MP 1,1-5,1 Slow 5GHz Wifi on 2009 Mac Pro (BCM94322MC)

[Sharky II]

Hi,

I've actually sold my Mac Pro - I used it wired via ethernet but wanted to sell it with WiFi as I thought that it might be more useful for buyers - mine was a rare 2009 that had BT but no WiFi. Mac Pro spec is in signature below.

I purchased a (second hand) stock card for a Mac Pro 2009: Apple Mac Pro 2009 2010 4.1 to 5.1 WIFI Wireless Card BCM94322MC 825-7215-A

Issue: I'm getting poor 5GHz speeds especially on download (around 35Mb/s) - slower than 2.4GHz in fact. And much slower than my 2012 Retina MBP on 5GHz in the same spot (that was more like 250-300 up/down..) - which is in direct line-of-sight of the router. Loading normal webpages and youtube is fine.

I have extremely fast internet here so wifi should be the bottleneck.

I've attached photos of a broadband speed checker test @ 2.4GHz (the one with 10ms ping), then at 5GHz.

I've read to use antenna cables 1 and 3, so that's what I did. I reversed the cables and the speeds were the same. Currently cable 1 at the top.

Any suggestions? Should I try antenna cable 2?

Thank you.

 

[hwojtek]

https://crystalidea.com/blog/classic-mac-pro-wifi-bluetooth-upgrade for antenna numbering.

 

[Sharky II]

Sorry for being dim, but how does that help?

I can see the antenna numbers on the cables, they're marked 1 / 2 / 3.

I'm installing a stock (old) 802.11n Airport card with just 2 'ports' for the antennas.

Thanks!

 

[Sharky II]

Apparently the manual for the 2009 Mac Pro says:

"Enclosure includes 3 AirPort antenna wires and 1 Bluetooth antenna wire. Wires look similar, except Bluetooth wire includes BT label. For proper operation, do not connect Bluetooth antenna wire to AirPort card or any AirPort wire to Bluetooth card.Connect AirPort antenna wires labeled #1 and #3 to AirPort card. (You may connect either of these wires to either AirPort connector.) The third wire, #2, is not used for this AirPort card."

So swapping cables shouldn't make any difference.

Does anybody have any other ideas I could try?

I have a 2010 iMac that I'll speed test now, too.

Edit: I moved the Mac Pro a little closer to the router and now I get the below figures. Is it normal that the download is half the upload? (I'm lucky to have fiberoptic and don't have an upload throttle/bottleneck). It seems so temperamental - if you move the mac an inch or two, the speed drops drastically....

 

[StellarVixen]

Apparently the manual for the 2009 Mac Pro says:

"Enclosure includes 3 AirPort antenna wires and 1 Bluetooth antenna wire. Wires look similar, except Bluetooth wire includes BT label. For proper operation, do not connect Bluetooth antenna wire to AirPort card or any AirPort wire to Bluetooth card.Connect AirPort antenna wires labeled #1 and #3 to AirPort card. (You may connect either of these wires to either AirPort connector.) The third wire, #2, is not used for this AirPort card."

So swapping cables shouldn't make any difference.

Does anybody have any other ideas I could try?

I have a 2010 iMac that I'll speed test now, too.

Edit: I moved the Mac Pro a little closer to the router and now I get the below figures. Is it normal that the download is half the upload? (I'm lucky to have fiberoptic and don't have an upload throttle/bottleneck). It seems so temperamental - if you move the mac an inch or two, the speed drops drastically....

View attachment 2029667

I have 1Gbps internet and I get between 400-500 Mbps on iPhone, sitting like couple of feet from the router.

Disregard, I noticed your upload is faster than the download, not the vice versa. That is very strange indeed.