About three weeks ago I noticed a sudden drop in the responsiveness of my internet speeds. I should be getting up to 100mbps, but most speed tests I've run average between 1-5mbps, with temporary spikes up to 30 very rarely. My upload speeds appear to be normal. Comcast came out and looked at the modem, which they said was going up and down according to their diagnostics, so they gave us a new one. Now the other two computers in the house are getting good speeds over wifi, but my Mac Pro is still getting bad speeds. I'm not very far from the router itself, and I have full bars. The Network Diagnostics program detected no problems, even when I let it run continuously to catch intermittent problems. I reset chrome back to original settings and emptied the cache, tried safari, ran sophos, and (maybe against my better judgment) ran some clean up commands in Onyx, fixed permissions, and checked activity monitor to make sure no other tasks were eating the bandwidth. The router firmware is up to date and all my software is up to date. And with that, I'm stumped! Comcast tested all the wiring and determined that everything is working fine except for my machine. I would greatly appreciate any help you guys could suggest, you've been very helpful in the past! Thanks in advance!
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Sudden drop in Download speed on Early 2008 Mac Pro
- Thread starter Spiegel42
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Assuming you are connecting via wi-fi, here's my suggestion:
Try running a Cat-5 ethernet connection directly from the router to your computer. If speeds improve, then the problem is with your wi-fi card.
Try running a Cat-5 ethernet connection directly from the router to your computer. If speeds improve, then the problem is with your wi-fi card.
There is an app in the Utility folder (or somewhere) to monitor network speeds.
If you have 5Ghz available, use it. I had to set up separate 5Ghz channels and that helped get off the frequencies used by lots of other stuff.
If you have 5Ghz available, use it. I had to set up separate 5Ghz channels and that helped get off the frequencies used by lots of other stuff.
Wish I could help more, but I don't have an airport card in my 3,1. I always connect via cable.
If it cannot be resolved, at least you have a way of connecting at acceptable speeds.
If it cannot be resolved, at least you have a way of connecting at acceptable speeds.
If your Airport and airport card offer 5Ghz band you should set up a special 5Ghz connection.
If not, for $20 you can replace airport card for one that does
It is in Airport Utility and recommended by Apple
If not, for $20 you can replace airport card for one that does
It is in Airport Utility and recommended by Apple
Try the antennae cable that plugs into the AirPort card. Perhaps, it is loose or has dust near the connectors.
Otherwise, you should get a PowerLine set. Plugs into the wall -> Ethernet to your computer and in the other room, plug the power line into the wall -> Ethernet to Router. Almost like running an ethernet cable.
That's the trick. When we had our house built, there was no such thing as wi-fi, so I had Cat-5 strung throughout before the walls went up. Now I'm the only one using a wired connection. Everyone else is wireless. But since a Mac Pro and three monitors are not all that mobile anyway, it works for me.
You can try to hide it under the floor mouldings, or carpet if you have it.
So, I checked the airport card for dust or loose connections and it looks fine. Is there any way to diagnose it as a failing card? And do failing cards give inconsistent and slow speeds, or do they just suddenly stop working?
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I spoke with Comcast and discovered that the modem/router they use is only capable of broadcasting at 2.4GHz, is this uncommon?
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I spoke with Comcast and discovered that the modem/router they use is only capable of broadcasting at 2.4GHz, is this uncommon?
It's been a while, but I've tried some more things. I took my machine to the Apple store, where they were unable to recreate the issue. They did an erase and install of Mavericks, think it would resolve any software issue. They said that if the problem comes back, it's definitely the Airport card. So it came back, so i ordered and installed a new Airport card and lo and behold, the problem is still there!