To monitor the modem as it tries to connect, turn on modem sounds. Open Network preferences and select your modem service in the list. Click Advanced, click Modem, then select Sound: On. See also Use Network Utility on Mac Connect your Mac to the internet using PPPoE Solve internet connection problems on Mac. Connect your Mac to the internet. These days it’s easy to connect to the internet from your Mac, whether you’re at home, at work, or on the go. Two common ways to get online are by using a Wi-Fi (wireless) or Ethernet (wired) connection. If neither is available, you may be able to use an Instant Hotspot.
Find yourself waiting forever for websites to load? Have problems with video calls, playing games or working online? Probably your internet needs a speed boost. But what can you do to ensure the best online experience?
Don’t worry, in this article we’ll go over all tested troubleshooting steps to resolve troubles with the slow internet. Read on and learn how to make internet faster and your online activities stress-free.
Why is my Internet so slow?
There are many different factors that could be slowing down your internet speed. It can be anything from the browser you use to the cluttered system or your router’s location. Some of these things have nothing to do with your Mac at all like a router, some can be easily fixed through a simple action.
However, no matter the reason, if your internet connection is slow, it may destroy your productivity. That’s why we’ve gathered 10 ways to fix the Mac slow internet. Let’s ensure that your connection is as fast as lightning!
How to speed up Internet on your Mac
This guide provides some of the common and the most helpful ways to make your internet faster. Try out these tricks to get a smooth web experience!
1. Test your internet speed
If you keep asking yourself how to speed up your internet, first of all, test your speed. Sometimes your internet is slow because you’re paying for the slow internet. Visit your internet provider’s website and find out what plan you have. Then run one of the speed tests (there are many of them available online, but one of the most popular is Speedtest.net) to check whether the numbers match. If they do match up, then your network is working fine and you just pay for the slow internet. However, if the numbers are different, read on to learn how to improve internet speed.
2. Check Network preferences
Do you see a spinning beachball when you try to load web pages? It may not be clear whether the page is taking a long time to load or whether your connection is broken. To check it out, do the following:
- Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen.
- Choose System Preferences > Network.
- Click Assist me and then choose Diagnostics.
- Choose your type of connection and click Continue to start the test.
If the problem pops up, follow the suggested advice to deal with it.
3. Test all your Macs
If you have more than one Mac, check whether the internet connection is slow on each on them. If you see the slowdown only on one computer, then most likely the problem lies in this particular Mac. For instance, it may have an unusually weak Wi-Fi connection. Try to go to the Wi-Fi menu in the menu bar and choose Turn Wi-Fi Off. Wait a few seconds and turn it on. These simple actions may fix your MacBook internet slow connection.
4. Restart your router
Router issues can cause problems with the internet. If your internet is as slow when your smartphone or other device is connected to Wi-Fi, chances are, the trouble is not with your Mac. To fix the slow connection, try restarting your router. Simply turn it off, wait a few seconds and turn it on again. You can also try to relocate your router, so it’s closer to the place where you usually connect. Make sure no objects will affect the signal, like microwaves and various metal things.
5. Enable wireless security
Do you use Wi-Fi and notice that your Internet running slow? Then check whether you’ve turned on security settings on your router. If the security is not enabled, how do you know that all your neighbors aren’t just enjoying the free access? It’s worth checking the router's manual, setting up the highest security level and choosing the appropriate password no one can guess easily.
6. Use an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi
While the wireless internet is more convenient, connecting directly to the router with a cable provides the faster connection. Many people don’t realize that and still use Wi-Fi even if they are close enough to the router to use the cable. In fact, Wi-Fi rarely achieves the speed that Ethernet can due to the signal loss, distance from the router, and many more. The best solution is to simply plug your Mac in using a cable and you’ll notice the considerable speed boost.
7. Close unnecessary apps and browser tabs
Internet running slow on Mac? If you have dozens of apps and websites open, such as Skype, Safari, Mail, Facebook, Twitter, and many more, then they are all trying to connect to the internet from time to time to update and synchronize. It makes the Mac internet slow and the websites start to hang. That’s why close unnecessary apps and tabs in your browser. Believe us, your Mac will thank you for that!
8. Switch to another web browser
Which web browser do you use? Chances are, that it’s either Chrome or Firefox. However, if you open up the Activity Monitor and see how much RAM your browser uses, you may be a bit surprised. A single tab opened may take up 20 percent of your RAM. Why? The answer is simple: these popular browsers are not optimized for a Mac. If you want to increase the internet speed, try switching to Safari. It is considered to be one of the fastest web browsers out there and it usually wins the speed tests on Macs.
9. Clean up your Mac and increase the overall speed
It goes without saying that a cluttered system affects your Mac performance. If you want to get a better browsing speed, you need to clean up your Mac from all the clutter it contains. Surely, you can remove the junk manually but a smart utility like CleanMyMac X will save you tons of time. With its help, you can easily remove large and old files, broken downloads, app leftovers, caches, log files, and much more. CleanMyMac knows what to clean and what not to clean, making it incredibly safe. Once you get rid of all the useless files, you’ll not just get the faster internet but a better running Mac.
10. Call your internet provider
If you’ve gone through all the steps and your internet is still slow, then it’s time to call your internet provider. The problem may be on their end and most likely they are doing their best to resolve it this minute. However, if your internet provider can’t give you the speed you want or you are not satisfied with their customer service, consider to find a new provider. Make a little research to choose the one that fits all your requirements.
That’s it. We hope our guide has helped you and you finally made your Mac faster. The last but not the least our piece of advice: just make sure to do regular cleanups and maintenance with utilities like CleanMyMac X to prevent problems with slow internet on Mac. Staying connected matters, right?
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If you've followed the steps to connect your Mac to a Wi-Fi network, but the connection to your network or the Internet isn't reliable, the steps in this article might help.
Check for Wi-Fi recommendations
When your Mac tries to connect to a Wi-Fi network, it checks for issues that affect its ability to create a fast, stable, and secure connection. If an issue is detected, the Wi-Fi status menu in the menu bar shows a new item: Wi-Fi Recommendations. Choose it to see recommended solutions.
Wi-Fi recommendations are available in macOS Sierra or later.
Analyze your wireless environment
Your Mac can use Wireless Diagnostics to perform additional analysis.
Connect Internet Macbook
- Quit any apps that are open, and connect to your Wi-Fi network, if possible.
- Press and hold Option (Alt) ⌥ key, then choose Open Wireless Diagnostics from the Wi-Fi status menu .
- Enter your administrator name and password when prompted.
Wireless Diagnostics begins analyzing your wireless environment:
If the issue is intermittent, you can choose to monitor your Wi-Fi connection:
When you're ready to see recommendations, continue to the summary. Wireless Diagnostics asks for optional information about your base station or other router, so that it can include that in the report it saves to your Mac.
Click the info button next to each item in the summary to see details about that item. Wi-Fi best practices are tips that apply to most Wi-Fi networks.
Back up or make note of your network or router settings before changing them based on these recommendations—in case you need to use those settings again.
Monitor your Wi-Fi connection
Your Mac can monitor your Wi-Fi connection for intermittent issues, such as dropped connections. Follow the steps to analyze your wireless environment, but choose ”Monitor my Wi-Fi connection” when prompted.
During monitoring, a window shows that monitoring is in progress. Monitoring continues as long as this window is open and you're on the same Wi-Fi network, even when your Mac is asleep.
If Wireless Diagnostics finds an issue, it stops monitoring and shows a brief description of the issue. You can then resume monitoring or continue to the summary for details and recommendations.
Create a diagnostics report
Wireless Diagnostics automatically saves a diagnostics report before it displays its summary. You can create the same report at any time: press and hold the Option key, then choose Create Diagnostics Report from the Wi-Fi status menu . It can take your Mac several minutes to create the report.
- macOS Sierra and later saves the report to the /var/tmp folder of your startup drive, then opens that folder for you.
To open the folder manually, choose Go > Go to Folder from the Finder menu bar, then enter /var/tmp. - OS X El Capitan or earlier saves the report to your desktop.
The report is a compressed file with a name that begins “WirelessDiagnostics.” It contains many files that describe your wireless environment in detail. A network specialist can examine them for further analysis.
Can't Connect To Internet Mac
Use other diagnostics utilities
Wireless Diagnostics includes additional utilities for network specialists. Open them from the Window menu in the Wireless Diagnostics menu bar:
- Info gathers key details about your current network connections.
- Logs enables background logging for Wi-Fi and other system components. The result is saved to a .log file in the diagnostics report location on your Mac. Logging continues even when you quit the app or restart your Mac, so remember to disable logging when you're done.
- Scan finds Wi-Fi routers in your environment and gathers key details about them.
- Performance uses live graphs to show the performance of your Wi-Fi connection:
- Rate shows the transmit rate over time in megabits per second.
- Quality shows the signal-to-noise ratio over time. When the quality is too low, your device disconnects from the Wi-Fi router. Factors that affect quality include the distance between your device and the router, and objects such as walls that impede the signal from your router. Learn more.
- Signal shows both signal (RSSI) and noise measurements over time. You want RSSI to be high and noise to be low, so the bigger the gap between RSSI and noise, the better.
- Sniffer captures traffic on your Wi-Fi connection, which can be useful when diagnosing a reproducible issue. Select a channel and width, then click Start to begin capturing traffic on that channel. When you click Stop, a .wcap file is saved to the diagnostics report location on your Mac.
Learn more
Additional recommendations for best Wi-Fi performance:
- Keep your router up to date. For AirPort Time Capsule, AirPort Extreme, or AirPort Express Base Station, check for the latest firmware using AirPort Utility. For non-Apple routers, check the manufacturer's website.
- Set up your router using Apple's recommended settings, and make sure that all Wi–Fi routers on the same network use similar settings. If you're using a dual-band Wi-Fi router, make sure that both bands use the same network name.
- Learn about potential sources of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth interference.
Mac Not Connecting To Internet
Learn about other ways to connect to the Internet.