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iMAC internet speed capped at 100mbps

Charter recently went from 100mbps to 200mbps internet download connection speed. I have a CAT 7 cable supporting up to 1000mbps but my iMAC limits downloads to slightly less than 100mbps, no matter which internet connection speed I choose in Preferences/Network/advanced settings/hardware. The workaround is to use WiFi (which supports whatever speed is available) but then what is the point of having the ability to connect directly to the internet? From the questions and responses I have seen posted, no one has found a way around this issue. I just spent two hours on the phone with Apple Support and they haven't got a clue how to fix this nor do they have a reason why it was done in the first place. Has anyone made any progress on solving this?


iMac 27″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 8, 2021 6:42 PM

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Posted on May 16, 2021 9:25 PM

So your Orbi Router is connected to your modem. I'm assuming your cable modem is not a combined Modem/Router because if it is, the cable-modem should be configured in bridge-mode so that your Orbi Router is handling all gateway traffic.


So yes, if your ProStat switch says "10/100", then you will not get anything higher than 100mb/s. Modern switches are "10/100/1000" ports, the "1000" means "gigabit".


That would definitely bee an issue on a hard-line.


As I don't know what model your Orbi router is, it should be communicating at speeds higher than 100mb/s on WiFi as it's not passing any traffic through to the switch. Still, if you have a WiFi device communicating with another device on the LAN, you're going to hit that 100mb/s wall. So best to replace your switch with a gigabit switch.


To repeat, Cat7 cables are fine but all you get is really a more stable connection at very long cable runs. If you're < 100 feet, even a cat5e will be fine. Unless you're passing data back/forth on your LAN, your LAN speed on a gigabit network will always be faster than the speed of your Internet connection so that Cat7 cable is overkill.

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May 16, 2021 9:25 PM in response to Nicolette56

So your Orbi Router is connected to your modem. I'm assuming your cable modem is not a combined Modem/Router because if it is, the cable-modem should be configured in bridge-mode so that your Orbi Router is handling all gateway traffic.


So yes, if your ProStat switch says "10/100", then you will not get anything higher than 100mb/s. Modern switches are "10/100/1000" ports, the "1000" means "gigabit".


That would definitely bee an issue on a hard-line.


As I don't know what model your Orbi router is, it should be communicating at speeds higher than 100mb/s on WiFi as it's not passing any traffic through to the switch. Still, if you have a WiFi device communicating with another device on the LAN, you're going to hit that 100mb/s wall. So best to replace your switch with a gigabit switch.


To repeat, Cat7 cables are fine but all you get is really a more stable connection at very long cable runs. If you're < 100 feet, even a cat5e will be fine. Unless you're passing data back/forth on your LAN, your LAN speed on a gigabit network will always be faster than the speed of your Internet connection so that Cat7 cable is overkill.

May 16, 2021 7:31 PM in response to DeeperDiver

Still doesn't work; if I change the network hardware to 1000baseTX it disconnects my internet. My iMac is a 27 inch all-in-one, manufactured in late 2015. My Orbi Mesh Router is plugged into the cable modem and then connected to a Netgear ProStat 16 port 10/100 Switch into which the MAC ethernet is connected. I hadn't noticed the switch name previously and it sounds like the switch is the source of my problem; do you agree? If so, I'll buy a faster ethernet splitter (I notice that now all switches on Amazon have gigabyte speeds) . The WiFi operates at over 200 mbps but I'm not sure which device runs WiFi; is it the router? I'm guessing I can check if the iMac is capable of over 200 mbps by simply connecting directly to the cable modem. If so, and the ethernet switch is too slow, this would explain what is happening. I've also upgraded all ethernet cables to CAT 7 because I had such a random mix of cable types and all were much longer than I needed.

May 13, 2021 5:52 PM in response to lkrupp

I tried your suggestion and it did nothing; I still got the same result. I think I need to figure out how to actually reset my mesh router (it's an Orbi RBR50 with one satellite). The router just seems to pick up where it left off when plugged back in; if it were resetting in some way, I would see a series of lights on top. Interestingly enough, although direct connection to the internet is limited to slightly less than 100mbps, WiFi runs at well over 200 mbps. According to Charter, the problem lies with my computer but Apple says the iMAC should support 200 mbps and your statement backs that up. I'm mystified.

May 14, 2021 2:46 AM in response to Nicolette56

While having Cat7 won't hurt, Cat5e will support gigabit speeds, so it's not really the cable. You didn't mention the year/model of iMac you have. It would help if you included that.


Also, please describe your network hardware. Are you plugging an ethernet cable directly from your iMac to your provider's modem, or is it going through another switch? Do you have any adapters like a USB->Ethernet adapter?


Unplug everything from your iMac except your ethernet cable. Restart your iMac. Does it work? If so, there might be some kind of conflict with a device.


Let us know.

May 18, 2021 4:54 PM in response to DeeperDiver

Thank you for all your help. We were both correct. Once I installed a high speed switch and moved my devices capable of using that speed to it, the iMAC automatically adjusted to the same speed as the incoming signal--226 mbps. Before, the ethernet cable ran from cable modem to router to 10/100 ethernet splitter and then to the iMAC. Now, the cable runs from the ethernet cable modem to the router to the gigabyte ethernet splitter to iMAC. The gigabyte splitter also runs to my 10/100 ethernet splitter where I left the original slow speed devices connected. Everything works great now!


For others reading this, the method I used to reset the system was the following: power down the iMAC, unplug the power to the cable modem, and then unplug the power to the router. After the rewiring was done, I plugged in the cable modem and waited two minutes for everything to stabilize, then plugged in the router and waited two minutes for everything to stabilize, started up my iMAC and ran the speed test and the network (preferences) had reset to the faster speed of 226mbps. It took a bit longer for my Arlo cameras to come back on line but everything else came up right away. One cool thing about my new splitter is that lights next to the ports indicate what speed that port is using.

May 18, 2021 5:03 PM in response to Nicolette56

By "splitter", I presume you are referring to "switch". You can connect all your devices, including your "slow" devices to the new switch and retire the old 10/100 switch. Modern switches are 10/100/1000 and each port will/should auto configure to the rated speed which the device communicates at. At the minimum, it will simplify your network, and remove a potential point of failure.


Glad to hear you're back up and running.

iMAC internet speed capped at 100mbps

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