Wifi is incredibly slow on OS X El Capitan

Hi,

iMac ( 2009 )

El Capitan 10.11.4

I am also sufferring with these kind of wifi issues since the EL capitan OSX software upgrade.

My iMac is a little bit older i.e. from 2009, but not too old, and it always works fine before this software upgrade, no networking issues previously noticed.

Now i encounter 2 kinds of major problems with my wireless configuration,

The wifi is very very slow ( even using a 802.11n with a efficient router and Internet provider)

The connection may drops and downloads fails on error and need to be restarted several times to complete.

The first issue could be noticed while trying to download, for test purposes, an iso file 4.5 Gbytes or more, using a wifi N and/or G, the download rate is very very slow ( close to 2MB/s) and the second issue and occurs randomly but very often is that the download may fails on error, i also test trying downloading from several different locations and same problem even using firefox or Safari.

Also noticed, for example, more than 3 hours was needed to download the latest 10.11.4 software update...

On Applestore downloading a simple 82 Mbytes application may need 20 minutes ...( Faster on my phone ...)

After reading some discussions i also try to follow your tips but it didn't help.

Deleting the network configuration, adding it back, deleting the pref* files, changing the MTU, rebooting but same problem.

Testing using wifi 802.11g instead of the 802.11n link type didn't help too.

I also already perform the same kind of downloads tests on a Windows 7 system without any issues.

Any advices may be appreciated.

And an software update is urgently needed...

I also have MacBook Pro 2009 and only 4 GB RAM. I did not follow removal of the .plist, prefs, etc., but my web browsing is satisfactory with 10.11.4 update.

It is not blazingly fast but it beats iPad Mini (9.3.1) tablet browsing on the same home router. Go figure.

Yes this worked much better than swinging the dead chicken over the router. Not looking a gift chicken in the mouth. Thanks.

Update 10.11.5 is in beta testing. Keep your fingers crossed.

Hi. Same problem, on the latest Macbook Pro Retina 13 (2015).
I have fiber internet on 200 mbit/sec speed (188 mbit/sec download and 176 mbit/sec upload (Speedtest)), using cable connection, on my Windows-netbook.

Using Wi-Fi on this Windows-netbook, speed the same ~ 180/160 mbit/sec.
But, my Macbook Pro Retina 13 (2015) internet speed ONLY 70 mbit/sec!! How??
I turn off Skype and all cloud services, but the speed is same.

P.S. Wi-Fi-router: TP-Link TL-WR1043ND (450 mbit/sec wifi speed, with gigabit LAN/Ethernet)

I can't answer your question but this is the speeds I get on WiFi with all my Apple devices…

I tried most everything here and no luck. Finally re-set the SMC and my mini's wifi is firing again. Huge download improvement and meaningful on upload per speedtest. It's only been 12 hrs...we'll see if it holds up. This is the article that pointed me in the right direction: http://thenextweb.com/lifehacks/2010/12/04/how-when-why-to-reset-the-pram-smc-on -your-mac/#gref

For me, the fix for wifi and latency is to switch the router to 802.11g instead of 802.11ac or 802.11n. Basically, the macbook likes the setting immediate ACK and not delayed ACK in the router's advanced wireless configuration but consumer routers don't have access to these so just switch to 802.11g

You're kidding. I have a MacBook Pro at $ 2,500 dolars and I have to be disconnecting the wifi every ten minutes, wait one minute to work? Please be more serious and give a real solution.

Is some of apple "genius" reads this forum????? where is official explanation for that problem? For me it was working just fine, but than os x El ******** came... Now I can just stare at this pice of design engineering without using it... its getting worse and worse.. before i could restart the computer and it worked till it went a sleep... now this doesnt work anymore cos internet looses connectivity every 5 seconds... Maybe I should hang it on the wall???

Problem with huge corporations is that they have their ways and means. It is true: Apple never had such a poor initial OS design, and where four updates canot solve one of the very important issues. Let's hope that 10.11.5 update will be posted soon. (I hoped that 3 and 4 will do the job to no avail.)

In the meantime, I followed what @Covejim did through SMC to improve the Internet blues on my Macbook Pro. I'm noticing speed improvement in browser reaction in loading an opening page, and even faster times to browse within a page. Furthermore and although I still have only 4GB RAM, now the fans are not turning on when I'm on Skype.

I have also being waiting for a solution since Yosemite, my Wi-Fi is so bad that I can't work with MBP (2014) and I have tried everything you can image. The real problem is a poorly implemented wi-fi driver, the driver has a bug on 802.11n. how I know that ? because I have been watching the Crash Logs for a while (months) and you can do it too (open Console.app and go to /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/CoreCapture/com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360.0/... ) and you will see your Wi-Fi listed there with a lot of logs showing the crashes.

I have finally solved the problem (yeah, right, not 100%, just a ugly hack), like someone already said I have disabled the 802.11n, staying only with 802.11g, and so far so good with not a single driver crash (and I am stress testing everything here). I am using the same router Airport Express with 802.11b/g enabled only, speed is great.

So Apple, we are already on El Capitan 10.11.4, c'mon... talk to Broadcom or do a good job implementing this protocol AND TEST IT BEFORE RELEASE!! OS X is starting to look like Windows! Gosh!

Important: if you go to a place that uses 802.11n you are out of luck, because the Mac will connect using (n), so just be patient for the wi-fi drops or use a Wi-Fi Dongle hehehe!!

Tip: To check for PHY Mode that will tell what you are using, just hold ALT (Option) and click the Wi-Fi icon, it is going to show a lot of information and one of them is PHY Mode that will list the type, 802.11n or 802.11g and etc.

Peace! (I am going to update if something happens)

This didnot help me. I am having wifi issues.

Hi,

I also previously encountered several wifi issues with OSX EL CAPITAN with 10.11.4.

( while downloading huge size files for example the connection drops, stops, also noticed poor network speed)

Using a internal Atheros 9280 chip ( AirPort Extreme) connected to a Linksys wifi access point router.

Upgrading to 10.11.5 seems to have solved them, and all seems working fine for me now.

But perform a fresh backup first before updating.

Hope it helps,

I also update to 10.11.5.... But I have connectivity issue...