Mac Dialup Slowness

Question

Level 1

21 points

Mac Dialup Slowness

I have long noticed that PCs are much faster at dialup connection than Macs and this has persisted through all Mac OS versions. I watch my PC friends connect in seconds. With both my iBook and my wife's G4 (both on 10.4.5), it takes about a minute to connect, and that's not including the random "INTERNET CONNECT Could not open the communication device" messages. For one thing, there's a 20 second gap before the dial tone sounds. What is the modem software doing that takes that long?
Is the problem in Apple Modems or is it system software?

John

iBook dual USB. Graphite G4, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on May 19, 2006 6:21 AM

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Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

239,213 points

May 19, 2006 12:01 PM in response to John Bevan

I've noticed it too, geez, even my Ataris connect much faster by Modem than my Macs do, and the Airport Base Stations are even slower and dumber than the Modems.

I think it must be the software, as while OS9 connects about twice as fast as OSX does, it still doesn't match my PCs or Ataris for speed. A Supra Express USB Modem connects faster than the internal Modem does too.

I can't imagine why it takes so long for the Macs to even start dialing, or even find the Modem in Apple System Profiler

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Answer 2

John Bevan Author

Level 1

21 points

May 20, 2006 7:30 AM in response to John Bevan

Wouldn't it be nice if, just sometimes, an Apple employee actually read these Forum messages and gave an official answer? Why did they set up these forums on the Apple web site? On other, similar forums (e.g., Quicken), you'll see a factory person chip in every now and clear up a problem.

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