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New and problem with MAC throttling download speeds.

H

HoldenBurn1000

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 5, 2010
3
0
Hi guys,

new here so firstly hello!

Im here on a mission to find out why my macbook running snow leopard will only give me bang on 20mb download when every other windows machine in my house is giving me 50mb.

I have tried to do a bit of google searching but don't seem to be getting anywhere.

I assume it must be the macbook and not any router settings etc?

any help would be great.

Thanks guys.
 
What router and what kind of connection to the router (wired, wireless) are the various computers using?
 
Ahh yes sorry I always forget the important stuff!

50Mb Virgin Cable line.

D-link router, all other pc's are hooked up via Ethernet, this macbook is wirless.

I have had a good look through all the router settings and cant seem to find anything which should be limiting wifi speeds.

Do you need to know the exact model of router?
 
I'm guessing the rest of the computers are connected using gigabit ethernet, which has plenty of extra bandwidth compared to the wireless. The router model would clear some of that up.
 
uaecasher said:
either try using Ethernet or try getting better router like airport
Click to expand...

Has nothing to do with using a better router. Pre-n sppeds can't keep up
with 50mb. It needs to be a wired gigabit connection.
 
Standard ethernet transfers at 100Mb/s without many exceptions.

Wireless on the other hand is susceptible to many forms of interference. Although your router will say 56Mb/s with wireless G, you will never achieve this even whilst sitting next to the router.

When I transfer files between my Macbook Pro (wireless) and my NAS (ethernet) I usually get around 16Mb/s using my G router. If I upgraded to an N wireless router I'd get a higher speed (but nowhere near the theoretical maximum of 150Mb/s, for the same reasons - interference from microwaves as well as walls blocking the signal).

So yeah, that is why your Mac gets slower speeds than your other computers. If you connected via ethernet it would achieve the same speeds.
 
Ok thanks a lot guys. It is a wireless N router for the record but I guess it must just be asking to much of it!

I have a few homeplugs lying around so might start using ethernet as I tend to do most of my downloading on this Mac book in the living room, so annoying I don't get the right speeds!

Thanks for the advice.
 
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