Wifi is incredibly slow on OS X El Capitan

Same problem as listed above gonna have to revert to a previous OS to kill this nasty.

turn off the bluetooth seems helped a little bit, exactly same problem here, hopes apple fix it soon

I do believe, if I remember right, that I did delete the cache etc. before I saw a big improvement (I ran the latest version of Onyx). So this sounds like good advice from dominic23. But I do want to reiterate, I had horrible Internet speed... on pretty much all networks, including outside our home... when running Yosemite. But in El Capitan, it's consistently at the 9 mbs rate (which, for where we are, is about as fast as it will get).

Something else that seemed to be a huge help was making sure to NOT be running Dropbox or Google Drive. Even when you're not uploading anything. They both seem to place a crazy drag on things. Also, check to make sure the slowdown isn't due to other updates being downloaded or pics or music being synced to iCloud... a distant possibility, but possible nonetheless.

One other thing... I did notice, during the Yosemite issues, that connecting my computer to the network seemed to slow all others. Whatever it was was definitely buried somewhere in the System files, I'm guessing, but not something inherent to the core. More likely... something gone wrong with the local administration of everything... like a specific setting or, as dominic23 says, a cache that's gone wrong.

All this just to say... I don't *think* the problem is El Capitan itself. It sounds like it's something else. Said just so you can start looking down a different path for solutions.

From this link, some suggestions: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/10/02/common-os-x-el-capitan-problems-fixes/

Fix OS X El Capitan WiFi Problems

For the most part the OS X El Capitan WiFi problems are small and less likely than on OS X Yosemite thanks to a major change by Apple, but there are still some problems you may run into.

If you need to fix slow WiFi on OS X El Capitan, you may need to restart your router and modem, unplug them for about 30 seconds to a minute. If this doesn’t fix it you can try turning your WiFi off on your Mac. Click on the WiFi icon and then Turn WiFi off. After a minute turn it back on. This can fix many problems.

Other potential fixes including clicking on Open Network Preferences and then on Advanced to change the order your computer should connect to, options to delete a WiFi network and more. Sometimes deleting a connection and re-adding it will fix the issue.

The only thing that seems to improve Wi-Fi speed for me is to turn Bluetooth off - and even then not by much.

This is ridiculous. I buy a new macbook pro 15 which works very well. Within one week I upgrade to El Capitan as Apple claims it will be even faster.

Boom! My macbook suddenly works like a dog! To make matters worse new macbook pros don't come with an ethernet port - I have to buy an adaptor for $29!!

So as you can guess I am not happy as I've been misled - bought a fast laptop, installed an even faster version of OSX only to experience something much worse than what i started with (old iMAC).

Emptying cache is a waste of time and blatantly is not the cause of this problem - its a bug!!

Any news from Apple or are they ignoring this? Macbook Pro on Ebay anyone?

Can anyone confirm if the problem was fixed in 10.11.1 new beta released today

I have an iMac that is only about a year old. Just did the update 2 days ago and have had wifi speeds of painfully slow dial-up proportions since then.

Why does Apple keep releasing updates for their phones and computers that are clearly not tested and ready for release yet?

Same problems on a rMbp 2012 on El Cap, have reset router many times. rMbp is on my 5ghz network on a non crowded channel literally sitting beside the router. Have gone into the network Plist's and reset them too. Still the rMbp can't get over 30mb down on the plus side all other devices are flying high at around 90-100mb at least they appreciated the extra optimisations 🙂

Only became aware of this issue on El Cap.

luccalj1 wrote:

Can anyone confirm if the problem was fixed in 10.11.1 new beta released today

A few people are having a problem. It is a very annoying problem, but one that is certainly not widespread.

The problem with Yosemite until 10.10.4 was a much more serious one that affected thousands of users or more, and it took quite a while to fix.

I see no indication that this problem is anywhere near that size - otherwise there would have been an outcry "El Cap broke WiFi" in the popular press. It seems to affect a very small portion of users. The problem is in figuring out is different in those affected, and it is not easy.

I am more inclined to believe that this, as a few other problems with El Cap, have to do with incompatible drivers or applications than anything else.

So I suggest the following: install a CLEAN El Cap system on a separate partition or hard drive, do NOT migrate your stuff, and try WiFi there. If I were a betting man, I'd bet a dollar against a cent that such clean installation would NOT suffer from those WiFi issues; if I am right this would show that is not in fact an El Cap bug.

I'm having the same issue.

After upgrading all my macs (Macbook Air, iMac, Macbook Pro Retina Mid2012), the only with the slow internet issue is the MBP.

I have fibre internet connection (30mbps down, 10mbps up). I was getting 2mbps down, 3mbps up.

I have done the following steps:

- Turned off the router, wait 10 secs, turn on again - FAILED

- Cleared Safari/Chrome cache, etc - FAILED

- Reset Mac - FAILED

- Renewed DHCP lease - FAILED

- Delete, add new WIFI connection - FAILED

- Rang Apple support. Guy on the phone asked to reset router again - FAILED

- Then I suggested resetting PRAM (turn off Mac, then hold Command + Option + P + R and tap power button) Wait for 2 Apple chimes and release keys.

This last step brought my internet speed up again. I tested speed using speedtest.net and after a few tests speed went down to 15mbps down and 5mbps up. Then I renewed the DHCP lease again and speed is up again. Working fine for now after a few more tests.

The Apple support guy said there are no records in Apple's system that OS X El Capitan is having wifi issues. So apparently Apple is not treating it as a bug to fix.

I will keep an eye on my speed and let you know if it goes down again.

Great!

Mine is still fine.

Hope this fix the issue for everyone.

Actually, nope, unfortunately that didn't fix the problem 100%.

Yesterday WIFI worked fine, full speed.

Today WIFI wouldn't connect, always dropping and very slow again.

Then restarted the Mac, renewed DHCP lease and nothing, it didn't get better.

Now speed is around 60% slower.

I will get my Mac back to Yosemite and wait a few updates before upgrading again 😟

Thanks Apple!!

Hey Luis,

Clean installed El cap onto a separate partition in hopes it would remedy the problem but unfortunately it led to the same result. To clarify the Wi-fi is not broken just working very badly. My home internet connection is pretty fast so it's not too bad there but if I'm on a slower network it is torturous.