One network, two macbooks, one is fast and the other is slow

Question

I really need help for my friend. I know next to nothing about computers.

My roommate and I both have macbook pros from the same year running OS X, are both connecting wirelessly to the same xfinity wifi, and while mine runs perfectly fine, my roommate complains that his works very slowly and times out every few seconds. I can't seem to figure out why this is. He is trying to get me to switch internet providers because he is convinced that it is their problem, but this cannot possibly be the issue since it works great on mine. He has an xbox hooked up to the wifi that he says also works poorly.

I really can't see switching providers given that I am experiencing absolutely zero problems. How can I help my friend?

Answer 1

It's clearly a wireless issue - either the signal strength to his devices is poor (because there's too much in between his devices and the wireless router/access point, or it's being reflected by metallic objects in between the router/access point and his devices), or he's getting a lot of wireless interference, or both.

As to how to "help," I would recommend getting someone who know something about wireless networking to take a look and fix it. Money, beer, pizza... all good ways to get some techie to make a house-call.

Failing that, you can experiment and move the devices and/or the router/access point around to try to get a better signal, see about moving obstructions out of the way and so on. If you're looking to convince him, or "prove" what the problem is, use his Macbook when it's only a couple feet away from your router/access point and has a clear line of sight.