Slow internet on iMac

[The Beardster]

Hi all

I'm still loving my iMac (aluminium 24") some 6 months in. Certainly never going back to windows).

I do however have a problem. I've been having horrifically slow internet performance - particularly browsing, but to some extent video speed on Skype and also Google Earth. I put this down to my router so got a Wireless N model (replacing an older Netgear g model), and if anything it got worse .

I have read a lot about an apparent Leopard problem with DNS lookups so have now specified my DNS servers to those provided by Open DNS.

However, it didn't help. I was about to throw in the towel when I decided to turn off N mode on the router (so back to G only). This is much improved - so there was something weird about the router / iMac N connection that wasn't performing well. The iMac is a long way from the router in a large house.

Despite this - I am still disappointed at the Mac's browsing speed compared to a PC (for and experiment I tried a PC in the same room and it was noticeably faster - ditto using Google Earth the PC (which is a much slower CP and has less RAM) was much faster at pulling in the data).

Any more ideas? Much appreciated

Marcus

 

[holden15]

I have a 20" iMac. The internet is incredibly fast! It must be something with your router.

I have boot camp on my iMac (because my brother needs to use windblows sometimes) and I tryed downloading the same webpage with Safari on the Mac, and with Safari in windows. The Mac was much faster.

 

[descartes]

some other equipment may be interfering with the wifi. do you have a wireless mouse?

 

[The Beardster]

No other wireless devices

Thanks for your replies guys. I have no other wireless devices, and anyway - the fact that a PC Is faster in the same location is the key point I think. Other than DNS settings on the router I don't know what else to try. any suggestions? I have read in a lot of places that Leopard is much slower than windows to browse on the internet - but I'm not technically minded enough to understand why, or ho to fix it.

To be fair the difference is not that significant now, but is noticeable on certain pages - Leopard seems to temporarily stall on the "www" part of an address, spend time looking it up, and then bring up the page. On Windows - it is instant.

 

[entropy1980]

What brand is your router? Most people seem to forget most if not all N equipment is draft so there are some issues of compatibility between chipsets and brands...

 

[The Beardster]

Tenda

It's a cheapy one from Ebuyer - but gets terrefic customer feedback - incuding from Mac Owners which is why I bought it. You might be right though - I'm running out of ideas.

 

[tylermoney]

Are you using a wireless signal for your internet? If so, I had a very similar situation. It turned out to be my router. I got a new router that supported "n" and now I"m flying.