click Ethernet Tab. Set this way;
Configure - Manually Advanced
Speed - fastest available
Duplex - full-duplex
Restart and test the speed.
This brought my Macs up to the same speed as my pc.
bobw
http://www.macosx.com
Try this, worked for me. Open the Network PreferencePane. Show>Built-in Ethernet. Click Ethernet Tab. Set this way;
Configure - Manually Advanced
Speed - fastest available
Duplex - full-duplex
Restart and test the speed.
This brought my Macs up to the same speed as my pc.
bobw
http://www.macosx.com
Eric85 - Dec 23, 2005 - 1:54 pm
Bob,
Thanks for the tip but unfortunately, this hasn't worked. I saw a similar suggestion in the Apple support forums and tried this on my iMac which is connected using the Ethernet adapter. The suggestion there was the change it manually to 10mbps either full or half duplex. I tried this and it didn't make any difference. Since the other computers are connected via Airport wireless, the Ethernet card isn't being used so that setting has no effect. There is a similar setting on the base station for the WAN port to let you pick the port speed and duplex and I've tried those without seeing any difference either.
Thanks for the tip but unfortunately, this hasn't worked. I saw a similar suggestion in the Apple support forums and tried this on my iMac which is connected using the Ethernet adapter. The suggestion there was the change it manually to 10mbps either full or half duplex. I tried this and it didn't make any difference. Since the other computers are connected via Airport wireless, the Ethernet card isn't being used so that setting has no effect. There is a similar setting on the base station for the WAN port to let you pick the port speed and duplex and I've tried those without seeing any difference either.
bobw - Dec 23, 2005 - 2:53 pm
I'll put back in the open questions incase anyone else has any suggestions.
bobw
http://www.macosx.com
bobw
http://www.macosx.com
Natobasso - Dec 25, 2005 - 9:56 pm
Are you using the same browser on both platforms?
If you are a serious IE user, be advised Microsoft has now discontinued support for it on the Mac in the future.
In my opinion Firefox is the fastest browser, but Safari isn't half bad at all.
Do you have firewalls and file sharing turned on on your macs?
If you are a serious IE user, be advised Microsoft has now discontinued support for it on the Mac in the future.
In my opinion Firefox is the fastest browser, but Safari isn't half bad at all.
Do you have firewalls and file sharing turned on on your macs?
Eric85 - Dec 26, 2005 - 12:37 am
Nathaniel,
I do not use IE on either Mac computer, just the Windows machine. I've tried the download test using both Safari and Firefox but the results were the same.
I do not have firewalls turned on for either Mac but I do have personal file sharing running. As a test, I turned that off but it didn't have any impact on speed.
Good ideas but still haven't found the answer yet. This is really puzzling me.
I do not use IE on either Mac computer, just the Windows machine. I've tried the download test using both Safari and Firefox but the results were the same.
I do not have firewalls turned on for either Mac but I do have personal file sharing running. As a test, I turned that off but it didn't have any impact on speed.
Good ideas but still haven't found the answer yet. This is really puzzling me.
Natobasso - Dec 26, 2005 - 2:55 am
Have you tried using your macs in the port you use for your pc on your router? Have you used the pc's cable for your macs as well? Could be the ethernet connection or one of your cables causing the issue.
I have seen one ethernet cable slow down an entire corporate network before so don't rule out your actual physical connection to the router as a possible culprit.
I have seen one ethernet cable slow down an entire corporate network before so don't rule out your actual physical connection to the router as a possible culprit.
Natobasso - Dec 26, 2005 - 2:56 am
Also, do you have your router set up for DHCP or do you have a static IP address assigned to you by Earthlink?
Eric85 - Dec 26, 2005 - 9:46 am
Both the PowerBook and the ThinkPad are connected to the cable modem wirelessly over Airport, not a direct connection. The iMac is connected to a Dlink switch which is connected to the Airport's Ethernet port. That's why this is so puzzling, it's obviously not the Airport connection itself or cabling because I'm getting good speeds on the PC. If it works for the PC, it should work for at least the wirelessly connected PowerBook.
As for IP addresses, the Airport use DHCP as does the wired iMac. The PowerBook has an assigned IP but I've also set it to DHCP during testing and that hasn't made any difference.
As for IP addresses, the Airport use DHCP as does the wired iMac. The PowerBook has an assigned IP but I've also set it to DHCP during testing and that hasn't made any difference.
Natobasso - Dec 26, 2005 - 1:41 pm
How much RAM do you have in each computer? Once you get past the internet speed you have to also consider how much processing power each computer has to render the graphics and text for each web page. I'll guess that is part of the speed difference.
Does the Powerbook have an airport card or an airport extreme card? Airport cards only receive at b wireless speeds while extreme cards can receive at b and g speeds.
Does the Powerbook have an airport card or an airport extreme card? Airport cards only receive at b wireless speeds while extreme cards can receive at b and g speeds.
Eric85 - Dec 26, 2005 - 8:00 pm
In my PowerBook I have 2 Gigs of memory with built in Airport Extreme. The iMac has around 640 Megs I believe.
My PowerBook is receiving full signal running at 54 mbps far above what the cable modem can pump out. Even if I was at "B" speeds of 11 mbps, I would still be double the speed of the cable modem unless there was poor signal strength. In any case, I'm running at "G" speeds and have plenty of memory in both machines to run the tests. While the slow iMac may take longer to draw the pages, there isn't much difference in terms of a straight file download since that's using just raw download speed.
My PowerBook is receiving full signal running at 54 mbps far above what the cable modem can pump out. Even if I was at "B" speeds of 11 mbps, I would still be double the speed of the cable modem unless there was poor signal strength. In any case, I'm running at "G" speeds and have plenty of memory in both machines to run the tests. While the slow iMac may take longer to draw the pages, there isn't much difference in terms of a straight file download since that's using just raw download speed.
Natobasso - Dec 26, 2005 - 10:00 pm
Do any of your computers have "internet sharing" turned on? If so, turn it off and test that.
If this doesn't work I'll have to put this thread back to queue since I won't have found the answer.
If this doesn't work I'll have to put this thread back to queue since I won't have found the answer.
Eric85 - Dec 27, 2005 - 8:52 am
No, Internet Sharing is not turned on for either Mac. Thanks for your time on this. Hopefully someone else will have some ideas.
TechSupport - Dec 30, 2005 - 9:30 am
This ticket has been moved to the open forums for more exposure.
Please follow this link:
http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265616
Please follow this link:
http://www.macosx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265616
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