Improving Bandwith

[JzzTrump22]

I found this cool thread on how to improve bandwith by using code in terminal.

"open the Terminal and type "sudo -s" to access root

-type "sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.recvspace=65536" then press enter (increases recieve buffer size)

-type "sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.sendspace=65536" then enter (increase send buffer size)

- type "sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0" then enter (increase your Mac's response time)

-type "logout" then enter (if its a login shell)

This hack only works for the current boot up (it will be gone next time you start up) so let's fix that:

-type "sudo pico /etc/rc"

find the last line that should read "exit 0"
NOTE: The "exit 0" line is the very last line in the text. You need to hold the down arrow key in order to reach this line.
since we want the effect to take place during all boot ups,

-type the 3 sysctl commands again right above the "exit 0" line, writing one per line


Results will vary, people's bandwidth has doubled because of this. Others have seen no noticeable difference. It sure helped me and I hope it give your Mac a nice speed boost too!"

 

[sjpetry]

This doesn't seam right because if it was Apple would implement it and brag about it. 😛

P.S. I haven't tried it.

 

[TMA]

Sorry but I'm slightly sceptical of any claim that a few terminal commands could double my bandwidth.

My absolute maximum potential speeds are 512kbps download and 256kbps upload. My normal speeds are around 480 and 220. This is considered normal and is the consequence of line noise and the fact that no networking protocol gets you 100% utilisation. It would be physically impossible for me to double my internet bandwidth unless my ISP provisioned a faster connection.

Also you should be careful when mucking around with those settings. When people read "Increase the Buffer!" or "Set Delay to ZERO" it comes across as something that can only be a good thing. THIS IS NOT THE CASE AT ALL. Pretty much all networky settings are highly sensitive and you could quite easily cripple your speed or cause a multitude of errors.

Apple know what they're doing.

 

[Mechcozmo]

5 Megabit downloads. I'm good.
300 kilobit uploads. Meh.

 

[JzzTrump22]

I haven't tried it yet. But from the responses on the thread everyone seemed pretty please with the increase in their bandwith. I don't want to go around messing with stuff like that. If it is possible, wouldn't your ISP come after you about it?

 

[Logik]

no.. it increases LAN bandwidth. it changes the size of packets sent and recieved. it will work technically, however it won't increase the bandwidth your ISP gives you, that is limited by them, once you get into MEGABITS per second then you'll notice the difference... for example, i have changed these on my powerbook to slightly different numbers, before i was maxing out at about 3.5megabytes per second, after it was around 4.5megabytes per second, same file, to the same computer on my local network... if you transfer large files around on your local network this would be beneficial.. but otherwise you won't notice anything really.

the reason apple doesn't have it set like this is because of stability and of course, working with older machines that can't transfer as much data as fast.. less likely to have issues, it's a more stable configuration