fryl
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Q: Macbook Air Experiences Slow Wi-Fi (and only on my home network)

My Macbook Air (Mid 2012) is running OSX 10.10.3 (1.8 GHz i5 and 8 GB ram).  I work from home and have been having terrible audio streaming issues (cutting out, fading, etc).  This is voip only so I did some initial troubleshooting.  I found fairly quickly, though, that I don't think it's any peripheral (same issues between browsers, headsets, etc).  I started thinking it was the wifi and did some tests:

 

  • On the home network my phone runs ~25 mbps, a windows laptop ~28 mbps, and a desktop mac ~ 30 mbps.  My Air at the same time will bounce from 3 to about 13 (max)
  • I have tried connecting my computer to my phone's hotspot and it pulls ~20 consistently and allows me to have meetings and no audio issues.  Because of this I think my issue is wifi based (causing audio issues)
  • I have read through a lot of forums/discussions and have tried changing my wireless channel (Comcast says it's technically not possible), a complete OSX reinstall (not time machine, I wiped it), and have removed my wireless network and re added it (along with restarting the router approximately 9 million times)

 

At this point I'm a little stuck.  I feel like I've read through a ton of comments and posts and am not sure what else it could be or how to fix it.  I'm happy to run through more diagnostic tests or trials if anyone has any suggestions!

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Jun 2, 2015 3:35 PM

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fryl

Q: Macbook Air Experiences Slow Wi-Fi (and only on my home network)

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  • by Brett L,

    Brett L Brett L Jun 4, 2015 1:20 PM in response to fryl
    Community Specialists
    Jun 4, 2015 1:20 PM in response to fryl

    Hi fryl,

     

    If you are experiencing slower than normal Wi-Fi connections when using your MacBook Air on your home network, I would suggest that you troubleshoot using the steps in this article - 

     

    About Wireless Diagnostics - Apple Support

     

    Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

     

    Sincerely,

     

    Brett L 

  • by fryl,

    fryl fryl Jun 8, 2015 6:03 AM in response to Brett L
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 8, 2015 6:03 AM in response to Brett L

    Hey Brett,

     

    Sorry for the delay, weekend long conference!  I went through and did the Wireless Diagnostics both in a monitoring mode and just the check and it seemed to point to no issue.  I did a bit more playing around this morning and it's still getting approx 1/3 of the speed my other devices are getting through the same network.  I do think this has only happened in the past 2 months or so, though.  Previous to this I was having streaming speeds that matched other devices as well as no audio connection problems.

     

    Let me know if you have any other suggestions because I'm absolutely LOST!

     

    Lauren

  • by Brett L,

    Brett L Brett L Jun 8, 2015 2:44 PM in response to fryl
    Community Specialists
    Jun 8, 2015 2:44 PM in response to fryl

    Hi fryl,

     

    Thank you for using Apple Support Communities. Due to the nature of the issue you described you may find more information by using another one of Apple's support resources - https://getsupport.apple.com/GetproductgroupList.action.

     

    Brett L