WIFI connection is slow on my Macbook 17" late 2011

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Level 1

13 points

WIFI connection is slow on my Macbook 17" late 2011

I do have an Apple wifi network consisting of a brand new 3 tb TC and 3 Airport Express that are extending my network via Ethernet cabling. My Internet is an 300/300 connection that works very good and verified numerous times with regard to promised speed and consistently deliver around 320/320. The problem is that all my newer Apple products(iPhone, iPad and Macbook pro 13" 2014) apart from my older 17", easily connect to the TC and achieves speeds in excess of 300/300. My old 2011 Macbook pro however will not get more than around 200 in download but full 300+ in upload - Any good ideas why I cannot get full download speed? According to the connection details it connects fine via the "N" standard and indicates a 450 Mbps connection to the TC router.

Thanks in advance

Karsten

MacBook Pro, iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Aug 11, 2017 8:17 AM

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Answer 1

Aaron111

Level 1

9 points

Dec 8, 2017 4:48 AM in response to karsten_horn

Sorry to hear you are seeing this too, it’s well publicized on the web for the 2011 MacBook Pro (normally 13”). It was around the time Sierra was released that we stared seeing this issue pop-up. I did find a fix though and it worked like a charm. I replaced the MacBook.

I literally spent a year dealing with countless “just delete this” home remedies and tried working diligently with Apple to locate the fault; for which even they gave up. I even went so far as to totally replace the HDD with an SDD and start from scratch with a new profile. Nothing worked. All other devices (iPads, iPhones, Apple TV, and two Macs) were fine and never experience issues. Bought a new wireless modem/router just to be sure because it seemed odd that certain networks had more trouble than others.

Alas, it was all for not. I do have a working computer now as well as a great home network. Just took upgrading the MacBok Pro to get their.

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Answer 2

karsten_horn Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 13, 2017 9:09 AM in response to Tesserax

Hello again

I think that you are on to something and it is for sure not a DNS issue but something about my personal user profile on the MBP.

Take a look at those 2 screen shots below, first is a speed test from my normal profile and the second from a brand new test user profile I created:

There is clearly a difference where the new profile can achieve quite a bit faster download but on the other hand LOOSES quite a bit download speed. The big question is now why on earth is there a difference on the same MBP with exact same setup? I did quite a few tests and the pattern is very consistent with the data above.

Thanks

Karsten

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Aug 11, 2017 1:58 PM in response to karsten_horn

If you temporarily connect the 2011 MacBook Pro directly to the TC using an Ethernet connection does this improve the download speed?

Back to the Wi-Fi values for this device, what were the values for:

Security = ?
Channel = ?
RSSI = ?
Noise = ?
MCS Index = ?

... and where was this MBP located in relation to the TC? ... same room, different room, different floor?

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Answer 4

karsten_horn Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 12, 2017 3:00 AM in response to Tesserax

The MBP is located in the same room/same level and about 4 feet away from the TC. When I connect to router via Ethernet(Apple Ethernet adapter) I get consistent 320/320 speed. What I find really strange is that fact that I consistently via WIFI can achieve 300+ in UPLOAD but only around 200 in download.

Stats are as follows:

Security = WPA/WPA 2 personal
Channel = 40 (5 GHz, 40 MHz)
RSSI = -38 dBm
Noise = - 88 dBm
MCS Index = 23

Karsten

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Aug 13, 2017 10:49 AM in response to karsten_horn

Ok, thanks for the update.

Let's "clean" up your network files on your Mac. This would be effective for all users.

Try the following on your Mac:

Move System Configuration Files

Quit any applications that are currently using Wi-Fi.
Turn off Wi-Fi from the Wi-Fi icon on the macOS menu bar.
Open Finder > Go > Go To Folder
- In the "Go to the folder" window, enter: /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/
- Click on Go
Locate and select the following files:
- Note: Files are macOS/OS X-version specific. Not all of the following files are used in each version.
- com.apple.airport.preferences.plist
- com.apple.network.eapolclient.configuration.plist
- com.apple.wifi.message-tracer.plist
- NetworkInterfaces.plist
- preferences.plist
Move any matching files to the macOS Desktop. You can place them all in a folder as a backup. The "missing" files will be rebuilt after restarting the Mac.
Reboot the Mac.
Re-enable Wi-Fi from the Wi-Fi icon on the macOS menu bar.

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Answer 6

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Aug 12, 2017 7:52 AM in response to karsten_horn

One thing that stands out is the Security that you are using for your Wi-Fi. I would strongly recommend using the "WPA2 Personal" option instead, if all of your wireless clients can support it, as it is much more efficient.

Otherwise the other values look good. An MCS index of 23 is the "best" possible connection that you can expect from your MBP that is using 3 spatial streams and 64-QAM.

I believe even if you performed additional throughput testing between your MBP and the TC, you will find that the local network connection is not the issue ... so that would leave checking out the connection from your ISP to the TC. One area may be the DNS servers that you are using. Typically, they would default to whatever your ISP is providing you. If that is the case, have you tried other servers, like OpenDNS or Google DNS, to see if it makes any difference?

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Answer 7

karsten_horn Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 12, 2017 10:30 AM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for taking the time to help, it is indeed very much appreciated!

Regarding DNS I will try what you are suggesting but to be honest I do not think that it is the culprit. When I put my much newer MBP 13" beside my old MBP 17" it will connect and show consistent duplex speeds of 300+ connected to the same WIFI. My ISP connection is via fibre-optic connection and is rated as a 300/300 connection. So basically my 13" is achieving the same speed on WIFI as when I connect directly via Ethernet cable to TC. Only difference is the fact that my 17" do not support the new "AC" standard but connects via the older standard "N". But then again why can I achieve 300 when uploading and 100 less when downloading - Mystery 🙂

Thanks

Karsten

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Answer 8

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Aug 12, 2017 12:06 PM in response to karsten_horn

I agree that DNS may not be the culprit, but I still think it is worth testing out just to be sure. I would especially be interested to know if the problematic Mac is using a different pair of DNS servers than your other one.

Another simple test would be to create a new user account. Log out of your current one, and then, log in with the new one. Did this improve the download speed?

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Answer 9

karsten_horn Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 18, 2017 6:30 AM in response to Tesserax

Sorry for not replying now but I have been at work all week. However now I have the time to play with my MBP again but it seems like there are not any of those files that you are mentioning in the library. There are some files that have kind of similar names but not exactly the same. I'm a bit reluctant to just remove files that maybe should not be removed 🙂

For your information I'm running the latest version of Sierra.

Thanks

Karsten

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Answer 10

karsten_horn Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 18, 2017 9:08 AM in response to karsten_horn

Sorry for my mistake and I did find them now and followed your instructions. the result is no change at all, exactly the same pattern as before so your suggestion did not solve the issue.

Anyway still thanks for your ongoing support 🙂

Karsten

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Answer 11

Tesserax

Level 10

158,058 points

Aug 18, 2017 12:06 PM in response to karsten_horn

Ok, thanks for the update. Sorry that didn't help.

The only other thing I can think of for you to try is to temporarily power-down all of the Express base stations leaving the TC running along with the Internet modem. Any changes?

What is the make & model of your Internet modem?

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