Slow Wifi on imac

Question

Level 1

5 points

Slow Wifi on imac

Hi,

Anyone have any ideas why our iMac, running 10.6.8 would suddenly have very slow WiFi, when other devices in the house are working fine? It's been an intermittent problem for months, that suddenly seems worse.

Other devices, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, iphones, ipad all work fine. But the iMac is very slow - even when all in the same location and proximity to our Airport router.

The RSSI for the iMac is -79

Transmit Rate fluctuates from the high 30's to the 50's

I typically get a full four bars for the signal strength

I ran a bandwith test on the iMac and got:

Date and time	Hostname / IP	Down kbit/s	Up kbit/s	Ping min(ms)	Stability %
05.07 18:04	-.hsd1.pa.comcast.net	203	130	355,0	61,8

rebooting either the router or the computer sometimes helps temporarily, but again, other devices continue to work without a hitch.

Can the Wifi card in the computer be the problem? any other suggestion?

many thanks,

Will

iMac G4 800MHz, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Posted on Jul 5, 2013 9:16 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 5, 2013 11:10 AM in response to Will Yurman

You posted in the Intel iMac forums. You stated, "our iMac, running 10.6.8" yet, your profile confirms:

iMac G4 800MHz, Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Which is not an PPC non-Intel iMac. Please clarify.

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Answer 2

rkaufmann87

Level 10

148,540 points

Jul 5, 2013 11:29 AM in response to Will Yurman

There is a chance the issue is with your ISP's DNS setttings, I would recommend updating the DNS settings by following the instructions in:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3681

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Answer 3

Will Yurman Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 5, 2013 11:57 AM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

whoops, didn't notice the profile setting. It's wrong. We're running 10.6.8. Sorry about that

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Answer 4

Will Yurman Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 5, 2013 11:58 AM in response to rkaufmann87

Thanks, I updated my DNS settings. I'll see if that helps.

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Answer 5

Will Yurman Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 5, 2013 12:07 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Changing the DNS settings didn't seem to help at all. But thanks.

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Answer 6

Jul 5, 2013 1:08 PM in response to Will Yurman

Will Yurman wrote:

whoops, didn't notice the profile setting. It's wrong. We're running 10.6.8. Sorry about that

Need to know which model iMac you are using. Non-Intel Macs cannot run ML. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1758 How to identify iMac models

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Answer 7

Will Yurman Author

Level 1

5 points

Jul 5, 2013 1:32 PM in response to Baby-Boomer-USofA

It's an

iMac (20-inch Early 2008)

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Answer 8

Jul 5, 2013 1:34 PM in response to Will Yurman

Try the basics first:

Change your router channel number. Most times this works & is all you have to do.

Disconnect & reconnect your modem. unplug it for about 10 seconds. Plug it back in. Do the same for Apple’s routers. Wait for everything to reboot.

System Preferences>Network

Click the Assist Me button.

In the next window that pops up, click the Diagnostic button & do the necessary.

Research Knowledge Base for network problems that pertain to the OS that is currently installed on your computer. See these basic networking KB Articles: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1401 AirPort troubleshooting guide

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2712 Using network locations in Mac OS X

Manually provided DNS server addresses are higher priority than DHCP's

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1714 Solutions for connecting to the Internet, setting up a small network, and troubleshooting

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What to do when you can't connect to the Internet

Also, run the Airport Utility app which is located inside the Utilities folder.

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If using a Linksys router, contact LinkSys Customer Support and/or post in their forums.

If using Apple's Airport, please re-post over in one of the AirPort Forums.

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