Can you help troubleshoot the internet connection to my mac mini?

I’d say it’s a problem on Comcast’s end. Have you tried running the diagnostics?

You think so? The other computers on my network seem to be performing normally. How do I do comcast diagnostics? Off the comcast site? You know I just tried my laptop next to my mini and with my laptop getting 2 bars and my mini getting 4 bars and both were downloading @ 18 mbps. my laptop just slowed into the KBPS range and another initiatied download on my mini now is going very slow though it still read 18 mbps.

So that means it’s comcast, pretty much, right?

Wow, that’s odd. I don’t know about that, but are you using a different router for the mac min than you are for the laptop or ethernet for one and wireless for the other? Ethernet is always notably faster than wireless, of course, but that’s a bit too big of a difference.

See if this article helps you with the diagnostics.

No, just one wireless router, their both on the same network. These machines are running diff version of OS X however- one is running 10.4 the other is running 10.6 (the mini runs that). I think your right- even though the mini displayed a 18mbps speed it seemed to be slow at the same time as the laptop- might just be Comcast. It might just have not showed the adjusted speed or something I guess. (It’s pretty cold so I’m wondering if maybe it has to do with it- expansion and contraction of a connector? or something) I’ll run mac Os x network diagnostics thanks- I have more faith that I can rule out a mac problem then a comcast problem. Fios anyone?

Is either acting a server to any website? If so, that will definitely cause slowdowns.

I’d count on it being comcast. A quick google search shows not very many people have the same problem. You may want to check comcast’s support forums if they have any.

no… no servers… other than dropbox being installed and no one’s accessing it. anyway thanks for the thoughts- I’m leaning towards comcast- it’s just really frustrating!

Are you downloading from different location or the same one?

Something you can do is a traceroute to where you are downloading from (assuming that you can actually trace all the way to there…sometimes they stop it before you get to the actual server, but usually it gets to wherever their router sits before it hits the “cloud”).

Do this:

open Terminal
type traceroute <ip address or URL of where you are downloading from>

watch the output and if it “stalls” at any particular point or it tries several times to get to a certain point and fils, there is a problem between you and the place you’re trying to get to.

@maccmann That’s a good idea, and as a suggestion, if you don’t like the terminal you can do the same command in Network Utility (in your utilities folder).

If you prefer a GUI over a command line…

Thanks… yeah I tried from the same place, though I downloaded firefox as a test so I’m assuming they could be coming from different places too- I can try that- not sure if I would know quite how to interpret that info. Yeah… terminal doesn’t scare me as it once did but I’m much more comfortable in the GUI.. thanks!

I’m gonna just traceroute to yahoo on both machines… sound like an ok test?

I don’t know how to interpret the data… but the mac mini took 6ms to get to the router, and the PBG4 took 9 ms. PBG4 is getting two bars, Mini getting 4. Doesn’t look significantly diff- both got there in 17 steps.