“Many of us are addicted to the extent that we get depressed and moody if we go without it,” Jonny Evans writes for Computerworld. “What are we addicted to? The attention-grabbing Internet, that’s what, and keeping our wireless network in good shape is critical to the way we live today, at work and at play.”
“The symptoms: Web sites and emails are taking forever to download; video and TV shows are stuttering, online communication you know is coming in your direction isn’t reaching the in-box, and/or using AirDrop to share files between the Macs on your network is taking an age,” Evans writes. “You’ve even done the right thing and made sure you’re running the latest software on all the devices you keep on your network, but still you got problems.”
Evans writes, “What should you do?”
What you should do in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thankfully, ever since Apple finally dumped discoveryd and went back to good old mDNSResponder in iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, we haven’t had any Wi-Fi issues of note!
SEE ALSO:
Apple is finally addressing your Mac and iPhone’s Wi-Fi connectivity woes – June 10, 2015
OS X Yosemite networking issues and ‘discoveryd’ – May 7, 2015
After many of complaints about Wi-Fi issues, Apple dumps discoveryd in latest OS X beta – May 27, 2015
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Apple delivers another Yosemite beta as vexing Wi-Fi issues persist – November 22, 2014
I continue to have Time Machine problems over wifi (stuck Preparing backup…) unless restart in Safe mode; then it works as expected.
What Has always infuriated me is that as supposedly ‘easy’ as the Mac is to use and maintain, Apple has kept somewhat secret to the average Mac owner, some of the most important tools to resolve performance issues. By this I mean EASIER access to the PRAM reset for example. Why not have a Built-in Utility app that restarts your Mac and clears out the PRAM? That way ‘Aunt Martha’ can better maintain her 2007 iMac.
Just yesterday I had to deal with a senior-age family member on his slow iMac. I had to detail exactly how to issue PRAM and SMC resets and it scared them to death they would screw up their Mac. So why can’t we have a utility they could double-click, respond ‘Yes’ to ‘Do you want to restart your Mac and clear the PRAM cache?’ And that would be it…
I imagine there are millions of Macs out there needlessly running like sludge because the average user has no idea how to fix it.
BTW – the PRAM reset completely fixed their slow performance… I see this Utility working along the same lines as Windows-based BIOS updates. So much easier than it used to be in days gone by.
I entirely agree with you regarding Apple keeping repair tools ‘secret’ to one extent or the other.
However, resetting PRAM and SMC would obviously be in third party utilities, such as TinkerTool, if it was possible. When you restart or clean boot a Mac, it starts from nothing with no access to scripts until the actual installed system is running. Resetting PRAM, etc., is at the level of the EFI (extensible firmware interface). You’d have to rewrite the machine’s firmware to force an automatic PRAM reset. That’s unrealistic and an awful idea. It would take considerable added boot time as well because you’d be forcing the rewrite, then a reboot, then run the new firmware, forcing the PRAM reset, then force the firmware to be rewritten again, reboot, and run the reinstalled firmware again. Not pretty and it’s not good for the firmware chip. IOW: That’s silly.
My sense is that Apple never intended PRAM reset, etc., to be done by anyone but a Mac technician. Take you Mac into an Apple store, hit up a ‘genius’, they happily do the reset for you, no charge.
Aunt Martha should not have to carry her 27″ iMac into an Apple Store 65 miles away to have her slow performance issue fixed – and then have to do it again in ten months… This action should be simpler and more visible. If it requires a redesign/re-implementation – so be it.
She could phone AppleCare.
I think 9 years is pretty decent, for something that can be resolved with a 5 minute phone call.
I entirely understand Apple hiding this level of technology from average users. It’s not going to change. Meanwhile, I entirely agree regarding the created dilemma. If Aunt Martha calls up Apple for help, they’ll walk her through as well, so my example is not the only one. That, however, may well mean Aunt Martha forks over some cash to be able to access Apple’s tech support line.
A redesign would be to pull the PRAM chip out entirely and put the same data into the system itself as an accessible cached setting. THAT could happen. Write Apple! – – What negative consequences would result, I do not know.
In my case the nearest Apple Store is 200 miles away …