User profile for user: deavt
deavt Author
User level: Level 1
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Poor Performance with Fairpoint DSL

I started using Verizon DSL for my internet connection and had no problems. When Fairpoint Communications purchased Verizon (this is in Vermont), they took over the DSL (about May 2009). Since then, I have had very poor performance with all applications as soon as I start a browser. The performance problems occur regardless of the browser - I've tried Firefox (3.5.4), Safari (4.0.3) and Opera (10.0). I've been around and around with Fairpoint for 6 months with no resolution. I have not changed any software or hardware on my Mac during that time, except for updating the browsers and Apple updates to the OS, iTunes, etc. The performance problems continued right through these updates. I've run tests to check my internet speed and get times of 2.76Mbps (download) and 0.58Mbps (upload) which are within the specified limits for the DSL service. My Mac is a 2GHz PowerPC G5 runnning OSX 10.4.11. It has 512MB DDR SDRAM. I use a Westell Model 6100 modem for the DSL provided by Verizon.

Some of the specific problems I see are:
1. very long waits of more than a minute after a click on an item in the menu bar
2. very long waits of more than two minutes after a click on an item on a browser page
3. frequent pinwheels in response to a click on a menu item/browser page item
4. frequent pinwheels if I just move the mouse without a click
5. frequent messages for stopped/unresponsive scripts
6. videos (like YouTube) stop frequently for no reason; after several minutes, I'll get a little audio but no new video; eventually after several more minutes it will get going again (both video and audio)
7. response in non-browser applications is also very slow
8. sometimes will get no response at all to a mouse click
9. trying to run more than one browser at a time will bring the Mac to its knees
10. browser pages frequently take several minutes to load
These are just some of the problems I have.

These problems all go away and everything runs fine as soon as I stop the browser. If I start the browser, they immediately surface again. I've trying clearing the cache, etc with no improvements.

What I would like to do is find a way to determine if the problem is in my Mac or with the Fairpoint service. Since I had no problems with Verizon and have made no changes to my Mac, I really suspect the problem lies with Fairpoint. Can anyone help me out? Thanks.

Mac G5, Mac OS X (10.4.11), 2GHz PowerPC G5 512MB DDR SDRAM

Posted on Dec 9, 2009 12:17 PM

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12 replies
User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
250,259 points

Dec 9, 2009 1:09 PM in response to deavt

Hi deavt, and welcome to the forums! 🙂

Try putting these numbers in Network>TCP/IP>DNS Servers for the Interface you're using...

208.67.222.222
208.67.220.220

Then Apply. These are safer/faster than most ISP's DNS numbers, and have been patched against DNS poisoning.

https://www.opendns.com/homenetwork/start/device/apple-osx-tiger

DNS Servers are a bit like Phone books where you look up a name and it gives you the phone number, in our case, you put in apple.com and it comes back with 17.149.160.49 behind the scenes. 🙂

Problems are that many Modems/Routers don't communicate the DNS Servers with macs all that well because they've made mistakes in their Firmware & by golly by gee, they tell MS about the workaround! 😉

Then, many... even major ISPs have DNS problems and may have not even patched them against DNS poisoning!
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User profile for user: deavt
deavt Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 10, 2009 8:15 AM in response to BDAqua

I tried to put those DNS Server numbers in and ran into a problem. An error message window keeps displaying over the Network window. The message is "Your network settings have been changed by another application". There is an OK button, which I click and the window goes away. But, it immediately redisplays. This continues forever and the only way I can get out of system preferences is to do a force quit. And this prevents me from putting in the DNS server numbers. How do I stop this message display?
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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
250,259 points

Dec 10, 2009 10:00 AM in response to deavt

To stop the pop-up, Go to System Preferences: Security. Check the box next to "Require password to unlock each secure system preference." Then lock Security.

Try this cure for Security update...

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1730909&tstart=0

The locations are actually...

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/NetworkInterfaces.plist

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.nat.plist
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User profile for user: BDAqua
BDAqua
User level: Level 10
250,259 points

Dec 14, 2009 10:31 AM in response to deavt

Open Network Utility>Info tab, set Network Interface to what you are using, report Link Speed & watch for Errors & collisions on the right, then click on the Ping tab & Ping some slow site, any errors with that?

I think you should get Applejack...

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/19596

After installing, reboot holding down CMD+s, (+s), then when the DOS like prompt shows, type in...

applejack AUTO

Then let it do all 5 of it's things.

At least it'll eliminate some questions if it doesn't fix it.

The 5 things it does are...

Correct any Disk problems.
Repair Permissions.
Clear out Cache Files.
Repair/check several plist files.
Dump the VM files for a fresh start.
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User profile for user: deavt
deavt Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Dec 23, 2009 10:21 AM in response to rccharles

Here is what I've done now (this is in response to the last postings by BDAqua and rccharles):

1. I repaired the disk permissions using the Apple Disk Utility.
2. I deleted more old, unused files from various locations on my hard drive.
3. I checked the page outs and they are zero so I have enough memory.
4. I checked when the maintenance scripts were last run. It had been quite a while because I turn my machine off every night (helps cut down on my electric bill). I have run the daily, weekly, and monthly scripts manually couple of times.

What I've seen is just marginal improvements in the performance. I still can get long page load times, long response times to button clicks, videos often stop in the middle for no reason, etc. So, I still feel that my issues are unresolved. I have been able to tell that the performance problems get worse at times when there are likely to be more users (like when schools get out in the afternoon). Is there anything else I can try?

I really appreciate all the suggestions so far. I have learned a few things about my Mac I didn't know.
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User profile for user: rccharles
rccharles
User level: Level 6
13,037 points

Dec 23, 2009 1:56 PM in response to deavt

I have been able to tell that the performance problems get worse at times when >there are likely to be more users (like when schools get out in the afternoon).

This suggests that your ISP is experiencing congestion.

How does the ISPs Home page to load? I am thinking the congestion maybe on the links to the outside of the ISP. The ISP home page should be on the ISPs network and it should load ok.

Here are two links that will rate your connection.
http://www.speedtest.net/
http://www.pingtest.net/

You can try downloading directly from the terminal to see how fast one file download.
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
mac $ mkdir test
mac $ cd test
mac $ curl "http://www.apple.com" >see
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 11292 100 11292 0 0 22628 0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:-- 62623
mac $ cat see
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-us" lang="en-US">
<head>
... clipped ...
Have you talked to your neighbors? What do they say?

See if you can find another computer and try it on your connection.

Robert
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User profile for user: deavt
deavt Author
User level: Level 1
0 points

Jan 18, 2010 5:40 AM in response to rccharles

I did the download test and had these numbers: dnload was 41064 and current speed was 157k. I've also run pingtest.net a number of times. My best result was: line quality A, ping 47ms, jitter 5ms, packet loss 0. My poorest result was: line quality B, ping 50ms, jitter 8ms, packet loss 0. I can't run the pingtest.net during the times that I'm getting no response at all. I also ran it a number of times where it failed completely due to "packet loss test error".

I also took my Mac to my daughters house in a different town where she has cable internet through Comcast. I seemed to have some of the same problems that I have at home with Fairpoint and I didn't notice any significant improvement.

I've been running the maintenance scripts manually just about everyday since I don't leave my Mac on overnight. That does seem to help some. I still notice distinct times during the day when the response is much slower - during lunch and after the schools let out in the afternoon.

Is there anything else I should try? The only thing I can think of is if my version of java and/or flash player are not in sync with my current version of Firefox. Would that make a difference? How do I tell if I have the latest versions of those? Thanks.
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User profile for user: rccharles
rccharles
User level: Level 6
13,037 points

Jan 20, 2010 10:23 AM in response to rccharles

1) Another thing that you could try it is deleting the preference files for networking. Mac OS will regenerate these files. You would then need to reconfigure your network settings.

The list of files comes from Mac OS X 10.4.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8185915#8185915

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10718694#10718694


2) I think it is time to do a clean install of your system.

3) It's either the software or an intermittent hardware problem.

---------

If money isn't an issue, I suggest an external harddrive for re-installing Mac OS.

You need an external Firewire drive to boot a PowerPC Mac computer.

I recommend you do a google search on any external harddrive you are looking at.

I bought a low cost external drive enclosure. When I started having trouble with it, I did a google search and found a lot of complaints about the drive enclosure. I ended up buying a new drive enclosure. On my second go around, I decided to buy a drive enclosure with a good history of working with Macs. The chip set seems to be the key ingredient. The Oxford line of chips seems to be good. I got the Oxford 911.

The latest the hard drive enclosures support the newer serial ata drives. The drive and closure that I list supports only older parallel ata.

Has everything interface:
FireWire 800/400 + USB2, + eSATA 'Quad Interface'
&
save a little money interface:
FireWire 400 + USB 2.0
This web page lists both external harddrive types. You may need to scroll to the right to see both.
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATAFW800_FW400USB

Here is an external hd enclosure.
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MEFW91UAL1K/

Here is what one contributor recommended:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=10452917#10452917

Folks in these Mac forums recommend LaCie, OWC or G-Tech.
Here is a list of recommended drives:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=5564509#5564509

FireWire compared to USB. You will find that FireWire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 when used for a external harddrive connection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UniversalSerial_Bus#USB_compared_toFireWire
http://www23.tomshardware.com/storageexternal.html
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Poor Performance with Fairpoint DSL

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