rensvanlaar

Q: Mac Pro (Late 2013) WiFi Problem

Hello,

 

I'm wondering if someone could help me out with this problem. I have a Mac Pro Late 2013 and the WiFi on it gets half the speeds of all my other devices. I get 20-30 mb/s while i get 60-80 on my Macbook Pro Retina Eearly 2015 and Iphone 6S. I've tried things such as switching router channels etc, deleting network and connect it again. It doesn't seem to be the hardware because on the mac pro i have a bootcamp partition with windows on it, if i test the speed there it just gets the normal speeds it should get. I'm on OSX El Capitain 10.11.6 (Latest). What i noticed on the mac pro is that the connection is unstable. For example if i'm watching sports, twitch or whatever video i have playing and i load a website, steam, a game or whatever, the video starts to lag for a few seconds. Also sometimes when i test my speed when i feel like its acting up, it gets like 2/3 mb/s while i get full speeds on my other devices, so it has nothing to do with my actual internet connection. It's a really annoying problem.

 

I have no idea how to fix this any ideas?

 


Greets,
Rens

Mac Pro (Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Jul 30, 2016 7:42 AM

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Q: Mac Pro (Late 2013) WiFi Problem

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 8:39 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
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    Jul 30, 2016 8:39 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    make sure IPv6 is set to "link-local only" or it will interfere with normal (IPv4) operation.

     

    hold down the Option key while you click on the Wi-Fi Icon on the menuBar. You get a daily similar to this older one:

    Option-Wi-Fi .png

     

    what do you get for PHY mode and channel?

    what do you get for RSSI, signal strength, or signal to noise?

    what do you get for Transmit rate?

     

    and very important, how many other networks do you see?

     

    .

  • by rensvanlaar,

    rensvanlaar rensvanlaar Jul 30, 2016 8:45 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 8:45 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Thanks for your reply! Link local only was off, i turned that on now, didn't fix it tho.
    Schermafbeelding 2016-07-30 om 17.41.20.png
    Here are the things you asked for.
    At the moment i see 13 other wifi networks.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 9:04 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
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    Jul 30, 2016 9:04 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    You are using the very crowded and interference-prone 2.4GHz band. With more that three other networks visible, you will begin to have problems here because the channels are very narrow, and it takes five of them (centered about the nominal channel) to send your data using 802.11g or 802.11n.

     

    for signal, you have -58 -89 yields -31dB, a truly excellent signal-to-noise, and your internal antenna is not disconnected. Transmit rates is as fast as you can go in this band.

     

    But with 13 other networks visible, you should move to the 5GHz band to get away from your neighbors. If your Router does not offer 5GHz band, you may need to get an additional Router or a replacement router. In some cases, the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band can be named as different network-names, to allow you to connect ONLY to the 5GHz band for better rates.

     

    additional diagnostics are available by choosing "Wireless Diagnostics" off the Option-Wi-Fi menu -- not to be confused with the much simpler diagnostic available with:

    system preferences > Network > Wi-Fi > (assist me) > (diagnostic)

     

    Once the Wireless diagnostic has run through once and given you its broad recommendations, you can continue to leave it running in the background, and if unusual events occur, it will notify you. There are also additional troubleshooting tools available inside it, as described in this article, but: DON'T Save a report. It is a debugging snapshot of every possible item that could influence Wi-Fi performance in any way. It is HUGE, impenetrable, and useful only to a diagnostic engineer.

     

    Use Wireless Diagnostics to help you resolve Wi-Fi issues on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    (most article are available in many languages)

    .

  • by rensvanlaar,

    rensvanlaar rensvanlaar Jul 30, 2016 9:19 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:19 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    As far as i know the router i have (ZTE H220N) does support 5ghz, but i can't seem to find an option to switch this. If i remember right this modem switches it automatically when needed, could that be right? Anyway, i did found those options.
    Schermafbeelding 2016-07-30 om 18.13.54.png


    Channel width can be switched to 40MHz, not sure if thats a good thing?
    I'm wondering why all my other devices do get the speeds they should, and only my mac pro doesn't (It does on the windows partition).

     

    I will run those diagnostics to see what happens.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 9:30 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:30 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    The settings you are showing are only for the 2.4GHz band, unless you can set the channel on that page higher than 20 (typical 5GHz channels run (country-dependent) from about 35 to about 165).

     

    In the Apple Airport, you can enable and name the 5HGz band separately, which allows you to connect to it separately. Both bands continue to operate simultaneously.

     

    In the UK, one of the default Routers provide by British Telecom can switch between 2.4GHz and 5GHz band, but cannot operate on both bands at once.

     

    A frequent surprise that US Users sometimes encounter is that they get better service from a nearby, unencrypted Router their neighbor has left open.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jul 30, 2016 9:33 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 10 (187,626 points)
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    Jul 30, 2016 9:33 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    What options are available under Mode?

    As Grand said it is likely that with mixed mode you only get 2.4 GHz since since b and g are only 2.4 GHz while n is both 2.4 and 5 GHz

  • by rensvanlaar,

    rensvanlaar rensvanlaar Jul 30, 2016 9:37 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:37 AM in response to lllaass

    This is what i can choose under mode
    Schermafbeelding 2016-07-30 om 18.36.39.png

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 9:39 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:39 AM in response to lllaass

    802.11n is backward-compatible with many devices.

     

    Older printers and really old computers MAY be left behind, but try it and see -- it is often Not a problem, and you will quickly know what is happening if the older devices drop out.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 9:43 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:43 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    It looks like that Router in not capable of 5GHz. What brand and model is it? sometimes we can look up the capabilities online.

     

    you can also set up a slightly more complex network, but these work best when you can connect the Routers together with ethernet cables:

    RoamingNetwork.png

     

    .

  • by rensvanlaar,

    rensvanlaar rensvanlaar Jul 30, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    It's a KPN Experiabox, when i log in on the router it says ZTE H220N. But i was checking my providers network earlier and they have a optimization tool, i tried it out and it said it was checking 2,4 GHz band and after that it says it was checking the 5GHz band, so i assume it does have 5GHz.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jul 30, 2016 10:16 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 10 (187,626 points)
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    Jul 30, 2016 10:16 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    Based on the info yo provided and the manual

    http://setuprouter.com/router/zte/h220n/manual-923.pdf

    I conclude that your router only supports the 2.4 GHz frequencies

  • by rensvanlaar,

    rensvanlaar rensvanlaar Jul 30, 2016 10:33 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 10:33 AM in response to lllaass

    Hmm, well i guess it's time for a new router then. But i still find it weird that all my other devices get double the speeds. Including the mac pro on windows partition. =/

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 11:25 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 11:25 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    Some of those others are using different Wi-Fi chips.

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jul 30, 2016 11:36 AM in response to rensvanlaar
    Level 9 (60,627 points)
    Desktops
    Jul 30, 2016 11:36 AM in response to rensvanlaar

    this graphic was posted by a user. It shows just how W-I-D-E the channels in the 2.4GHz band are, and what a mess ensues when you ty to cram too many into the 2.4GHz band:

    WiFi.Crowded.png

    (click to enlarge)

     

    the graphic is from an inexpensive utility called Wi-Fi Explorer, available from the Mac App Store for not much money, with a three-day free trial.