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Q: prioritize ethernet over wifi on Mac OS X

I use a Time Capsule with both of my Macs running 10.8.3. I'd like to get the most out of my bandwidth speed, so I ethernet cabled both Macs to the Time Capsule. However, there are some apps I use to connect between the Macs that require Wifi (like remote controlling the Mac Mini from the MacBook Pro), so I leave it turned on. Can anyone tell me if there's a way in Mac OS to give ethernet priority over wifi for connections for the operations that can use ethernet?

Apple Time Capsule 1TB

Posted on Apr 17, 2013 6:47 PM

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Q: prioritize ethernet over wifi on Mac OS X

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  • by Barney-15E,Apple recommended

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Apr 17, 2013 6:50 PM in response to MBBM
    Level 9 (50,401 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 17, 2013 6:50 PM in response to MBBM

    In the Network System prefs, Select Set Service Order from the Gear menu.

    Drag the Ethernet service above the Wi-Fi service.

    If ethernet has a connection, it will be used, If not, the next service down the list will take the internet connection, if available.

  • by MBBM,

    MBBM MBBM Apr 17, 2013 6:57 PM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (15 points)
    Apr 17, 2013 6:57 PM in response to Barney-15E

    OK. That was easy. Thanks a lot.

  • by Dadadou,

    Dadadou Dadadou Sep 22, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Barney-15E
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 22, 2016 7:48 AM in response to Barney-15E

    Looks simple, except that it is not actually doing it.  I have both ethernet and wifi. Ethernet has priority, but when I stream large movies from the network drive it uses wifi by default and the connection is slower and jerky.  So the priority feature is not working!

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Sep 22, 2016 9:00 AM in response to Dadadou
    Level 9 (72,629 points)
    iTunes
    Sep 22, 2016 9:00 AM in response to Dadadou

    You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Sep 22, 2016 4:32 PM in response to Dadadou
    Level 6 (19,609 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 22, 2016 4:32 PM in response to Dadadou

    Dadadou wrote:

     

    Looks simple, except that it is not actually doing it.  I have both ethernet and wifi. Ethernet has priority, but when I stream large movies from the network drive it uses wifi by default and the connection is slower and jerky.  So the priority feature is not working!

    This sounds like you have multiple sub-nets, which can happen if you have more than one router. 

     

    More than one router sometimes happens when another router is purchased to provide WiFi and is attached to the first router.

     

    If your ethernet is plugged into the first router, and the network drive is connecting to the router providing WiFi, then they would be on different sub-nets and the Ethernet would not see the network drive, so your only access would be via WiFi

     

    Could you please describe your network set-up from where broadband comes into your house, to the network drive and to your Mac (in your Macs case both ethernet path and WiFi path)

  • by Dadadou,

    Dadadou Dadadou Sep 23, 2016 2:46 AM in response to BobHarris
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Sep 23, 2016 2:46 AM in response to BobHarris

    Hi, Thanks for responding.

    For the ethernet I have one router ASUS-AC68U as the DHCP server, connected to a switch Netgear GS752TXS, an iMac (27' retina, running Sierra) connected to the switch with CAT6 cable.

    For wifi I have the same router, the same switch, another small gigabit switch from TP-link and an Ubiquiti AC wifi access point (configured as pass through). 

    All IP addresses (wifi and ethernet) are of the same format 192.168.1.x with 255.255.255.0 as Subnet Mask on the router.

    The NAS QNAP TS-879 is connected to the Netgear switch.

    For large file transfer, cable is about twice as fast.

     

    I was happy not to use wifi on the iMac, except that with the new software updates, there are some functions that requires it: unlock the Mac with the Apple Watch, use Siri with location services and also AirDrop. The unlocking is not a big deal, but location services would be nice to have, and it would be nice that Siri knows that the iMac is not moving around and can use a fixed location.

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Sep 29, 2016 4:55 AM in response to Dadadou
    Level 6 (19,609 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 29, 2016 4:55 AM in response to Dadadou

    I have tried to figure out if there is anything in your configuration that would cause WiFi to be preferred over Ethernet, but since the 2 key component (27" Retina iMac and NAS QNAP TS-879) are both connected to the same Netgear GS752TXS, they should both be on the same subnet, by definition.

     

    Of course that is a "Honkin Big Switch"

    And it is a "Managed" switch with VLAN support.

     

    Is it possible that the switch managed configuration has somehow isolated the iMac from the QNAP?

     

    You say you have "another small gigabit switch from TP-link".  Could you experiment, by putting removing the Netgear GS752TXS and substituting the TP-Link switch to see if the behavior remains the same?

     

    Then again, I can imaging that the switch sits in the basement or some closet with tons of ethernet feeds plugged into it, and figuring out which one goes to the iMac and which one goes to the QNAP will be fun (I only have a 32 port switch in my basement, but if I want to figure out which cable goes to which room or closet, I end up having to put an ethernet tester on the room end, and then start pulling cables out of the switch and see if the testing device detects the its other half on the other end; so I can imagine you will have a similar problem).