Web browsers hang or take forever (minutes) to load

[wct097]

First off, I'm not exactly an amateur with computers. This problem really has me stumped and it makes my MBP almost worthless for accessing the web, at all. My 3g phone is faster.

So I'm browsing the web on my Retina (mid2012) MBP using Chrome and I'm getting horribly slow response time. I'll open a link and it'll take 45 seconds to 5 minutes to open. It's really ridiculous. Switching to Safari, I see the same issue.

I open up a command line and start pining one of Google's DNS servers as a quick test to see if I'm dropping packets either from my wireless or my cable modem. No dice, everything looks good there.

I fire up my RDP client and remote desktop into my PC in the basement and try visiting the same sites. They all pop up in a couple seconds. I grab the wife's iPad and try the same sites... no issues at all.

I've tried: repairing permissions, zapping pram, re-installing Chrome, updating my router's (Buffalo factory DD-WRT) firmware, everything I can think of. Nothing seems to resolve the issue.

It appears to me that the issue only presents itself n my home network, and sporadically starts working normally again. Seems isolated to my MBP. Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

[chown33]

On the command line, use the 'curl' command to get a URL from one of the servers that's taking too long. Redirect the stdout to /dev/null, and just watch curl's status display.

If curl is slow like the browsers, then the problem may be in the networking configuration, because that's common to all.

If curl is fast, then the problem probably isn't in the networking config, but may be in some other library that both browsers are using.

If you run Activity Monitor.app and show Network traffic, what do the displayed data reates look like? Are they steady at a low rate, or bursty?


Ping uses ICMP, and DNS uses UDP, which won't necessarily show anything if the problem is in TCP.


I assume you're using wifi on the rMBP. If not, identify the adapter.

If using wifi, which channel, and which frequency band (2.5 or 5 GHz)? Connected to what wireless router (make & model)? What other devices are on the same wifi router?

While one of the slow transfers is in progress, what does the router say about its transfer rates? There are often status screens that show this.

 

[wct097]

Will try the curl thing next time it acts up. When I check the router while having these problems, it's obvious to me that the router isn't overloaded. I've tried changing the channels around on the router, but that doesn't appear to solve any problems. Using the MBP's wireless adapter.

Router is a Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH2. Set to channel 2 using NG-Mixed.

I run the router with two AP names. Sometimes switching between the two fixes the issue for a little while. Makes me think it's a DNS resolution issue or a TCP issue between the MBP and DD-WRT.