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Gen 5 Compatibility with Mac Sierra

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MarkJFine
Professor

Gen 5 Compatibility with Mac Sierra

Recently upgraded to Gen 5 from Gen 4 (05 May) and am seeing some things that seem to be isolated to usage with MacOs Sierra.

 

1. Data usage appears to be a lot higher than expected. For example, I downloaded around 100MB of updates this morning, but the usage meter shows I used 350MB. Mac was only thing using the pipe and I waited about 10-15 minutes settling time after bootup to account for startup usage (ClamAV virus definitions, etc.). Difference in usage meter went from 6.50GB before downloads, to 6.85GB after downloads. Sorry, but I forgot to take screen shots of the usage meter.

 

2. Download speeds appear to be capped to around 12.3Mbps or less as measured in iStat - roughly half what's expected. There are little to few interruptions or even variations in the data stream, but I expect that being in Hughes' configuration for initial setups.

 

I see no high usage from other devices when I isolate them (e.g, TV, XBox, DirecTV boxes, or even iPhone/iPads), just Macs (we have 2 of them). I also have no way to measure speed on those other devices, but they appear to be ok for simple traffic within apps.

 

I seem to remember there was a problem previously with Macs on Gen4 that ultimately was resolved. Unfortunately I can't find the discussion of how it was solved in the new community system.

 

That said, I seem to recall it was something to do with the way packets were acknowledged (or their timing) in MacOS that caused multiple packet sends. This would seem to appear to cause higher data usage while resulting in lower throughput speed. Perhaps this problem crept back into Gen 5 software? - just guessing at this point.

 

Other than this, it seems to operating fine (other than the very occasional DNS error).

 

If Liz or Amanda could help me with diagnosing this that would be great.

 

Mark


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
30 REPLIES 30


@MarkJFine wrote:

Incidentally, I'm still investigating data draw to see where most of it is coming from. For example, I used to leave Slack and TweetDeck running continuously as they used to run very lean - maybe 100MB/day if I was lucky.

 

I stopped using the Slack app after I saw it suck down half a gig in one shot once and the Slack tech staff were unable to figure out why. That's been relegated to the web version which has very little draw, maybe a 1MB/hr or so.

 

As for TweetDeck, not sure when that became such a data hog, but it seems to do with the images. Could have been when Twitter reduced the limitation on image size. Startup was around 6MB between inital code download (it's web-based app so you essentially download the functional code every time you start it) and column images. I use 9 columns between personal and the accounts I use to support an Arsenal-based website (free plug for the Daily Cannon). Found that hiding attached media for each tweet reduces the data drain significantly - as in a factor of ten.

 

I don't use Facebook, but my wife does and I'd wished she didn't. I've had her make autostarting of videos stop, which they conveniently move around so you can't find that option. It still is a huge data drain, but... one thing at a time.


Sounds like you are pretty good at tracking down data leakage, and agree that Facebook is probably one of the biggest "offenders" when it comes to data loss.  Their app on an iPhone/iPad is a real battery killer, too.  I (or my wife) do not use their app on our iOS devices for that reason (and it really has never worked well anyway), and instead just get to Facebook with a browser.  Speaking of browsers, I've found that adblockers can plug some data leaks and even improve performance of the browser....however, some sites are getting wise and blocking browsers that incorporate adblockers!  I know that a few adblocker developers have released apps that "cannot" be detected...I wonder how long that will last...Smiley Happy  I haven't found one for an iOS device...yet.  BTW....I turn off autoplay videos whenever possible, but my adblocker when using my Mac stops most of them anyway.

____________________________
U.S. Air Force 1967 - 1972
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

@cybercycle1

 

Some browser, themselves, have also changed.  An unfortunate example is Chrome no longer allowing someone to either turn off plugins, or require permission for the plugins to run.  These were great options for sites like CNN, where videos accompany almosts every story.  


@GabeU wrote:

@cybercycle1

 

Some browser, themselves, have also changed.  An unfortunate example is Chrome no longer allowing someone to either turn off plugins, or require permission for the plugins to run.  These were great options for sites like CNN, where videos accompany almosts every story.  


I keep 3 different browsers "handy" for my Mac to address situations I want to avoid with browser changes or even compatibility concerns with certain websites.  BTW...I have no problem running Chrome with the Stands adblocker on my Mac.  Is your experience with Chrome for the Windows platform or Mac?  Interestingly, the Mac native Safari browser is often the most problematic (e.g. slow loading and even stalls/times out) of my browsers...especially when used on a satellite ISP!

____________________________
U.S. Air Force 1967 - 1972
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

Windows.  I don't have a Mac.  I have adblockers installed and they work wonders, definitely saving a lot of data.  I used to use IE, but it became problematic.  I can't stand Firefox and refuse to use Edge.  Chrome is my only browser at this point.  Why they ditched the ability to control plugins is beyond me, but I suspect it had to do with pressure, whether financial or otherwise.  

I use Firefox, even though it has some really annoying things. I keep Flash set to "ask" and even on the rare occasion that I tell it to remember to always run on a site, it keeps asking anyway - so I just ignore the request banners anymore. If it worked correctly, I'd want something similar for authorizing redirects because there are several IP-checking sites that I use that blow up if you don't hit "ok" fast enough. Safari is a last resort backup for the rare time a site doesn't work properly on FF. I use Chrome occasionally, but mainly just to look for Wordpress plugin and theme compatibility issues on Daily Cannon.

I also still use Adblock Plus, but only because I've just never looked for anything better. It works good enough. Too many sites are using blocker detection anymore making it harder to employ. Unfortunately it's usually the ones that employ high-revenue (RPM) autostart video ads and there's no way around it to use the site. I guess they really want the click revenue. lol


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
maratsade
Distinguished Professor IV


@GabeU wrote:

@cybercycle1

 

Some browser, themselves, have also changed.  An unfortunate example is Chrome no longer allowing someone to either turn off plugins, or require permission for the plugins to run.  These were great options for sites like CNN, where videos accompany almosts every story.  


That's why I prefer Firefox for things like that. I can always turn on reader mode and it strips videos and other stuff, leaving you with a plain page.

Pro tip: If you want to save a boatload of data on Apple products, kill the handoff feature. Your devices will shut down a lot quicker too. Found this nasty bugger just now.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.

Inadvertently found that the data amounts taken from Mac's Activity Monitor were using binary rather than base-10 for MB and GB (basically does a netstat and divdes bytes by 1024^2 to get MB, 1024^3 for GB). This immediately accounts for it being 4.85% lower than the amount found in Usage Meter.

 

Just in case anyone was looking.


* Disclaimer: I am a HughesNet customer and not a HughesNet employee. All of my comments are my own and do not necessarily represent HughesNet in any way.
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV


@cybercycle1 wrote:

Not sure if this will help or not, but I had a similar "data loss" using my MacBook Pro after upgrading to Sierra.  Though I am not currently on Gen5 (waiting for my electrician to wire the copper conductor coax then to Gen5), I was getting a massive data loss around mid-day and I isolated it to my Mac.  On advice from my son (who worked for Apple), I turned off "Find My Mac" and the data loss stopped.  Turns out that Apple initiates communication with your system which moves lots of data up to Apple to support that feature.  I am also assuming you are not using iCloud Drive daily which can also cause massive data transfers depending on your set-up. 

 

Good luck and keep us Mac users up-to-date on what you find.


I bookmarked this.  It's good to know when people are having data issues and have a Mac, as many of us don't have Macs and aren't aware of what hidden things can use data.  This is good to know.  

   


@GabeU wrote:

@cybercycle1 wrote:

Not sure if this will help or not, but I had a similar "data loss" using my MacBook Pro after upgrading to Sierra.  Though I am not currently on Gen5 (waiting for my electrician to wire the copper conductor coax then to Gen5), I was getting a massive data loss around mid-day and I isolated it to my Mac.  On advice from my son (who worked for Apple), I turned off "Find My Mac" and the data loss stopped.  Turns out that Apple initiates communication with your system which moves lots of data up to Apple to support that feature.  I am also assuming you are not using iCloud Drive daily which can also cause massive data transfers depending on your set-up. 

 

Good luck and keep us Mac users up-to-date on what you find.


I bookmarked this.  It's good to know when people are having data issues and have a Mac, as many of us don't have Macs and aren't aware of what hidden things can use data.  This is good to know.  

   


Happy to help!  I was very active in the "Old" Community and enjoyed lending a hand to the Mac/iOS users along with a bit of help on networks.  It sure looks like the "New" Community and format will be fun and look forward to hanging out from time-to-time.

____________________________
U.S. Air Force 1967 - 1972