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User profile for user: sirihatesmealot
sirihatesmealot Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Super slow ethernet on on Google Speed Test

I am having a very tough time figuring out what is going on lately with my internet connection over ethernet. I'm on an old mac pro 2010 and Mojave. I have Fios 1 gig internet service. If I do a speed test thru Verizon or ookla I get results that I would expect, in the 800's mbps down and similar upload speeds. Everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago. However, if I do a speed test with google's internet speed test with M-Lab, I get results like 4 mbps down and .2 mbps up. I wouldn't care what the results were, if it weren't for some issues I'm having on youtube and other sites randomly. Videos will stutter and play at resolutions of 144 or 360. Sometimes webpages graphics won't load, similar to being on dial up.


I've taken the same ethernet cable and plugged it into my wife's windows laptop to get normal results on the google speed test

I have replaced the cable, switched ethernet ports on mac and router, reset PRAM and SMC, started in Safety mode, and "created new ethernet connections" in system preferences and changed DNS settings to google and cloudflare with no improvement.


Switching to wifi, I get results that I would expect on all speed tests considering the wifi capabilities of the 2010 mac pro.


Could the ethernet ports on the mac be bad? I am at a total loss.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.14

Posted on Aug 9, 2022 1:06 PM

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User profile for user: Grant Bennet-Alder
Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10
133,309 points

Aug 9, 2022 1:25 PM in response to sirihatesmealot

Packets going to the Internet are sent to the TOPMOST, WORKING interface shown in


sytem preferences > networks


If that is Wi-FI, that is what you just tested.

Choose the gear icon and 'Set Service Order' and drag Ethernet to the TOP of the list and leave it there. (When the cable is not connected, it will not count as WORKING and will be ignored.)



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User profile for user: sirihatesmealot
sirihatesmealot Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Aug 9, 2022 2:48 PM in response to sirihatesmealot

Actually changing that setting fixed it! I am now getting much better results with the google speed test, (700s down, 300s up) although not quite as good as ookla.


Thank you so much! Youtube is loading normally again. I can't believe that I had to change that setting which has been set to automatically for years with no issues until very recently.


Thank you for your help.



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User profile for user: Grant Bennet-Alder
Grant Bennet-Alder
User level: Level 10
133,309 points

Aug 9, 2022 2:49 PM in response to sirihatesmealot

The only time I have ever seen a lot of errors like that was when the speed was over 100 Mbits/sec, AND I had a broken wire in a cable-end.


A mis-wire in the cable could also do that, or possibly a bad port, or peanut butter on the port contacts, but those are less likely.


The reason I qualify with over 100 is that cables 100 or less are running baseband and using only two pairs. Above 100 requires a modulated signal on four working pairs.

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Super slow ethernet on on Google Speed Test

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