Macs have slower WiFi?

[AppleGoat]

Visited family for the holidays and stayed with my parents. The redeemable aspect of the house is the wireless internet connection, which screams. Websites explode open and I feel so much more productive. As opposed to the plodding or capricious internet I have in my apartment.

To my surprise, Amtrak now provides WiFi. Unfortunately, it was painfully slow, worse than my apartment. However, the passenger sitting next to me was rocking an Acer and was breezing through websites, well I could barely download a page with every element on the page properly loaded.

What gives? Obviously my internet connection is not broken since it is fast when the connection is good, but it seems less robust when it's not. How come the guy next to me with the bargain PC notebook was able to have a decent browsing experience while I had anything but? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

i've noticed that if you cover the back hinge, you can severely impact wireless performance since that's where the wifi antenna is at. If I cover mine, it can really slow network speeds, and I can get it to drop connection when I'm at the further edges of my house than the router.

 

[ergdegdeg]

Are you sure the other person wasn't tethering from their phone or using a mobile hotspot?

 

[AppleGoat]

i've noticed that if you cover the back hinge, you can severely impact wireless performance since that's where the wifi antenna is at. If I cover mine, it can really slow network speeds, and I can get it to drop connection when I'm at the further edges of my house than the router.

Interesting. It was on my lap, not sure if I was really covering the back hinge.

 

[GGJstudios]

Another factor could be your DNS server choices. You can use namebench to find the optimum DNS servers.

 

[paulrbeers]

Are you sure the other person wasn't tethering from their phone or using a mobile hotspot?

This!

 

[GuitarG20]

in my experience, my MBP has always been faster than windows laptops on the same network...

 

[AppleGoat]

No, I don't believe he was using a mobile hotspot. Whenever he would open a browser, the homepage would be the Amtrak WiFi page.

 

[elpmas]

in my experience, my MBP has always been faster than windows laptops on the same network...

Mine is on and off...

 

[elpmas]

No, I don't believe he was using a mobile hotspot. Whenever he would open a browser, the homepage would be the Amtrak WiFi page.

Btw, why were you looking at his laptop!?!

 

[Lee Adama]

Upgraded my IP4 ios to ios5; notice that my newly added contacts lose after i reboot my phone from battery drain or from manual turn off, anyone can help me w/ this??

thank you in advance

Why are you posting iPhone question in MacBook Wifi thread?

Please post in the iPhone forums.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Tis wot I get over de' wifi.



I think it's a DNS issue or a mobile hotspot as mentioned.

 

[vitzr]

Those who understand WiFi thoroughly, know that the Aluminum housing of a MBP or MBA has a somewhat negative effect on signal reception.

My ThinkPad's CFRP housing is ideal, since it allows the signal to pass through without any interference. Between that and a very clever antenna design, ThinkPads are the leader when it comes to WiFi performance.

A side by side test using my 15" MBP vs my 15" ThinkPad T520 reveals an eye opening advantage in favor of the ThinkPad.

My MBP is quite usable, it's just not up to the standard set by my ThinkPad.

 

[AppleGoat]

Those who understand WiFi thoroughly, know that the Aluminum housing of a MBP or MBA has a somewhat negative effect on signal reception.

My ThinkPad's CFRP housing is ideal, since it allows the signal to pass through without any interference. Between that and a very clever antenna design, ThinkPads are the leader when it comes to WiFi performance.

A side by side test using my 15" MBP vs my 15" ThinkPad T520 reveals an eye opening advantage in favor of the ThinkPad.

My MBP is quite usable, it's just not up to the standard set by my ThinkPad.

Well most other PC notebook housing are made from the same stuff, right?

----------

Btw, why were you looking at his laptop!?!

Can't help my wandering eyes. He was writing a horror novel about stick figures with so-so dialogue.

 

[elpmas]

Those who understand WiFi thoroughly, know that the Aluminum housing of a MBP or MBA has a somewhat negative effect on signal reception.

My ThinkPad's CFRP housing is ideal, since it allows the signal to pass through without any interference. Between that and a very clever antenna design, ThinkPads are the leader when it comes to WiFi performance.

A side by side test using my 15" MBP vs my 15" ThinkPad T520 reveals an eye opening advantage in favor of the ThinkPad.

My MBP is quite usable, it's just not up to the standard set by my ThinkPad.

This was nice to know...sounds like school

Can't help my wandering eyes. He was writing a horror novel about stick figures with so-so dialogue.

Haha. Learn any new survival skills?

 

[Lee Adama]

 

[GuitarG20]

 

[Eddyisgreat]

.....

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Apple's Wifi has never been very good. Often it's great, but then it's sometimes not. Randomly it will be slow as anything. No, I can't explain it, it's just a "feature" of OS X. Sometimes turning the airport off and back on helps, sometimes a reboot is required. You can take comfort that your MBP is at least prettier than his bargin bin Netbook though

 

[wordoflife]

I've had a very positive experience with WiFi on my MBP. On my Dell laptop, I used to get roughly 5-7 Mbps, but I consistently get 20 Mbps on my MacBook. I'm on wireless G.

 

[TheJing]

My 4G Mobile Broadband gets 32Mbps on my Mac and only 27 on my Windows machine but my Wi-fi is at 15Mbps on my Mac and 22 on my Windows.

 

[snaky69]

I love my school's internet connection:


On Wifi I get about 14Mbps down and 6.25 up on the same network, the above result is with ethernet.

 

[AppleGoat]

Ouch. This is my network at work which is on and off. Either painfully plodding or blistering fast. Less the latter, but usually respectable.

 

[Adamantoise]

Image

Ouch. This is my network at work which is on and off. Either painfully plodding or blistering fast. Less the latter, but usually respectable.

Certainly not normal. I would get that checked out.

My 2010 Snow Leopard MBP had no issues whatsoever, however, my 2011 Lion MBP occasionally drops Wi-Fi signal and refuses to pick it up until I power cycle Airport.

 

[AppleGoat]

Certainly not normal. I would get that checked out.

My 2010 Snow Leopard MBP had no issues whatsoever, however, my 2011 Lion MBP occasionally drops Wi-Fi signal and refuses to pick it up until I power cycle Airport.

Well the connection is blaring on certain networks. On my home network, it is consistently so.

The connection at work has improved somewhat, but still leaves a lot to be desired: