Q: Slow data transfer on Time Capsule, 802.11n, WPA2

Curing wireless issues.. is voodoo stacked on voodoo.. this is going to take patience and perservenace.. and loads of frustration and time.. so set out on this journey knowing that life is not easy.

Exactly what model TC is this.. A1xxx from the base please.

First thing to confirm is consistency of units.

I am concerned that my TC and MBP rarely reach 5 MBPs during a file transfer

Does 5MBPs mean 5MBytes/s ??

Are you using b for bits? Please try and be consistent. Network speeds are in bits per second usually mega ie Mbps..

file transfers are in Bytes per second..  MBps.. 8 bits in a byte.. So 5MBps is 40Mbps.

Is this from local disk or over the internet?

I guess the first thing to do is establish a base line.

Plug the computer into the TC by ethernet. Turn off wireless.

Copy a file to the TC disk.. what average speed do you get.. you can just give me an estimate from activity monitor.

Copy a file from the TC disk.

Copy a file to the synology

Copy a file from the synology.

Macbook pro 13" late 2013

Did you miss out on an ethernet port.. if so go and grab a Thunderbolt to ethernet adapter.. they are very reasonably priced.. and it hugely helps what we are doing here.

Anyway if you cannot give me that .. at least give me the info below.

Wireless is never ever reliable.. it is voodoo in a box. Even Apple have had issues with the voodoo..

Did you upgrade the laptop from Mavericks to Yosemite? That can mess things up..

What OS are you running??

What link speed does your wireless get.. hold down the option key.. and click the wireless fan in the top menu.

You should get this.

That includes some vital info.. your wireless link speed in particular.

At the top of this you will see.. Open Wireless Diagnostics.

Do it.

Ignore the front page and go straight to the top menu.. Window.

Then you can select Scan.

And performance.. wait a few minutes.. I didn't grab much here.

Post me all those details and screenshots.. and we can work from there.

Hello. I did not post the question but I have the same problem. I hope you don't mind me posting my screenshots here.

I only have problems with my Mac Mini.

As you can see, the speed was ok for a while and then it suddenly dropped to almost zero!

Now I have only 3Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit up. My line is a 100Mbit/s down and up.

It works fine on both my MacBook Air (middle 2011) and my iPad with 90Mbit/s both down and up.

These diagrams are from my Mac Mini (Late 2012)

I have put my network at the top of the list giving it first priority.

Thank you.

Hello. I did not post the question but I have the same problem. I hope you don't mind me posting my screenshots here.

I only have problems with my Mac Mini.

As you can see, the speed was ok for a while and then it suddenly dropped to almost zero!

Now I have only 3Mbit/s down and 2 Mbit up. My line is a 100Mbit/s down and up.

It works fine on both my MacBook Air (middle 2011) and my iPad with 90Mbit/s both down and up.

These diagrams are from my Mac Mini (Late 2012)

I have put my network at the top of the list giving it first priority.

Thank you.

I only have problems with my Mac Mini.

As you can see, the speed was ok for a while and then it suddenly dropped to almost zero!

Your OK speed was not really OK..

You simply don't have enough signal. Signal is bouncing between -70 and -75db. With the noise level only 10db less.

You seem to be forcing the connection to 5ghz.

I cannot see your wireless names.. but connect the laptop to 2.4ghz not 5ghz.. you are not getting good enough signal to use 5ghz.

Note the difference.. a Macbook gets much better signal than a mini.. the antennas in the mini are poorly located.. whereas in the laptop they are much better.

OK. Here's the full picture.

I deleted the old network and connected to it again.

As you can see, it was 2.4 GHz before and it worked equally bad. It changed to 5GHz automatically. I don't know how to force that.

Also, it automatically changed the protocol from b/g/n to ac (?)

So your equipment is just the Time Capsule?? All the other wireless is from people around you?

Also, it automatically changed the protocol from b/g/n to ac (?)

It is simply the name of the band.. 2.4ghz is b/g/n and new Gen5 TC is 5ghz AC.

There is something strange because your wireless diagnostic chart shows very poor RSSI.. whereas the scan is showing a fairly good value..

Look carefully RSSI is a signal level.. it is dramatically different.

As I said at the start this is not going to be easy.

I need to know what wireless you own.. main modem router .. does it have wireless?? If so what is the name so I can see it in the charts??

What model is the Airport? I am assuming the Gen5 TC.. please confirm.

What OS is on the Mini?

Did you upgrade install it?

Not all upgrades work well.. Yosemite in particular is known upgrade dog.. which causes wireless issues. I always clean install the OS.

You can however start over with the TC (I am assuming TC using these instructions).

Start from a factory reset. No files are lost on the hard disk doing this.

Factory reset universal

Power off the TC.. ie pull the power cord or power off at the wall.. wait 10sec.. hold in the reset button.. be gentle.. power on again still holding in reset.. and keep holding it in for another 10sec. You may need some help as it is hard to both hold in reset and apply power. It will show success by rapidly blinking the front led. Release the reset.. and wait a couple of min for the TC to reset and come back with factory settings. If the front LED doesn’t blink rapidly you missed it and simply try again. The reset is fairly fragile in these.. press it so you feel it just click and no more.. I have seen people bend the lever or even break it. I use a toothpick as tool.

N.B. None of your files on the hard disk of the TC are deleted.. this simply clears out the router settings of the TC.

 

Setup the TC again.

 

Then redo the setup from the computer with Yosemite.

1. Use very short names.. NOT APPLE RECOMMENDED names. No spaces and pure alphanumerics.

eg TCgen5 for basestation and TCwifi wireless name.

 

 

If the issue is wireless use TC24ghz and TC5ghz with fixed channels as this also seems to help stop the nonsense. But this can be tried in the second round. ie plan on a first and second round of changes to fix this.. hopefully.. I will point out other steps that can be round2.

 

2. Use all passwords that also comply with 1. but can be a bit longer. ie 8-20 characters mixed case and numbers.. no non-alphanumerics.

 

3. If the TC is main router you can skip this point. This is only an issue when the TC is bridged.

Ensure the TC always takes the same IP address.. you will need to do this on the main router using dhcp reservation.. or a bit more complex setup using static IP in the TC. But this is important.. having IP drift all over the place when Yosemite cannot remember its own name for 5 min after a reboot makes for poor networking.

 

4. Check your share name on the computer is not changing.. make sure it also complies with the above.. short no spaces and pure alphanumeric.. but this change will mess up your TM backup.. so be prepared to do a new full backup. Sorry.. keep this one for second round if you want to avoid a new backup.

 

5. Mount the TC disk in the computer manually.

 

In Finder, Go, Connect to server from the top menu,

Type in SMB://192.168.0.254 (or whatever the TC ip is which you have now made static. As a router by default it is 10.0.1.1 and I encourage people to stick with that unless you know what you are doing).

 

You can use name.. SMB://TCgen5.local where you replace TCgen5 with your TC name.. local is the default domain of the TC and doesn't change.

However names are not so easy as IP address.. nor as reliable. At least not in Yosemite they aren't. The domain can also be an issue if you are not plugged or wireless directly to the TC.

 

6. Make sure IPv6 is set to link-local only in the computer. For example wireless open the network preferences, wireless and advanced / TCP/IP.. and fix the IPv6. to link-local only. Do the same for ethernet if you use it.

 

 

 

 

There is a lot more jiggery pokery you can try but the above is a good start.. if you find it still unreliable.. don't be surprised.

 

 

You might need to do some more work on the computer itself. eg Reset the PRAM.. has helped some people. Clean install of the OS is also helpful if you upgrade installed.

 

Tell us how you go.

 

 

Someone posted a solution.. See this thread.

 

Macbook can't find Time Capsule anymore

 

Start from the bottom and work up.. I have a list of good network practice changes but I have avoided Yosemites bug heaven.

 

 

Yosemite has serious DNS bug in the networking application.. here is the lets say more arcane method of fixing it by doing a network transplant from mavericks.

 

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/01/why-dns-in-os-x-10-10-is-broken-and-what-yo u-can-do-to-fix-it/

Then do the following.

1. Reset NVRAM of the Mini.

2. Clean out all the existing wireless networks from wireless in network preferences.. dump the whole lot.. reboot the mini and rediscover the wireless.

3. Test different channels for the 5ghz and see if you can get better results. Although channel 36 should be ok it is worth testing another.. 100 or 149 depending on your location.. I see GB, DE, SE (is that Sweden??) So other people around you have their equipment set to Great Britain or Germany.

Hi again.

Thank you so much for taking the time. Much appreciated.

Today I upgraded to El Capitan, and then I removed some stuff from the table which might block the signal from getting through.

These were the only changes I made.

It helped, for now.

I now have 61 Mbit down and 33Mbit up. That will do. We'll see for how long I can enjoy this.

And yes. SE is Sweden.

Again, thank you.

I am away a couple of days.. Bob or Mike might step in and continue the fight. We generally try and discourage people hijacking threads.. but in this case you have noted the contribution as helpful so I cannot really complain.

The actual graphs and info from El Capitan might change and we are going to have to learn a whole new lot of voodoo .. I just wish they would fix it.

Oh.., sorry about that. But I really regarded it as being the same problem.

It felt unnecessary to create a new thread about the exact same thing.

It turns out I was probably right.

Thanks for all the work you put in.. and giving me the numbers..

As is clear now from your tests there is nothing whatsoever wrong with the wifi connection between the MBP and the TC.

It is operating well within the speed range I would expect.

And dramatically faster than when you use the internet via the TC.

I think you have a configuration problem.

In fact I know you do.

Diagnostics

IP address 10.0.1.8

Router 10.1.1.1

This will not work at all well.. you have used the TC in router mode to the existing VIrgin router. This is made doubly bad because both are using 10.x.x.x subnet.. even though you might use a smaller range .. it will have routing issues.. in fact I am sure the TC in airport utility is telling you it has a double NAT error.

You MUST bridge the TC..

So to do that I recommend you start over from factory reset.

Do my usual selection of names etc. Exactly as I recommended above.

But you will be selecting bridge mode this time not router mode.

Tell me how it goes.

Better still give me a few screenshots from the airport utility.. I need to see exactly how you have the TC setup.

because I am not sure that bridging mode will work for me. It turns off the TC wifi broadcast, right?

No. Bridge mode has nothing to do with whether your TC is broadcasting a wireless signal or not.