Slow internet with macOS Monterey

I have noticed very slow loading of Web pages with Safari on my M1 iMac running Monterey, some pages taking more than a minute to load. The loading progress bar suggests that it stops before the DNS is accessed. When I originally set up Monterey, I ticked the box that allowed system diagnostics to be sent to Apple. This may be my problem, since the Activity Monitor, when I run it during the wait to load Web pages, showed that the process kernel_task was dominating CPU time (in a fairly idle computer) and, interestingly dominating Network usage by sending Gigabytes of info to the Internet (my service is 12 Mb/s normally) while I was waiting for Safari to do its thing. I unchecked "Send diagnostics to Apple" in the Privacy System Preferences box and the problem was resolved. Sorry, Apple and developers! Apple might make an effort to understand kernel_task's fulminating OCD and to correct it in a future release.

Hey DoctorFiguresItOut! (Cool name by the way)!

That is really useful information!

That, to me, sounds like a permissions issue!

Either User permissions, or Disk Permissions.

If you are able to see if the same happens in another user account, or not, that may give you the answer!

If the problem does NOT happen in a new user account, I would probably repair the permissions of your user account:

Open System Preferences > Security and Privacy > Privacy > Full Disk Access.

Unlock, click the “+” and add Terminal (Which is in Applications > Utilities, you can also open it in Finder and drag it into that window to make sure it’s there and has a check next to it).

Next open Terminal from that location.

Copy, then paste this command and press Return afterwards:

diskutil resetUserPermissions / `id -u`

Terminal will let you know when the process has finished and there is no time indication but is usually pretty quick.

Once done, restart and test the issue.

Otherwise, if the same issue DOES happen in another user account, (And in Safe Mode for that matter), the disk permissions may need to be repaired:

How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210898

The symptoms you provided brings that to mind, and others maybe experience similar symptoms with totally different causes, but with the symptoms you provided, that’s what comes to mind, then it’s worth a try if you’ve already tried the alternatives. Hope that helps!

I had this issue. My M1 Mac shipped with Monterrey 12.1. I upgraded to 12.3.1 and created a new network location. Seems to have solved the issue. (knock on wood)

Use network locations on Mac - Apple Support

My iMac from end of 2015 with Monterey

After my many phone calls with Apple support (and let me say that I'm pleased with the time they took), the problem wasn't solved untill I came across the link below. I configured my network(s) as 2.4 and a 5Ghz. So the original network was named xxxxxx and the second one xxxxxx5 for the 5Ghz one.

I connected my mac to the xxxxxx5 and the wifi speed was up 10-fold.

So, what the cause of the problem is I don't know but for my this was the solution.

https://www.macworld.com/article/675313/how-to-switch-to-5ghz-on-a-mac.html

Most negative thing about it all was that someone from the helpdesk let me know the possibility that end of 2022 it just might be the last update for the systems produced before 2016. I would detest that from Apple.

Hiding my IP address does slow down Safari for me over a wifi - 4G internet router connection immensely..... The browser is not usable and I have to change to the Edge browser or disable "Hide IP".

Hello 17001005,

Welcome to Apple Support Communities. We understand that your Internet speeds don’t seem to be as fast since updating to macOS Monterey. We are happy to help.

Please check for potential sources of wireless interference using the steps here: Resolve Wi-Fi and Bluetooth issues caused by wireless interference - Apple Support

Apple recommends these settings for your router: Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points - Apple Support

Let us know if you have further questions.

Take care.

Even with 12.1 the problem of wifi speed degradation continues. Reboot will only temporarily fix things and the method that jiarui32 posted above will do the same (thank you jiarui32). At least with the latter method you don't have to reboot; once you've performed those steps you will have two Location options to choose from and whenever your speed lags and you want to reset it, just toggle to the other Location. Your wifi connection will reset and when it returns you should be temporarily back to full speed. It's quicker than a reboot but you will still have to do this several times a day until Apple finds an actual fix for this. Super annoying.

Hi all!

I have also the issue with slow upload speed.

But I have just discovered something interesting… If I setup an VPN session with FortiClient to my internal entrerprise network and I repeat the test then it works properly with the expected speeds!

If then I disconnet the VPN session I get slow upload speeds again. This behaviour is reproducible.

Hope this help as a workaround and to give clues to find a solution not using an vpn connection.

Regards,

Isaac

Hi,

I am in the same situation.

Could the problem be related to iCloud Private Relay?https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/ocv2vm/mac_os_monterey_preview_safaris_icloud_private/

I am not logged to icloud at this moment so I cannot deactivate but if you have an account and are logged…. Just to try…

Regards,

Isaac

In my case the antivirus Cytomic EPDR required by my employer was the culprit. I opened a topic here but wanted to share it here since this topic is very high in Google results and it may help someone.

Completely uninstalling this software following this steps fixed it for me, I had 0,07 Mb/s upload before :(

After getting stuck with a black screen for an unknown reason, I rebooted, and my wifi speeds improved significantly. Maybe back to previous levels.

I just upgraded to Monterey on an Intel iMac 2020. This is happening to me on a wired connections. Internet slows to a crawl. My other connected devices are maintaining high speeds. After rebooting the iMac its speeds up only to slow down a day or two later. Reboot seems to be the only thing that clears it. Switching to wireless and then back to wired doesn't seem to help. This needs to be address soon as it will caused a lot of IT tickets.

I have a similar issue on an M1 Mac mini. Wifi slows down seemingly randomly. A reboot helps to bring back wifi speeds, but similarly, after about a day, wifi slowness returns. I read about a new private relay feature slowing things down for some people, but I don't have that enabled (I didn't subscribe to iCloud+ so I don't have that feature) so that's not my problem. I also read that hiding the IP address in Safari could slow things down for web browsing, but I don't think that's my problem since I noticed system wide wifi issues, not just with Safari. Nonetheless, I am no longer hiding my IP in Safari. I'll report back if that clears up my wifi problems.

After struggling trying to figure out why my internet speeds were 0.2/0.13 after performing the upgrade I was able to resolve the issue with some Google Fu. This is what worked for me:

Go in to system preferences

Go to security and privacy

Choose the fourth tab 'Privacy'

In the scrollable area on the left scroll down to Analytics & Improvements

Turn off Share Mac Analytics in the right hand window

Reboot and suddenly getting the same internet speeds as the rest of the machines on my network.

I called Apple Support that recommended I tried:

How to reset the SMC of your Mac

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201295

and/or

Reset NVRAM or PRAM

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204063

I cannot say if this works for everybody. I seems to have worked on my computer. For now. I have absolutely no expert knowledge in these matters so I don't guarantee anything. I assume that someone at Apple will fix the problem eventually.