macbook slow wireless

[electricladee]

I'll throw my $0.02 in here. I purchased a MacBook two weeks ago. I use a Dlink DIR-625 router. I also have my work laptop, IBM ThinkPad (wireless), and my iMAC (ethernet) in my home network. The wireless on the MacBook was terrible. I did a ping from the MacBook to, say, www.google.com, and I was experiencing a 40% loss in packets. I noticed in the router that the IBM and iMAC were connected at 802.11g, and the MacBook at 802.11n. I changed the router to "802.11g only" to force the MacBook to 802.11g, and it works just fine now. I rechecked the ping, and got 0% packet loss. I don't understand why the 802.11n performed so badly, but I have left it at 802.11g. Has anybody else experienced this?

[chucklebee]

History
^^^^

My D-Link WBR-1310 was fine with pc laptop wireless but NOT with my new
macbook pro 2.2ghz

My new laptop was attempting to run the wifi 811b protocol instead of the quicker g protocol.

Quick fix. router - change setting to use only 802.11g
save
hard power off the router. the setting doesn't seem to come in to effect after setting was just saved.

Unplug wireless router. wait 10 seconds. replug.

Another setting I did change but I don't think matters is auto scan channel. I have it checked off

That worked for me. I hope it does for you.

[Spongy]

Just used a client's New MBP. I also had this problem with a client's slow MBP. I re-installed the drivers that came with the new Apple base station and everything seemed fine. 802.11n is the draft spec, so its not finalised, but it shouldn't be causing problems like this - should it?

[drwojtek]

Hello everybody,

I've never used a forum before, was despairing at how slow my new MacBook was on wifi, staggered to find a full breakdown of just about every possibility here on this thread!

I use a Belkin pre-n router, have a couple of pc's on the network, nothing seemed to work but the simplest suggestion ( selecting g only on the router settings, it had been on b or g ) has made the macbook fly.

(Now all I have to get my head round is hard drive formats for shared mac/pc use...)

Thanks to all -

Wojtek, Edinburgh

[napher]

I have a MacBook 2Gig 2GHz and was having Internet slowdown issues as well. In some ways I was lucky to be able to diagnose the problem, because when I first got my MacBook, the wireless connection worked at first, then I updated the wireless airport driver through software update and the wireless connection broke completely when using WEP Encryption. The software has been updated to fix thsi issue but it seems like a partial fix only.

So the Solution is not great - Disable Encryption on your Wireless Network and wait for Apple to release drivers that will handle Encryption without the huge lag time. Share your connection with your neighbours for awhile (or some routers allow you to ban MAC Addresses other than your own)

But with an open wireless network, browsing is fast as it should be.

Sorry for the news...

[steven.testart]

Quote: Originally Posted by bramley I don't think your problem is due to the router. If it works well with your Powerbook then I don't see why it is the fault of the router if it doesn't work well with the MacBook. Are you certain that you are using the same network (airport) settings with both machines?

I just bought a Macbook as well, and am having the same difficulty - dead slow on wireless - I've tried it on VIA Rail, and now at the B & B I'm staying at in Montreal. I'm very disappointed as the speed is so slow that it is practically useless. I suspect it's not us, but the machine must have some fault. I bought a Mac to avoid these frustrations.

[GuitarHero]

When I first got my MacBook I noticed that some videos (streaming) on the internet would just stop loading halfway or just load very slowly. It's not the website because I tried testing load times for a few videos between my PC and Mac. It sucks when a youtube video stops right when it gets to the good part! So I started searching forums about this issue and found similar answers (changing router configs or network settings). None of the solutions have worked for my MacBook (2.16ghz 1gig ram) so far.

I'm not 100% sure if this is a solution for me yet, but I just noticed that there are no problems with internet lag whatsoever when I have my Power Adapter charging my MacBook. My MacBook is set too "Better Performance Settings" on both battery and power adapter so I don't understand why this is making a difference. More power for the computer to work off when plugged in???

This sounds pretty dumb to me too, but can some people try this out and post if you noticed a difference? It's really obvious on my laptop because I'll start a long youtube vid wait for it to pause because it's loading so slow, then once I plug in my adapter the video loads just as fast as my PC, pull the adapter out and back to turtle speeds. Other than this internet issue my new MacBook runs like a champ!

[chupakbra]

Indeed my problem was out when I removed CoconutWiFi.

Thanks for all your posts!

[FelixTheCat]

Hey guys,
I read about all the problems with the macbook... i just solved my macbook internet problem. I called applecare support, and they told me to turn off my computer. Then take out the battery. And with the battery taken out hold the power button for 10 seconds. then release. Put the battery back inside of the computer and turn on the computer. This should restart the hardware. I'm not too tech savvy, so I don't know exactly what happened... but my internet works fine now. GOod luck!

[Intellicore]

Hi,

After hours of testing, I've just solved my problem.

Pings were oscillating between <1 ms and > 5000 ms !! Lost packets were from 2 to 17%.

I switch off the encryption, and it went fine. Then I switch WPA2 on, and it was still fine.

For compatibility with an old PC around, I was using WEP; it seems that WEP is not well implemented (drivers ?).

For me, the problem is solved, and I strongly suggested to check weither or not you are using WEP. If so, just switch to WPA2 (which is much more secure btw).

Christian

http://www.intellicore.net

[davidgalbraith]

Quote: Originally Posted by randpeltzer Hi guys, i have posted about this in the hardware forum but know believe the problem to be network related so my apologies if u have heard this before. To cut a long story short i bought a new macbook a few days ago and straight out of the box the wireless signal was weak.Software update took 2 hours and downloading apps such as firefox showed a slow speed,downloading video clips is also very slow.I tryed my 17'' inch powerbook on the same connection and it blazed through these downloads.I phoned apple and they thought it was a problem with the wireless card so i took it back to the shop and exchanged it for a macbook pro.The macbook pro is behaving exactly the same as the macbook so my guess is the router has issues with new macbooks.The router is a d-link dsl 604+.Has anyone else had a similar problem?,if so how did u fix it?. I have no more cash available so a new router is out of the question at the moment.Which one would u reccomend if i did? This problem really is getting to me,i love my macbook but its turning in2 frustration lol. any help greatly appreciated cheers p.s. when i connect the macbook pro to the router physically it works fine

Try going to apples website and downloading the driver for the new airport extreme card with wireless "N" I believe it only costs $0.99.
If that doesn't work let me know I have a few more suggestions.


davidgalbraith

[mgor]

I got problems with the wireless after installing Leopard. I had packet loss around 40-50% connected to a netgear wgr614v7.

My problems were solved by setting it to use G mode only.

[marcscheff]

I've tried everything on this forum, and spent hours booting, rebooting, setting DNS, blah blah.

I even called Apple support and spent some time with them. Fortunately, we found a solution.

My solution was simple, and it will ONLY work if you have 802.11n capable wireless laptops:

1) Go to the Airport Utility (in your Utilities folder)
2) Select your Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS for short)
3) Double click the icon or select Manual
4) Click on the Wireless tab
5) Change the Radio frequency to 802.11n ONLY in the 5GHz range
6) Update

What this does is get you in a frequency with very low traffic (since it's pretty new). Things like other wireless connections and 900MHz phones will no longer disrupt your service.

Again, this will only work with the 802.11n capable laptops. Fortunately, our house is all up to date.

Good luck.

[GavinBKK]

My (latest) MB is d/l at about one third of the speed of the Intel iMac sat next to it. Both on wireless to the same D-Link router. Beats me. The MB is no longer a new model, there has been plenty of time to fix whatever the issue is.

[ThreeBKK]

Quote: Originally Posted by GavinBKK My (latest) MB is d/l at about one third of the speed of the Intel iMac sat next to it. Both on wireless to the same D-Link router. Beats me. The MB is no longer a new model, there has been plenty of time to fix whatever the issue is.

Disconnect both Macs from the network, then connect them one at a time, and use a utility like Activity Monitor or Speed Download to clock the connection. Make sure that both Macs are trying to download the same file from wherever. (I recommend downloading a large .dmg file)

Is one Mac still faster than the other?

[deeday]

Hey guys,
Like all of you, I'm having trouble with my wireless connection.
I bought my MacBook (10.4.11 - Tiger) 5 months ago, and every now and then it gives me minor heart attacks because the wireless connection suddenly becomes very very slow. And for this past week, this appears to be the case once again.

I don't know what goes on; all of the other laptops in my house run very fast, it's only my precious MacBook (which I am currently hating on the verge of destruction) that turns against me.

I've checked some of the suggestions of this board but the thing is - I'm somewhat computer illiterate when it comes to the more complicated stuff.
I downloaded the iStumbler but it serves to no purpose because I have no idea what it does and I am also lost in the dark with all this "802.11n,g," discussion.

Can someone please "baby talk" me through this one?

Much appreciated!!

[mondeeclaire]

I've been having the same problem as guitar hero with video streaming slow unless plugged in. what did you do ?

[papermongoose]

Hi all,

I was having the same problem as all of you...flakey internet, especially on streaming video (like youtube).

I tried nearly everything, but following the advice of one poster, I put my router in WPA2 mode. It is working better than it ever has been.

Thanks for the thread! I hope I helped

[gloop]

I have the Alum. Mac Book since Dec. 2008. I run it on Safari, using a wireless Lynx G router. Nothing has changed since I have owned it. Lately any web page loads real slow. I am new to Mac. I do not understand most of what is being said on this post. Can someone tell me in laymans terms how to solve this problem. I have apple care but not sure if they can help. I would relly appreciate it.

[trevor]

Quote: Originally Posted by gloop I do not understand most of what is being said on this post. Can someone tell me in laymans terms how to solve this problem.

There are lots and lots of things being said in this post. We're happy to restate them in layman's terms, but you'll have to be specific about what things that were said that you would like to see restated. There's simply too much here to restate everything.

Trevor