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Ethernet wayyyyy faster in Windows than OS X
- Thread starter andrewt1187
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You tested a day apart and really think that's valid?
You need to test minutes apart, or seconds apart to even have a valid complaint.
Router problems, packet routing, packet loss, lag, traffic and a host of other items could be different from one day to the next.
You need to test minutes apart, or seconds apart to even have a valid complaint.
Router problems, packet routing, packet loss, lag, traffic and a host of other items could be different from one day to the next.
I figured I would post it here because its more of an OS X problem than Windows.
Yeah, you can't test a day apart and on different servers to get any sort of accurate test.
The OP is right. I routinely get much slower wireless speeds on my Mac Pro than on my PC laptop (I also use speedtest.net to check my connection speed). 
I took the tests so far apart because I was in XP all night using Word.
Anyway, its not the only time i've taken the test. The OS X tests have never broken 5000 whereas the Windows tests always break 15,000.
Also, the speed is noticeably slower in OS X.
Anyway, its not the only time i've taken the test. The OS X tests have never broken 5000 whereas the Windows tests always break 15,000.
Also, the speed is noticeably slower in OS X.
I don't know how credible Speedtest.net is supposed to be, but here is what I got for my 10/10 connection:
That said, tests initiated from behind the same router within a short amount of time shouldn't differ that much between computers as the OP's do (provided that the numbers differ that much when the tests are taken within minutes from each other too).
If my speeds would differ like that, I'd first check the Ethernet part of System Preferences to make sure the correct Speed/Duplex/MTU are set, same proxies and so on, then I would try from a couple of different browsers on the same computer.
(Actually, I would test both computers with http://www.bredbandskollen.se/ and TPTest 3 or 5 too, but swedish may not be for all)
That said, tests initiated from behind the same router within a short amount of time shouldn't differ that much between computers as the OP's do (provided that the numbers differ that much when the tests are taken within minutes from each other too).
If my speeds would differ like that, I'd first check the Ethernet part of System Preferences to make sure the correct Speed/Duplex/MTU are set, same proxies and so on, then I would try from a couple of different browsers on the same computer.
(Actually, I would test both computers with http://www.bredbandskollen.se/ and TPTest 3 or 5 too, but swedish may not be for all
)
The bottleneck there isn't going to be your ethernet, it's your internet connection.
Ethernet has absolutely tonnes more bandwidth than would ever be needed for internet connections nowadays. The world's fastest internet connection is 1 gbp/s (at BT's Goonhilly communications centre - I've used it), and most Macs (if not all) come with gigabit ethernet.
It's your internet dude, not the ethernet.
Ethernet has absolutely tonnes more bandwidth than would ever be needed for internet connections nowadays. The world's fastest internet connection is 1 gbp/s (at BT's Goonhilly communications centre - I've used it), and most Macs (if not all) come with gigabit ethernet.
It's your internet dude, not the ethernet.
Don't mean to budge in, but yes, absolutely -- it is the internet connection these tests are measuring. I've used several other so called broadband measuring sites/tools and they all confirm what I suspected from the subjective feel of browsing on my Mac vs. browsing on my Win XP laptop: the mac connection is consistently only about 1/3 the speed. BTW, when I first got my Mac Pro a year ago I did not perceive that my web browsing was slow. Only after one of the Airport updates earlier this year did I start noticing something was not right, which prompted me to run all these tests. I've called Apple several times about this, but they have not been able to resolve the issues that I am having (and lot of other people, apparently, are having) with the speed of the internet connection on the Mac. I've even had to pay for a Comcast service call, since it turns out the problem is not with Comcast but with my Mac.
And are both of your connections wireless, or wired?
What is the speed of the card in each, if wireless?
MacPro should be at least 1000 for ethernet. Don't know about the WinDoze machine.
I can test my upload and download speeds from Vonage's help page by clicking on the 'How can I test my upload speed?' link. You don't have to be a Vonage customer to use it.
I see 4.5Mbps down and 1Mbps up on my connection right now. On the Mac
My son's runs about the same. His is WinDozeXP Both Wired
Downloaded my updates in less than 5 minutes for Leopard.
I watched it do a 47meg dmg file in less than a minute.
That's what I go by
Tiger would take better than 5 minutes for the same size file.
What is the speed of the card in each, if wireless?
MacPro should be at least 1000 for ethernet. Don't know about the WinDoze machine.
I can test my upload and download speeds from Vonage's help page by clicking on the 'How can I test my upload speed?' link. You don't have to be a Vonage customer to use it.
I see 4.5Mbps down and 1Mbps up on my connection right now. On the Mac
My son's runs about the same. His is WinDozeXP Both Wired
Downloaded my updates in less than 5 minutes for Leopard.
I watched it do a 47meg dmg file in less than a minute.
That's what I go by
Tiger would take better than 5 minutes for the same size file.
For those seeing slower connections with your Macs:
Are you using wireless or wired?
Is there any difference between wireless and wired?
What encryption if any are you using on wireless?
Open a terminal window and type "ping www.yahoo.com". Let it run for 100 pings. Stop it with Ctrl-C. Are there any dropped packets?
When I use WPA on my iMac, I get 1/3 the speed of wired or WEP/no encryption. There's no difference with my wife's MacBook or the Mac Mini under the TV. On the iMac, I see 20% packet loss with the ping test, 0% from the MB and Mini.
I see no difference on wireless between my Dell D810 from work and the MacBook/Mini, so I'm pretty sure it's an iMac hardware problem and not any issue with OS X ... I haven't tried with another wireless router though.
Are you using wireless or wired?
Is there any difference between wireless and wired?
What encryption if any are you using on wireless?
Open a terminal window and type "ping www.yahoo.com". Let it run for 100 pings. Stop it with Ctrl-C. Are there any dropped packets?
When I use WPA on my iMac, I get 1/3 the speed of wired or WEP/no encryption. There's no difference with my wife's MacBook or the Mac Mini under the TV. On the iMac, I see 20% packet loss with the ping test, 0% from the MB and Mini.
I see no difference on wireless between my Dell D810 from work and the MacBook/Mini, so I'm pretty sure it's an iMac hardware problem and not any issue with OS X ... I haven't tried with another wireless router though.
Do the speedtest.net thing to Kosice, Slovakia.
the speeds are in the 110Mbps range for down and 5200 kbps for up.
All the cross the water speeds are higher.
Then try Seattle. I got 1/2 a Mbps down and 3/4 a Mbps up from them.
I'm 50 miles SE of Scottsdale/Phoenix and 50 NW of Tucson. Neither of those is going along at better than single speed bicycles as compared to the Porches and Fararies (sp)being run in Europe.
the speeds are in the 110Mbps range for down and 5200 kbps for up.
All the cross the water speeds are higher.
Then try Seattle. I got 1/2 a Mbps down and 3/4 a Mbps up from them.
I'm 50 miles SE of Scottsdale/Phoenix and 50 NW of Tucson. Neither of those is going along at better than single speed bicycles as compared to the Porches and Fararies (sp)being run in Europe.
I had the same problem, took me a week to figure it out. I described what worked for me in this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/385855/
Both my Mac Pro and my Dell Latitude laptop are connecting wirelessly to a new Airport Extreme router. The card in the Mac Pro is N type, the Dell probably is a G. I'm running WEP. I've tried both B and G connections, with basically the same results.
You will only notice the difference between those two with really, really fast internet connections and when copying between networked computers.
ugh, i'm stupid.
i reconfigured the ethernet port manually (100/full duplex) and its blazing now.
i reconfigured the ethernet port manually (100/full duplex) and its blazing now.
I just ran a test using the speedtest
My Mac OS X came in at 1.7up and 1.3down
My Windows machine is 2.9up and 1.6down
My Windows PC is wired, my Mac is Wireless, but it shouldnt' make a difference since its Wireless G and its 50MB + the router sits like 4feet from the MacBook Pro
My Mac OS X came in at 1.7up and 1.3down
My Windows machine is 2.9up and 1.6down
My Windows PC is wired, my Mac is Wireless, but it shouldnt' make a difference since its Wireless G and its 50MB + the router sits like 4feet from the MacBook Pro
Glad I could save someone the week of pain I went through! (Apple Care, Genius Bar, endless forum searches, etc.) This was my first mac, so I didn't know Macs had trouble auto configuring ethernet.
I just ran 4 tests at speedtest.net, my upload speed varied by 5000 kb/s per second upload and download speed with my high being 12,000 kb/s and my low being 7,000 kb/s. Not only is this site unreliable, you would have to take a huge sample of tests to draw any reliable conclusions. There are way too many variables, using a wireless router can make a huge difference depending on on possible interference, etc.
It's good to know you got OS X properly configured...next time also don't do the Window test at 5:00 in the morning and the OS X test at 4:30 in the afternoon.
I did what you suggested and I ran the test you provided a link for in your referenced thread (before and after the change), but I'm still getting abysmal performance (uploads <300 kbps!!!). The test keeps reporting that "Other network traffic is congesting the link". I've no idea what this means.
I did what you suggested and I ran the test you provided a link for in your referenced thread (before and after the change), but I'm still getting abysmal performance (uploads <300 kbps!!!). The test keeps reporting that "Other network traffic is congesting the link". I've no idea what this means.
In the interest of fairness, after spending a long time troubleshooting my system this weekend (including countless hours on hold with AppleCare and Comcast) I found that it was my 4-year Linksys cable modem that was slowing everything down. All is well now