MBP and Netgear router VERY slow....

Question

MBP and Netgear router VERY slow....

Maybe someone can tell me, on my mom's wifi network with my MacBook Pro I'm only getting around 1/2 Mb down but with my iPhone I get 4Mb down.
At my own home wifi I get 5Mb down with a Airport Express wireless router.

Router is a Netgear WGR614 v6 and I turned the cordless phone off.
No other RF interference that I know of.
My MBP (2006) has the latest "N" Airport card installed.

What could be the issue?

thanks.

24" iMac Core 2 Duo, MacBook Pro, Apple TV, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on May 1, 2009 4:43 AM

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Answer 1

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

May 1, 2009 6:17 AM in response to Steve Nasello1

"...What could be the issue?"

1. The speed the ISP is delivering.
2. The modem.
3. Set router for B/G network rather than N.
4. The number of users on the same channel.

Could be any one or all.

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Answer 2

May 1, 2009 12:11 PM in response to sig

#1. The ISP is fine. My mom's iMac is on the same network and gets 8mbps down.
#2. Modem is brand new, see #1. And I get normal fast speeds with my iPhone using WiFi.
#3. Router is indeed set to B/G, in fact it doesn't even have a "N" setting.
#4. I have tried different channels.

Here is the kicker, my friend has the same type wireless router and I have the very same issue at his house so it must be some sort of config setting with the MBP, it doesn't seem to like that flavor of Netgear router.
But it is only a wireless conflict 'cause when I directly hook up the MBP to the router with an ethernet cable the speeds are normal.

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Answer 3

May 3, 2009 2:02 PM in response to sig

Well, I solved the problem.....sort of.

I disabled the WPA security on the Netgear router.
Now I'm getting great connection speeds.

My question is, why would the wireless security choke my speeds on the MacBook Pro?

One other point, there are 2 Windows laptops in the house that were getting great speeds with the security on.

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Answer 4

Oct 2, 2009 10:44 AM in response to Steve Nasello1

Can you tell me what you did exactly and how you did it? I'm having the exact same problem with a MBP and a Netgear router. Works fast as **** if I use ethernet, and all other laptops or iPhone are fast over wireless. Also, my MBP is fast on other routers in different places. It's just this bloody Netgear router. It sounds like we've had the exact same problem. How do I go about changing the security? I don't think mine has it activated, because I never have to type a password or anything.

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Answer 5

sig

Level 8

35,862 points

Oct 2, 2009 1:41 PM in response to peterharrison634

Read the manual.

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Answer 6

Oct 19, 2009 3:39 AM in response to Steve Nasello1

I have the same problem as you. However I disabled WPA on my Netgear router and it didn't make any difference. Plugged into Ethernet and no problem. Like you, I only get the problem with the combination of my new MBP and the Netgear WGR614v6 - my old MBP (summer 2007 model) didn't have the problem. My MBP has no problem on other wireless networks.

I'd really like to avoid changing my router without understanding what this problem is, although a Time Capsule is tempting...

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Answer 7

Oct 19, 2009 3:46 AM in response to pacman2012

Hmmm - rather over-used the word 'problem' there!

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Answer 8

Nov 17, 2009 7:47 PM in response to Steve Nasello1

For around a year now, I have had a similar problem with slow & intermittent wireless connection b/w the macbook and the netgear wgr614v5 router, so much so that my wife stopped using the computer. A friend of mine was trying different things and changed the configuration to 802.11.b instead of the 802.11.g which the router was running on before. My speed has picked up significantly, although it still does not match that of an ethernet connection. Don't understand why this works, but I will take the improvements for now.....

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Answer 9

Jan 1, 2010 4:00 AM in response to pacman2012

Update: I never resolved this, so I bought a Time Capsule in the Black Friday sale!

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Answer 10

wukang

Level 1

0 points

May 22, 2010 3:05 AM in response to pacman2012

I have a WGR614v6 router and a unibody Macbook, and I had similar wireless networking issues. This combination worked fine for about 1.5 years, but I couldn't get any stable connection out of the blue although the other wireless machines(PC, iPhone, etc) at home worked just fine. (I tried changing the channel, resetting the router to the factory setting, reinstalling the OS, etc) Strangely enough, pinging the gateway and websites had good results, but websites wouldn't load all the way, and I had various erratic transfer issues. After seeing the laptop working flawlessly on the 802.11n connection at the Apple Store when I brought it in for support, I decided to try the "b only" mode of the router at home. And it worked. I'll probably purchase a 802.11n router in the future since it now takes much longer to transfer files within my home network, but this is a possible solution you can try if you have a similar problem. Please let me know if this resolves the issue for anyone.

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Answer 11

Aug 10, 2010 8:58 PM in response to Steve Nasello1

THANK YOU! I changed my netgear wireless to b only and now my wireless is working perfectly! I have two macbook's that have been having the same issues for the past few months. I am not sure if there was some update by Apple that has caused issues with G, but changing to b only has brought me back into business.

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