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wifi and ethernet slow on iMac with macOS catalina ( upgraded from mojave)

Speedtest telenet from imac https://telenet-prd.speedtestcustom.com/result/0a19d010-2a1f-11ed-8a5b-390ab9678654 with ethernet connected to modem/router of telenet.be provider very slow in download ( 47.8 Mbps download, 38.2 Mbps upload ) when compared with others devices iphone 7, android phones, lenovo workstation with similar hardware capabilities ...


Speedtest telenet from lenovo workstation with same physical connection is five times better ( 382.2

Mbps download but same speed upload than imac : 38.2 Mbps ) : https://telenet-prd.speedtestcustom.com/result/91180790-2a1e-11ed-911f-334e3d72af54


The capability provided by the internet provider with this modem/router is : 400 Mbps download, 40 Mbps upload ) and the ethernet interface of my iMac late 2015 is 1 Gbps.


Any explanations/solutions ? ( N.B. exactly same performance issue with Wi-Fi 5Ghz )



Posted on Sep 2, 2022 2:23 AM

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Posted on Sep 2, 2022 10:11 AM

Web based speed tests depend a lot on prevaling conditions at the time of the test.

Macs may have other bandwidth limitations including:


  1. Syncing with cloud accounts, like iCloud, if you store and documents on iCloud.
  2. File sharing being turned on for other machines.
  3. Printer sharing to share printers with other devices and computers.
  4. Background backup software
  5. Optimization software which should never be installed, since it actually slows you down. Use Etrecheck to identify if you have anything running in the background that could adversely affect your connection.


If your Mac has a direct ethernet port, it should be no slower than any other device on ethernet.

For true bandwidth speed, get storage space on the company providing you internet access, and do file send and receive to that space with FTP. Sending data to your internet access provider will be slower unless you have a dedicated line to them.


Often unless you have a dedicated line speeds can be very erratic, as neighborhood gamers sometimes hog the lines, and you need to report such slowness to your internet provider.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 2, 2022 10:11 AM in response to acbrayer

Web based speed tests depend a lot on prevaling conditions at the time of the test.

Macs may have other bandwidth limitations including:


  1. Syncing with cloud accounts, like iCloud, if you store and documents on iCloud.
  2. File sharing being turned on for other machines.
  3. Printer sharing to share printers with other devices and computers.
  4. Background backup software
  5. Optimization software which should never be installed, since it actually slows you down. Use Etrecheck to identify if you have anything running in the background that could adversely affect your connection.


If your Mac has a direct ethernet port, it should be no slower than any other device on ethernet.

For true bandwidth speed, get storage space on the company providing you internet access, and do file send and receive to that space with FTP. Sending data to your internet access provider will be slower unless you have a dedicated line to them.


Often unless you have a dedicated line speeds can be very erratic, as neighborhood gamers sometimes hog the lines, and you need to report such slowness to your internet provider.

Sep 3, 2022 1:52 PM in response to acbrayer

I want to migrate soon from Catalina to Monterey.


To secure the migration, I 'm starting a Time Machine backup from my Catalina recently migrated iMac to my old local Airport Time Capsule. The issue is that I have a huge amount of files in "documents" folder synchronized on iCloud ( hundreds of GB on icloud and only around 10GB on my local HD). As the internet access is very slow ( 50 mbps for download), I guess the Time Machine procedure will be very time hungry ( ... may be needing days ). My local HD is 1TB and free space is 165 GB ( 130 GB purgeable) so I guess a huge traffic from iCloud to load into the Time Machine Airport Capsule. Any suggestion for a better strategy for next time ( when Monterey will be definitelly intalled as I hope ... soon). N.B. My previous Time Machine backup was done on Mojave months ago; I hope all these time machine backup will be "interoperables" between MacOS versions, not sure ... :-( .... Later on, I will go to M1 or M2 processor with probably other issues ...

Sep 3, 2022 7:02 PM in response to acbrayer

Depending on the cloud with anything less than a dedicated fiberoptic line can be futile for anything more than 50 GB.


The fact you are already in this predicament suggests you may want to see if you can spend time getting everything off iCloud onto two separate external hard drives. Once that is done, then turn off the iCloud syncing for anything beyond that which you must have on your iPad or iPhone simultaneously. Generally you want your hard drive to not exceed 85% capacity either. You are already very close to it on your Time Capsule. This causes a lot more temporary file swapping that will slow you down.

wifi and ethernet slow on iMac with macOS catalina ( upgraded from mojave)

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