Be Excellent To Each Other

OK, my girlfriend's Mac Mini is connected to broadband. But it's incredibly slow. The same BT Homehub type device and household broadband service is connected to someone else's PC laptop, but the connection speed is nowhere as slow on that. Is there something wrong possibly? Err, well, there is, but what could it possibly be?

Thanks!

Are these two computers in the same house, on the same phone line, and the same router? If not, the speed of one will not give any indication as to the expected speed of the other.

Err, yes.

Is the slowness for everything, or just for certain things?

I remember having some problems on mine with really slow bittorrent downloads that I eventually tracked down and fixed by opening a specific port on the firewall.

It's peaks and troughs, but the troughs last longer. And yes, certain websites such as Yahoo (where we have our webmail) are far, far, slower. Google seemed OK, this place varies between OK and mildly slow, some websites barely resolve, and some seem OK, but take too long to connect to.

And is there no problem with viewing those sites on the PC? Sounds odd.

Are you connecting using wireless or a network cable? Maybe there could be some interference creeping in somewhere.

Could it be related to the Mac having IPv6 on by default, and Windows not knowing what the hell IPv6 is? It'd explain why Windows is quick and Mac has to try IPv6 then fallback to IPv4 all the time.

I don't know how to change it on a Mac though, the only Mac I own is a Performa II running System 7. Hardcore.

When I checked, the Network Prefs claimed that the Mac was attached to the BT Homehub piece of crap via wireless and Ethernet (should've taken a screenshot. Oops). And no, no probs with the PC. (That connects to the Homehub with Ethernet, as it's really old.)

Have you tried connecting via Ethernet? What wireless standard is the router using? Presumably, you're doing all tests while the other computer is inactive?

Wireless is slower than a wired connection, but loading webpages shouldn't be painful. Whack in the network cable like Craig suggested - wireless is effected by many things, from phones to microwaves. It might be picking up interference from someone else's wireless too, so try changing the channel (the option should be in your router settings).

OK, I can't answer now because I'm using my computer, but as far as I could tell it was simultaneously connected to the same BT Homehub using wifi (via Airport) and an Ethernet cable. I'm sure that's where the problem was. It was damn slow BTW. (To be honest there's no need for her to use the wireless, as her Mac's on the same desk as the homehub.) I'll have another look tomorrow...

OK, had a look, and it seems that although the Mac was physically connected to Ethernet, the Mac wasn't getting any data via that lead. So I switched off the wireless, and the 'net connection is massively fast again. I guess the wireless was the fault, i.e. wireless connections are dial-up speed.

Um, well, my own NetGear DG843G router's just fucked up. Won't transmit any data either way, and inputting the IP address to change the setting's doesn't get a response. Tried resetting it, everything I could think of. Don't know what to do as Netgear's helpline didn't want to give advice to me because I don't use Windows.

Done a proper 'paper clip in the back for 10 seconds' reset?

Indeed. No joy there. First time it wiped the settings and allowed me to access the router via the IP address, but no connection to the 'net. After that, couldn't even access the router settings. Phoned ISP, they've said everything's fine at their end.

Have you had a thunderstorm lately?

I had a netgear router die last year when lightning hit the house next door.

Can't remember their being a thunderstorm... But I'll ask. I did consider that for a second, come to think of it.

I had that same Netgear router. It went plooey.

Airport shouldn't be particularly slow, but if wired works ok with airport switched off then that's probably best.

H&K MP5

I have the same Netgear Router, works splendidly with my iMac (wired) and my Wii and wife's laptop (wireless). We don't get much lightning, though.

Mine worked pretty damn well until last week, in mysterious circumstances. On the lightning issue, we only definitely had some yesterday, and it was quite distant, judging by the thunder. I'm using my backup router at the moment, which works OK I guess, but no wireless. Bah. Wish my clapped out Mac had an Airport card now, bah, etc.

I had a LinkSys go tits-up like that, so I replaced it with a Netgear. Luckily, routers are cheap these days.