Download speed issue

Have you done a ping test to the router to determine your current internet speed?

 

Find network utility, it's in the utilities folder. Open it up and click on the ping tab. enter in the ip network address. Should be on your router. it's normally either 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1 but check the back or base of your router to be sure. Click the option that says unlimited number of pings, then click ping. As the results start coming in look at the right hand side of the entries and they should have a reply time in ms (milliseconds). this is how long your router is taking to service your request. If you are seeing results this tells you the connection between your mac an router are fine. To determine your isp speed simply open a browser window and use speediest or something similar.

 

Check the firewall settings on your router. Connect to your router with an ethernet cable. open up a browser window and type in the ip network address that is on your router. There should also be a username and password printed on the router. When the page has loaded up use the username and password to access your router settings. There should be something like a security section in the router settings and firewall options. Disable the firewall but if you use a password on your network, leave it enabled. If you're still having problems after this process, then check with your isp to see if there are any known problems on their network.

 

FWIW, I've noticed periods of painfully slow internet download speeds at times. It doesn't seem to matter what network I'm attached to, it's something I've noticed since I upgraded to Mavericks in general, not 10.9.1 specifically.

I also had to apply an update to my Cisco VPN client to work with Mavericks. It was an interesting problem - the connection would work fine for a few minutes and then die. I could see the speeds gradually decrease too.. really weird. I feel as if I notice the same behavior surfing the general internet at times.

 

I have also noticed this.

If I'm trying to load a page in Safari on my MBP and doing something on my iPhone or tablet on the internet also, they are slow until I close (Command - Q) Safari, then those devices load whatever. Weird.