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Replaced my AEBS with a Time Machine - Internet is now SLOW!

spaceballl

spaceballl

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 2, 2003
2,939
363
San Francisco, CA
Hi all,

not sure what the problem is here. I replaced my AEBS with a 500gb time machine, and my internet is SLOW. Not just during backups, but... all the time! I've searched around online and others seem to be having some issues similar to mine. What about you all? has anyone replaced an AEBS with a Time Machine and found network performance to be slow?? Thanks!

And i should re-state. Network throughput is fine. Transferring files between computers is no big deal, but the actual internet surfing is VERY slow.
 
Make sure you've power cycled your cable modem or DSL modem. Unplug the AC of both the modem and the Time Capsule. Plug the modem back in and allow it to sync and acquire an IP address. Then plug back in the AC of the Time Capsule. I had to power everything off then back on originally to get the Time Capsule to acquire a valid (external) IP address. I know you say its slow, which implies its at least working, but its worth giving the whole thing a restart.
 
xraydoc, thanks for the advice - i already did that when i first set it up, but i'll give it another shot.

Yeah that was so frustrating in the beginning though - i could not figure out for the life of me why the IP address wasn't being acquired. turns out a flip of the switch on the cable modem fixed it all up.
 
Same problem here. Using Speedtest.net, my old AEBS is 3 times faster on downloads than the TC. Both set up exactly the same. I have not been able to figure this out but other users have similar problems. It really is a big difference, 7700kbps down compared to 22700 down.

I posted this on the apple forums, but no response so far.
 
boboettinger said:
Same problem here. Using Speedtest.net, my old AEBS is 3 times faster on downloads than the TC. Both set up exactly the same. I have not been able to figure this out but other users have similar problems. It really is a big difference, 7700kbps down compared to 22700 down.

I posted this on the apple forums, but no response so far.
Click to expand...
I'm glad to see that i'm not alone on this issue. Hopefully Apple is aware and comes out with a fix soon. This sucks.
 
Has the TC fully backed up everything?

I would imagine the TC would be pretty slow for any type of access during periods of active backups, particularly large backups. That does require a large amount of data, and even a wired connection might slow a bit. A wireless connection might slow to a halt during periods of backing up lots of data.
 
Same problem here. I just posted this @ discussions.apple.com. Is anyone else experiencing #3?

I am also noticing slow internet using my Time Capsule. In all of the threads that I have read it seems people are confusing the internet speed with the wireless connection between the computer and the Time Capsule. I have done numerous tests. This is what I have found.

1. My wireless connection to the Time Capsule is consistent. No problems there. I can always access the Time Capsule drive and other computers on the network with good speeds.

2. There is a direct correlation between wireless connections to the Time Capsule and downstream internet access. I have one desktop and one laptop using the Time Capsule. If both are wired then there are no problems. However, if my laptop connects wirelessly then the internet download speed for BOTH machines is slow.

3. Taking #2 further, if my laptop is connected wirelessly to the Time Capsule and transferring a lot of data to the Time Capsule's hard drive (whether Time Machine backup or regular file copy) the internet nearly STOPS for both machines. However, if the laptop is connected wirelessly and I transfer a lot of data to the other computer the internet is only slow (same as #2). And, if I am transferring a lot of data between computers and both are wired there are no problems.

It seems like there are two problems affecting Time Capsule. Any wireless connections to the Time Capsule slow down the internet provided through the Time Capsule. And, accessing the hard drive in the Time Capsule through a wireless connection really slow down the internet provided through the Time Capsule (almost to a halt).

I am going to try using another router between the Time Capsule and the modem. But, I suspect it is the WAN port itself and that it won't help. This is very disappointing.
 
This fixed the problem... I replaced my old ethernet cables w/ new cat6 cables. I really can't explain it, but that fixed it for me... I noticed oddities when the speedtest speeds were higher over wifi than w/ ethernet. So I got some new cables and my internet speeds are fast again.
 
I changed the wireless settings on the TC to use 802.11n only (5 GHz) and now I am not seeing the downstream internet degradation. This will work since I still have my b/g base station active on my network. But, this is definitely something Apple needs to work out.
 
Don't just rely on the Airport menu extra when setting up your network. Check the network preferences pane and make sure your wireless network name is selected.
 
Vanyasteen said:
Don't just rely on the Airport menu extra when setting up your network. Check the network preferences pane and make sure your wireless network name is selected.
Click to expand...
This may be the silliest advice i've seen yet given.
Also, please make sure your Mac is on while you're doing all this.
 
spaceballl said:
This fixed the problem... I replaced my old ethernet cables w/ new cat6 cables. I really can't explain it, but that fixed it for me... I noticed oddities when the speedtest speeds were higher over wifi than w/ ethernet. So I got some new cables and my internet speeds are fast again.
Click to expand...

I actually once fixed a problem this way, where someone's computer was working when they plugged into the modem, but not when they plugged into the router (another computer on the network worked). Turns out the 40 foot cable they had strung across their old apartment couldn't handle 100 Mbps without errors. Older cable modems tend to only put out a 10 Mbps signal, so that's why it worked at 10 Mbps without error. I ended up just setting their network card to only do 10 Mbps, rather than auto-negotiate, and the problem was solved. I felt like a magician.

So this would probably explain what you saw... your computer and TC were trying to negotiate a 1000 Mbps connection over a cable that was only capable of 100 Mbps, and generating a lot of errors and retransmits in the process.
 
spaceballl said:
This may be the silliest advice i've seen yet given.
Also, please make sure your Mac is on while you're doing all this.
Click to expand...

I'm just reporting what fixed a stuttering problem FOR ME. I was having a problem with web browsers stuttering while loading pages. The Airport menu extra showed that I was connected to my router at full signal strength. I opened the network preferences pane and saw that my Airport connection had a yellow circle next to it, and no network name listed in the drop-down box. I selected my network name in the drop-down, noted that my WPA2 key was listed correctly, and and the indicator changed from yellow to green. After closing system preferences and reloading the page, the stuttering stopped.

The only logical conclusion is that under some as yet unknown set of circumstances, the Airport menu extra fails to pass the network name back to network preferences, causing this problem.
 
Has the issue been resolved Spaceball? I'd like to get a TC and use it as a router for both a wired and wireless network (n speed wireless/gigabit wired). Is this a bad plan based on your experience? Any better to use AEBS?
 
Yeah I found out that I just had old ethernet cables that were slowing the system down. Make sure that you have good gigabit ethernet cables. If you're not sure, just buy some new ones online - they're cheap.
 
Is it the heat buildup?

I am beginning to wonder if it isn't the heat buildup that is causing the TC to slow down? I swear I could cook a scrambled egg on my 1TB capsule!

Even after resetting everything (modem, TC, and all the computers), my internet actually came to a stop yesterday. So, I unplugged the TC and set up my old Netgear router and everything worked. After the TC cooled for a few hours, I plugged it back in and it was working again.

I'm about ready to park an ice pack on top of the thing! I wish Apple would have vented the TC case better.:mad:
 
heat buildup wouldn't cause slowdown - if it got seriously too hot, it would crash and cease functioning. But heat buildup won't do it...
 
spaceballl said:
heat buildup wouldn't cause slowdown - if it got seriously too hot, it would crash and cease functioning. But heat buildup won't do it...
Click to expand...

Well, I have raised up TC by placing some small supports under it to allow air flow and everything has been running smooth since. It still gets warm, but not egg-cooker hot.

Whether that was the solution or not, I plan on leaving the TC elevated.
 
In my case, the situation is quite weird... internet is about 50 times slower using ethernet than using wifi (then, the speed is just fine, the one is supposed to be). Local network files work fine (OK on wifi, very fast on ethernet, so it's not a cables issue... get consistent 16-20mbyte per second) but internet using ethernet is painfully slow... can connect via wifi but then local file transfers and time machine are slower.

Also talking about it in this thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8905531&posted=1#post8905531
 
ayu61200 said:
In my case, the situation is quite weird... internet is about 50 times slower using ethernet than using wifi (then, the speed is just fine, the one is supposed to be). Local network files work fine (OK on wifi, very fast on ethernet, so it's not a cables issue... get consistent 16-20mbyte per second) but internet using ethernet is painfully slow... can connect via wifi but then local file transfers and time machine are slower.

Also talking about it in this thread...

https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=8905531&posted=1#post8905531
Click to expand...
This may seem obvious, but a lot of time has passed since these initial threads were started. Have you tried resetting your TC to factory settings and then updating to the most recent software version?
 
It's updated to the latest firmware, but didn't restore it to factory settings... so I did right now, and spent 10 minutes configuring it again (just a DHCP ethernet connection to the cable router), and set it up in mode "share one publish ip address" mode. Still the same issue.

Changing it to bridge mode didn't change the situation either.

I guess I'll have to switch all the devices to connect via wifi (PS3 etc) and endure slower local network transfers. Thank you guys anyway.

Edit: Found the reason...!


The TC assigned a different DNS configuration to wifi connections than ethernet connections; Ethernet had 'real' ISP DNSs (the ones the TC acquires when obtains the DHCP session). Wifi had the TC's IP as DNS server.

I changed Ethernet DNSs to TC's IP and now internet is amazingly fast.
 
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