I have an iMac G4 and I recently purchased a 802.11n USB adaptor to connect to the internet using a shared line with a neighbour. I'm finding the connection speed is extremely slow. Is it the adaptor? Do I need an airport card? Is it the USB 1? Any tips would be most welcome. Thanks.
Mac OS X (10.4.11), lily o
Depending on what version of the G4 iMac you have, it could certainly be the USB 1.1 ports.
If your G4 does not have USB 2.0 ports (some do), the USB adaptor can run no faster than the old wireless "b" protocol, which is pretty slow.
Again depending on the model, an Airport card may not help. Early G4 iMacs could only use the original Airport card whcih was also "b" speed. Later ones used the Airport Extreme card which can support up to wireless "g" and is much faster.
So we're down to needing more details on your iMac before we can make recommendations. Do "About this Mac" from your Apple menu and, in the resulting window click the "More Info..." button. That politely launches System Profiler for you.
The main System Profiler screen has the info we need and looks like something like this:
[click image for larger view if needed]
The SECOND line in 10.4 will read "Machine Model" instead but the code next to it will positively identify your computer model. Post the code, which will be "PowerMac X,X" where the Xs are numbers. Post just the code, don't post any serial numbers.
Also post your screen size (15, 17, or 20 inches measured diagonally. That sometimes helps narrow down the models.
From that we can make some very well-targeted recommendations as we see what logic board was used.
The speed will vary depending how close you are to the wifi router & number of walls between you and the router.
Here are two links that will rate your connection.
http://www.speedtest.net/
You can try downloading directly from the terminal to see how fast one file downloads.
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 ...
Hello Allan,
Thanks for your message.
Here are the specs on my old iMac
Machine Model: PowerMac 4,2
CPU Type: PowerPC G4 (2.1)
No. of CPUs: 1
CPU Speed: 800 MHz
Ls Cache (per CPU) 256 KB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 100 MHz
Boot ROM Version: 4.3.4f2
The screen size is 15 inches and the iMac was purchased new in 2002.
Running 10.4.11
I don't know if this helps, but the info on the 802.11n WLAN Adaptor is as follows:
BSD Name: en1
Version: 2.00
Bus Power (mA): 500
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Realtek
Product ID: 0x8176
Thanks for any help you might have.
Hello rccharles,
Thanks for the links.
I tried pingtest and came up with the following (2 tests):
Test 1
Packet Loss (unable to test)
Ping: 65 ms
Jitter 34 ms
Grade C
Test 2
Packet Loss (unable to test)
Ping 81 mx
Jitter 54 ms
Grade C
Not sure what all of that means.
Oh 😊
I hadn't look at the tests in awhile. Seems like they have gone from usesfull to adware. I'll have to look for better tests.
as tests ( we want to try to narrow down where the problem lays ) :
1) You could move your computer closer to the wifi router to see if that improves the situation. like right next too.
2) You could try an ethernet cable connection. This would show the effect of the wireless router.
You could try a simple ping test:
Macintosh-HD -> Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal
# ping google 20 time.
# you can vary the number. control + c to quit right now.
# you type in ping -c20 google.com
# then press return
# my packet loss is high!
mac $ ping -c20 google.com
PING google.com (74.125.113.104): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=29.563 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=29.206 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=29.252 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=6 ttl=53 time=30.248 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=7 ttl=53 time=30.481 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=9 ttl=52 time=31.183 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=11 ttl=53 time=29.200 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=13 ttl=53 time=32.679 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=14 ttl=53 time=31.073 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=16 ttl=53 time=29.097 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=17 ttl=53 time=30.461 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=18 ttl=52 time=48.536 ms
64 bytes from 74.125.113.104: icmp_seq=19 ttl=53 time=31.683 ms
--- google.com ping statistics ---
20 packets transmitted, 13 packets received, 35% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 29.097/31.743/48.536/4.961 ms
mac $
Robert
Thanks for the details. You are definitely limited to wireless "b" speeds with a USB dongle or an Airport card.
The faster solution for your setup that can give significantly faster speeds is a wireless ethernet bridge. It's a receiver that plugs into your ethernet port. You usually don't need drivers for these to work. Some are pricy--the Linksys is about US$100, but I saw a Trendnet at Fry's Electronics last week that was cheaper:
http://www.frys.com/product/6525473
As your iMac does not have the fastest ethernet port (you have a 10/100 port and newer Macs have 10/100/1000) it may not be blazing fast but should exceed wireless "b."
Hello Allan,
Thanks again for your reply.
I'll try to find a wireless ethernet bridge and will remain cautiously optimistic about speeds.
We hoped to make use of this older computer in the studio; thankfully it's not our main, everyday device (it was a bit like stepping back to the days of dial-up).
Hello Robert,
Thanks again for your help.
I think I'll try Allan's suggestion of a wireless ethernet bridge and see if that helps.
Cheers!
Janice, an update:
Since I last posted, we upgraded our home network from 5MB service to 50MB service. In setting it up, I saw something that may affect you and your decision to get the iMac on a fast network.
We keep four Macs on the network: my MacBook Pro, my G4 MDD Tower, wife's eMac 1.42G, and an older PowerBook G4 in the guest room. The MBP, G4 tower and the old PowerBook showed remarkable speed in broadband test utilities after the upgrade; the eMac showed it could max at out just over 5MBps. 😮
It then hit me that, of the four, the eMac was the only one that has the older 10/100 ethernet port--the same as your iMac. The rest have 10/100/1000, bascially 10x faster than the eMac's. The speed of the eMAc on the network is10X less, so that makes sense.
As this is a limitation of the ethernet port, a faster ethernet bridge canot make the port any faster, and the port is not upgradeable.
So that give a scale of what may be the maximum possible speed on your iMac. If 5MBps is acceptable (we lived with it for a loooong time) then go for it.
Allan
Hi Allan,
Thanks for your update.
If I understand correctly, The port being what it is, did you mean that a wireless ethernet bridge isn't any more robust/faster in its transfers than the wireless USB adaptor? Or would it make at least a slightly noticeable difference?
Thanks again for your help.
Cheers,
Janice
Hi Janice,
I've not personally tested a USB wireless dongle on any USB port, but I have reviewed the speeds of various ports and wireless protocols.
Wireless 'b" (officially "IEEE 802.11b") has a max rate of 11MBps. According to info on using a USB 2.0 wireless dongle on a USB 1.1 port (like yours), the maximum possible transfer rate is 11MBps.
An Ethernet 10/100 port has a max rate of 100MBps. Some incarnations may only use half of that.
Even so, 50 or 100 is a lot better than 11.
Again, I'm out of my personal testing bubble and working from reference material. Here's what I'd suggest to be on the safe side:
Other World Computing (OWC) sells more Mac-compatible USB dongles that anyone, and also sells ethernet bridges. This is their website:
I've found them excellent in providing before-the-sale tech support. I would give the a call and tell them the situation:
I trust what they say, and have bought probably thousands of $$ worth of stuff from them over the last decade. I don't think they will steer you in the wrong direction.
You are not going to get any faster speed out of the wifi network than your link to the Internet. We do not know how fast of a link the poster has to the internet. For instance, having a broadband link of 5mbs means you are limited to a maximum speeds of 5mbs. This means a USB 1.1 and a wireless b network are just fine.
Please note that network speeds are usually measured in bits per seconds. The usual abbreviation is a lower case b. An upper case B is usually reserved for bytes.
The most likely cause of the slow speed is a bad wifi connection caused by interferance. See below.
To the original poster, I'll be blunt. All the worry about port speed is a distraction.
I'm finding the connection speed is extremely slow. Is it the adaptor?
Your configuration should not be extremely slow. You have a 10mbs connections. This should not be giving you a slow connection.
I have an iMac G4 and I recently purchased a 802.11n USB adaptor to connect to the internet using a shared line with a neighbour.
My guess is that you are getting interference because of the distance & walls. Perhaps the neighbor is watching movies of the internet & using up the bandwith.
Is it the adaptor?
Not as a first guess. What adapter do you have? Manufacture & model.
a wifi n adapter might give you a better connection because it has a better range & deals with interference better.
Do I need an airport card?
no. It would be the same as the usb dongle.
Is it the USB 1?
no. This wouldn't cause an extremely slow connection.
Please disconnect all usb devices expect a keyboard & mouse. a USB harddrive might case a problem. Try different ports for the usb device.
Any tips would be most welcome.
Try my earlier two suggestions.
1) You could move your computer closer to the wifi router to see if that improves the situation. like right next too.
2) You could try an ethernet cable connection. This would show the effect of the wireless router.
What is the broadband speed to your neighbors router? Is it cable, dsl, or fios?
Verify that you have connected to correct router. Maybe you got the wrong one.
The communications problems tend to be divide & conquer. We need some more concret info to make a better judgement.
You can look around for wireless networks. See: iStumbler - 98 find AirPort networks, Bluetooth devices, Bonjour services http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/17572
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the info.
In answer to your questions, I used this same neighbour's router connection before, with my Powerbook G4 and it was fine.
When I first tried the old iMac and the USB dongle, I thought the slow speed was because my neighbour was watching internet TV and using up the bandwidth. However, my connection and speed was exactly the same on a day when they were not using their computer at all.
They are using cable and I am definitely connected to the correct router. The people who sold me the USB dongle said my "ping" test (as per your suggestion) was adequate. The USB dongle is made by Planet and is 802.11n Wireless.
Hi Allan,
Thanks again for your help.
As you suggested, I'll contact Other World Computer and see what they think.
Cheers!
iMac G4 + 802.11n USB VS Airport card
