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Issues with WiFi/torrents

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ralph123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2014
11
0
Hi to all,
I have an i7 late 2012 Mac Mini, I'm really happy with it, but since last week it has had some problems with the wifi network (some interruptions) and I can't download any torrents.
It stays always in 1kb/s downloads, I don't have a good wifi, but it reaches 150kbps normally, also when I try to download something from MEGA (I didn't tried any other servers) it starts well but when the download has reached 15/20 % it stops and doesn't work anymore. Other programs that need internet connection work well.
I want to know if this is an issue of my Mac Mini or my network, thanks and sorry for my English ;)
 
B

barkmonster

macrumors 68020
Dec 3, 2001
2,134
15
Lancashire
It sounds like your ISP throttling BT traffic but you could always try a different BT downloader to see if it's a software issue.
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,343
12,460
Also, IF a wired connection (Ethernet) is possible, try that instead of wireless.
 
blueroom

blueroom

macrumors 603
Feb 15, 2009
6,381
26
Toronto, Canada
Always put stationary Ethernet devices on wired connections. It's worth the effort.

It does appear to be your ISP throttling torrent traffic though.
 
R

ralph123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2014
11
0
It seems like my ISP is blocking almost any download I do, I'm gonna try later the glasnost test to verify it. Thanks to all :)
 
R

ralph123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2014
11
0
Hi again, I've made the test and my ISP apparently doesn't block the P2P, also downloading some torrents with other devices in the same WiFi they reach normal speed. So I think it's a problem of my Mac Mini, I don't think it's a virus because I don't have any pirated software or usually download strange things. What can be the issue? help me!! Thanks :):apple:
 
F

Frign

macrumors regular
Aug 19, 2011
116
408
Do you by chance have a USB3-device (hard drive, microphone, coffee heater,...) attached to your Mac mini?
 
R

ralph123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2014
11
0
No, I don't have any USB 3.0 device attached, only the printer, and the problem didn't resolve rebooting the router... It affects torrents and direct downloads (from normal sites like Mediafire, Dropbox..., they stay always on 15kbps), I also rebooted the Mac many times and its the same. If anybody has any info, it will be welcome. :)
 
Crosscreek

Crosscreek

macrumors 68030
Nov 19, 2013
2,892
5,793
Margarittaville
ralph123 said:
Hi again, I've made the test and my ISP apparently doesn't block the P2P, also downloading some torrents with other devices in the same WiFi they reach normal speed. So I think it's a problem of my Mac Mini, I don't think it's a virus because I don't have any pirated software or usually download strange things. What can be the issue? help me!! Thanks :):apple:
Click to expand...

I download torrents on my 2012 Mini on wifi without a problem using Transmission.
I found the regular BitTorrent app didn't work that well with the Mac.
You can get Transmission free from:https://www.transmissionbt.com/download/
 
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R

ralph123

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 3, 2014
11
0
I tried Transmission before and it also didn't work. 5 minutes ago I started a torrent to try again and suddenly, all worked well, I don't know what happened but by the moment all is normal and running at full speed. Thanks to all :D:cool:
 
F

Frign

macrumors regular
Aug 19, 2011
116
408
The Mac mini is not properly shielded

dimme said:
Just curious is there a USB 3 issue that could effect download speeds?
Click to expand...

Yes, but this is a hardware issue.

The problem is that USB3-cable-frequencies interfere with 2.4GHz Wifi if the antenna and/or usb3-ports haven't been shielded well enough.
In case of the 2012 Mac mini, the engineers messed it up and it's a known issue that using USB3-peripherals causes these problems.

One solution is to switch to 5GHz Wifi or use Thunderbolt or Firewire 800 devices.

I myself noticed it while running Linux after I had bought a new USB 3 external hard drive case. After hours of debugging and accusing the case of being faulty, it actually turned out (after opening the Mac mini) that the hard drive was properly shielded, but the Mac mini wasn't.
That's the reason why this is the last Mac I have bought. I used to love the Hardware's quality, but faulty design like this just isn't acceptable.

If you encounter signal issues on your Mac, generally unplug any peripheral possible and check if the problem persists. This is a golden tip and it saved me hours of work in the past and especially in this case.
 
LucasLand

LucasLand

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2002
756
92
New England
not only is your ISP throttling you, but they can see exactly what your doing. I hope you're using a VPN? if you're not try https://www.privateinternetaccess.com. it only cost like $3 per month

it can be kind of embarrassing when comcast has on your record that you've illegally downloaded Brazzers episodes of "teenslikeitbig"
 
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