Slow Internet Connectivity With Wireless-N Routers
Why hello there!
I must admit that this posting is a last resort. However, remarkably, on narrowing the problem it seems it has to do with an unknown default setting on my Mac OS X Leopard on both my MacBook and iMac.
This week I invested in two new Wireless-N routers - Belkin and D-Link - and both fail to perform. The problem manifests itself as follows:
- When my Apple is wirelessly connected to the router, it takes a very long time to pull up any website. And unless I am imagining things, it seems to first pause when the blue progress indicator reaches just beyond "http://"; each time. It is slow loading beyond this initial pause as well.
- When I change my security from WPA2 to WEP to None, it makes no difference whatsoever.
- When my Apple is connected to the router via ethernet, it performs very well. Each website appears very quickly and as expected i.e. no wireless connection.
- Very surprisingly, when I am using Windows via Boot Camp on my iMac, it performs very well when *wirelessly* connected. This threw me a little. This is what led me to suspect there's a default configuration with my Mac OS X that is causing the problem.
- In light of the above point, I have not yet checked to see whether wireless frequency or channel affect the download speed.
- For 2.5 years I had been using a Netgear Wireless-G router without any problem.
Might anyone know what the problem is? Or at the very least how better to diagnose it?
Nius.
I must admit that this posting is a last resort. However, remarkably, on narrowing the problem it seems it has to do with an unknown default setting on my Mac OS X Leopard on both my MacBook and iMac.
This week I invested in two new Wireless-N routers - Belkin and D-Link - and both fail to perform. The problem manifests itself as follows:
- When my Apple is wirelessly connected to the router, it takes a very long time to pull up any website. And unless I am imagining things, it seems to first pause when the blue progress indicator reaches just beyond "http://"; each time. It is slow loading beyond this initial pause as well.
- When I change my security from WPA2 to WEP to None, it makes no difference whatsoever.
- When my Apple is connected to the router via ethernet, it performs very well. Each website appears very quickly and as expected i.e. no wireless connection.
- Very surprisingly, when I am using Windows via Boot Camp on my iMac, it performs very well when *wirelessly* connected. This threw me a little. This is what led me to suspect there's a default configuration with my Mac OS X that is causing the problem.
- In light of the above point, I have not yet checked to see whether wireless frequency or channel affect the download speed.
- For 2.5 years I had been using a Netgear Wireless-G router without any problem.
Might anyone know what the problem is? Or at the very least how better to diagnose it?
Nius.
Comments
A couple of nights ago I Erased and Re-installed my MacBook. The connection was fine after that. This left the problem with my iMac, which I preferred to not re-install.
After going to the Genius Bar in an Apple Store and mentioning this to them, they advised that I simply remove the following directory:
Macintosh HD / Library / Preferences / System Configuration
It did the trick! I would still be very curious to know what the problem was though.
Next time it happens