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Painfully Slow internet in OS X ... Parallels it's great!

A

arcobb

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Hello!

I'm having a problem with my internet on my CD MacBook. Safari and Firefox are both taking for ever to load pages but when I run Firefox in Parallels on my installation of Windows XP it's as speedy as is should be. We are talking a difference of 10 -15 sometimes more seconds.

I've done all the usual stuff like fix permissions and clearing out the cache but it seems to have no effect. I even made a new account and logged in as that user and it was still slow. I kinda like to get this fixed because it is silly to log into windows just to surf the web. Any idea? Pointers? Tips?

Thanks!
 
Well....

Do you the universal binary versions of both programs? If not, the processing that is going on through Rosetta could be causing the lag. I've noticed the same lack of response with iWork '05 on my MacBook, can't wait for the universal '07.
 
CodyJ said:
Do you the universal binary versions of both programs? If not, the processing that is going on through Rosetta could be causing the lag. I've noticed the same lack of response with iWork '05 on my MacBook, can't wait for the universal '07.
Click to expand...

Safari is the Intel version that came with the computer and Firefox is universal.
 
I had similar issues regarding the slow speed but it's more of my email application.

It take about 5 to 7 minutes to download 3 to 5MB of email attachments. It will just take about 2 minutes to download a 5MB file as compared to the slowness when accessing my mailbox. i tried with Entourage, APPLE Mail app, OUTLOOK 2007 ( inside PARALLELs) ... all gave me the same slow response.

I suspect it might be a problem with my router.

btw... I am using a 17" MBP.

regards,
Boon
 
Update, I tried reinstalling os x (clean install, I backed up my hard drive) and pages are coming much faster in Windows using parallels on the same machine. I'm running out of ideas! Help!
 
arcobb said:
Update, I tried reinstalling os x (clean install, I backed up my hard drive) and pages are coming much faster in Windows using parallels on the same machine. I'm running out of ideas! Help!
Click to expand...

How are you connecting to the internet? Is it wireless? If so, what sort've router are you using?

I had the exact same problem, using a D Link router. I fixed it by changing some settings.

If you are using wireless let me know and i'll give you the link which may help you fix it.

Damo
 
Ok, I seemed to fix it but it makes no since to me. I added 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 to the optional DNS servers box in the network preferences as suggested by this link from MacFixIt. Not that I'm complaining, but what did I actually do? By the way I'm using a Qwest Actiontec DSL wireless router. Thanks!
 
arcobb said:
Ok, I seemed to fix it but it makes no since to me. I added 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 to the optional DNS servers box in the network preferences as suggested by this link from MacFixIt. Not that I'm complaining, but what did I actually do? By the way I'm using a Qwest Actiontec DSL wireless router. Thanks!
Click to expand...

ok i been noticing the same kind of issue on my router at home, kinda slow page loading times compared to the windows system next to it. Typed this into the dns server box and it fixed it for me aswell.

Personally i dont know what that just did either, I will ask a friend of mine when he gets home from work what it does and post here afterwards 🙂
 
DrBunsenHoneyde said:
ok i been noticing the same kind of issue on my router at home, kinda slow page loading times compared to the windows system next to it. Typed this into the dns server box and it fixed it for me aswell.

Personally i dont know what that just did either, I will ask a friend of mine when he gets home from work what it does and post here afterwards 🙂
Click to expand...

Thanks, that would be great because it would be nice to understand why it made the pages load faster. Cheers!
 
You should use the DNS addresses for your ISP. They should have that information available somewhere on their website. I don't know why OS X sucks without manual DNS settings, but it does. This is one instance where Windows is much better.

I'll just do like most clueless network admins do, and blame it on AppleTalk 😉
 
Saw the title on this and immediately knew it was DNS on OS X. I've seen this happen quite a bit before and it's often not a place people look or even know about.

I would actually suggest using a service called OpenDNS. It is completely free, quite fast, and corrects spelling errors on the fly (.eud -> .edu). You can set this the same way you already have or you can actually configure DNS servers inside your router. This would allow you to take care of this problem network wide.

Either way, glad you got it fixed!
 
does anyone know if you can adjust the MTU and RWIN settings in OS X?

i had a windows internet network tweaked to use an MTU of 1430 (the default being 1500?)

any ideas?
😕
 
caligula357 said:
does anyone know if you can adjust the MTU and RWIN settings in OS X?

i had a windows internet network tweaked to use an MTU of 1430 (the default being 1500?)

any ideas?
😕
Click to expand...

You can set the MTU with the "ifconfig" command, and you can set the RWIN with the "sysctl" command. You probably won't need to mess with the MTU unless you're doing VPN stuff, since everything pretty much uses the standard 1500. The RWIN can make a difference in download speeds for TCP connections. The sysctl command doesn't stick across a reboot, so if you want to make your changes permanent you can create a file called "sysctl.conf" and put it in the "/etc" directory. Here's what my "/etc/sysctl.conf" looks like:
Code: 
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf=8000000
net.inet.tcp.sendspace=131072
net.inet.tcp.recvspace=131072

HTH - Good luck!
 
you know what? it works! i've always noticed that my internet on my MBP was a little slow, not as bad as the original posters probably because it didn't bug me that much. but just for laughs and giggles i tried the two DNS server address and whaddaya know? the load speed for webpages instantly perks up.


now i am really curious as to why that is? cause 4.2.2.1 etc doesn't seem like a DNS server that an ISP would assign...
 
benzslrpee said:
you know what? it works! i've always noticed that my internet on my MBP was a little slow, not as bad as the original posters probably because it didn't bug me that much. but just for laughs and giggles i tried the two DNS server address and whaddaya know? the load speed for webpages instantly perks up.


now i am really curious as to why that is? cause 4.2.2.1 etc doesn't seem like a DNS server that an ISP would assign...
Click to expand...

4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.2 are GTE addresses (or whoever they really are now - Verizon I think). You're generally better off using DNS servers from your own ISP because they tend to be closer to you in terms of hops through the Internet and therefore more responsive, but that's not always true. If you find something that works that's what matters.

Dana
 
Hmm, I understand why it would be faster if I used the addresses for my isp ... but seeing that I have a laptop it's nice to have it faster when I go to the coffee shop, the 4.2.2.1 also help the speed when I'm at the local coffee shop (several of them in fact), so why then is the mac's internet slower then it's pc cousins surfing at the coffee shop? One would think that apple would have built this in to OS X seeing that they want to be perceived at the easiest computer for the consumer to use, instead of figuring out that you have to add an obscure number into your internet settings. Parallels has always been faster for me in a wide variety of settings.

Just seems odd to me. Thanks for the input everyone!
 
well i think regardless of having a DNS server that's close/far from you i think that it's strange how a Windows machine using the same DNS servers would have a faster response. when i still had a PC about 2 years ago the download speeds would be faster on my PC compared to my Mac, again, i didn't care that much. just find it odd.

but what the hell, it works now. i ain't gonna fix it 😀
 
Thanks for solution to slow wireless on new Macbook!

Thanks so much, arcobb and others for the solution to my problem. I just bought a new Macbook for my daughter, and out of the box, the wireless was so painfully slow. It was taking about 10-15 seconds to change a page. We have several Windows machines on the same router, and have never had a problem. When I added the 4.2.2.2 and 4.2.2.1 to my DNS box, it really fixed things. I'm not savvy enough to understand what that means, only savvy enough to read all of this thread, and get an idea of what to do. What has been really annoying to me is that there is no help whatsoever on apple.com support pages about this situation. Added of course, to all the commentary by other Mac users about how their systems are so intuitive. This has been non-intuitive to me for about 5 hours before I got to this site. THANKS SO MUCH!
 
wow, im so glad i found this thread.

Ive always been disappointed with osx and internet speed. I just put the 4.x.x.x's in, and bam, instant gradification!

amazing...comcast net here.
 
kgeier82 said:
wow, im so glad i found this thread.

Ive always been disappointed with osx and internet speed. I just put the 4.x.x.x's in, and bam, instant gradification!

amazing...comcast net here.
Click to expand...

Where did you put it in? The original instructions are for Tiger and I don't have any blank DNS fields in my network configuration...
 
DNS box

I didn't have a blank DMS box. I had a DNS box with three lines of numbers in it, and I added the two sets of numbers that were recommended....
 
Have the fix

I just found the fix online which has taken me the better part of a week.

I am running a macbook on tiger so I am not sure if all the settings are the same so here goes.

Network
Set your DNS to:

4.2.2.1
4.2.2.2

Fixed, internet is faster than it was a month ago. Hope this helps.

Wiesey
 
solution

hi guys!😀I was having the same problem after doing a clean install of sl and then using :apple:software update!I after doing ramdom stuff from the net I gave up...so then I went to disk utility and repaired permissions!then suddenly the net was fast again😱!
 
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