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New Modem = Slow Internet

T

takuan

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 7, 2011
6
0
Hello all,

I recently had a new modem installed as part of an upgrade in my cable service. Ever since the cable guy installed the modem, my internet speeds have been sporadic. My connection will start out extremely fast but will eventually trickle down to nothing after a few minutes. After it nearly slows to a halt, it will speed back up again. As you can probably guess, this is rather frustrating.

I'm not quite sure what to do. The strange thing is both the wifi and ethernet settings (under network preferences) say my computer is connected to the internet during these slow downs. In fact, my wifi has been on a constant 4 bars since the new modem was installed. I have not experienced any internet issues with my PC, iPhone, or iPad...

Any suggestions? Has anyone else had similar issues?

Thank you for your time,
Takuan
 
You neglected to give any specifics.

What is the model and manufacturer of the modem?

What model of Mac?

What country are you in? State? Cable company?
 
chown33 said:
You neglected to give any specifics.

What is the model and manufacturer of the modem?

What model of Mac?

What country are you in? State? Cable company?
Click to expand...

I'm using a macbook pro (10.7.4 OS). I live in the United States (New York) and the cable company is Time Warner. The modem is made by Ubee.
 
Last edited:
It just happened a few more times. The error message on Safari says "the websites server isn't responding". Firefox's error message reads "The connection has timed out". Like I said before, this is really strange as both my LAN and wifi statuses in Network Preferences say I'm connected.
 
takuan said:
It just happened a few more times. The error message on Safari says "the websites server isn't responding". Firefox's error message reads "The connection has timed out". Like I said before, this is really strange as both my LAN and wifi statuses in Network Preferences say I'm connected.
Click to expand...

This isnt really the right place to ask this question. This is a Mac community, not a modem community. Ring up Time Warner and let them know that you've been having issues for a few days. They'll likely compensate you a bit for the inconvenience and send someone back out to fix whatever went wrong
 
The reason why I believe that this is a mac issue is because my PC, iPhone, and iPad are working just fine. Their connections have not timed out at all since the installation of the modem.
 
takuan said:
The reason why I believe that this is a mac issue is because my PC, iPhone, and iPad are working just fine. Their connections have not timed out at all since the installation of the modem.
Click to expand...

Oh, I appologize I misunderstood. Is the Mac directly connected to the modem or is it through Wifi? It still may be worth talking with their technical support department although I'm not too sure how their support is.
 
Dustman said:
Oh, I appologize I misunderstood. Is the Mac directly connected to the modem or is it through Wifi? It still may be worth talking with their technical support department although I'm not too sure how their support is.
Click to expand...

Right now, I'm connected via wifi, but I've had the same issue with a lan connection.

I actually did contact the technical support people. They said everything looked fine on their end, but they're going to send someone to check out the modem just in case. The problem is this person will not be here for a week.
 
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Slow Connection Speed

Hi

I have recently upgraded to virginmedia 100mbs and i am receiving nowhere near that speed, approx 30mbs to be precise . Ive had an engineer out twice and they have informed me that the speed that the router is pushing out is 100mbs and the problem could be the settings on the mac. Are there any setting/programs that would reduce my connection speed.

I am connected through the ethernet port. I really don't want to format the mac but if that would sort the issue out then so be it....

Cheers in advance.
 
davyboysteel said:
Hi

I have recently upgraded to virginmedia 100mbs and i am receiving nowhere near that speed, approx 30mbs to be precise . Ive had an engineer out twice and they have informed me that the speed that the router is pushing out is 100mbs and the problem could be the settings on the mac. Are there any setting/programs that would reduce my connection speed.

I am connected through the ethernet port. I really don't want to format the mac but if that would sort the issue out then so be it....

Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...

This one I can help with. VM recently doubled download speeds for all private customers. Forget what the engineer has told you, you need a new Modem / Hub. I have attached a photo of the one you need.

The wifi capabilities of the Netgear are truly useless, so I use mine just as a modem and allow my Time Capsule to deal with my 2 wifi networks. If you don't have a TC, a good quality Gigabit wifi router will do the job just as well...I used to use a Draytek prior to buying the TC. The image is the Modem you should have to achieve the listed speeds, Phone customer services and insist on a new one. They were supposed to email everybody but VM's CS is lousy at best.
 

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Hi
That is the router I have, and they have since changed it thinking that this could have been the problem but still only unto 30mbs.
 
davyboysteel said:
Hi
That is the router I have, and they have since changed it thinking that this could have been the problem but still only unto 30mbs.
Click to expand...

If that's not the issue, then you may need re-cabling...My neighbour had to have a new external box...They hate doing it, and it's a nightmare dealing with them, but keep at it, you will get there in the end. Water can get into the exterior boxes causing dropout and speed issues. I supervised my installation by watching exactly what they did, and the duh was about to put away his tube of silicone sealant....He just looked at me, and then did the job properly...When the service works as it should it's top notch...When you encounter issues it's the CS side of things that sucks. Stick with it, you'll get there in the end.
 
Hi again
The two engineers that came round showed me that the connection speed was over 100mbs on their two laptops, so i don't think that it is a cabling issue. Are they any settings/programs that could interfere with the connection speed. I had no problem with 50mbs.
Thanks
 
davyboysteel said:
Hi again
The two engineers that came round showed me that the connection speed was over 100mbs on their two laptops, so i don't think that it is a cabling issue. Are they any settings/programs that could interfere with the connection speed. I had no problem with 50mbs.
Thanks
Click to expand...

I assume you are using the Netgear as your router as well as the modem? A couple of things you can try:

On your Mac, open up Network in preferences, go to wifi (or ethernet if you are using a cable) Using the advanced setting tab, you can create a 5GHZ network if you haven't done so already) this can get you away from the 2.4 GHZ traffic but depends on which Mac you are using in order to take advantage of it.


The channels can also be changed, for some 36 seems to work fine, I have mine up on channel 40. My speeds are constant and reliable, so yes, it sounds more like a hardware issue. If (by the sounds of your first posting) you are using a windows PC, the 5GHZ option is no good to you and 2.4 (default) is what you have to use. Your iPad will benefit from the 5GHZ network though, so it's still worth creating one from the settings in the net gear..More info:


http://help.virginmedia.com/system/...&LANGUAGE=en&COUNTY=us&VM_CUSTOMER_TYPE=Cable


Remember that you need to run the 2.4 network too if you are using Windows.
 
I have reformatted the mac and it is still the same about 30 mb,however if I boot the mac in safe mode I am getting nearly 100mb. Any Ideas.
 
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