Apple Broadband Tuner

[picaman]

So I installed this:

http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/broadbandtuner10.html.

It appears to change default settings if you have a broadband connection. I don't see any real difference so far, though. Although it's not worse either, so I guess that's good!

Here's what it does:

The Broadband Tuner allows you to take full advantage of very high speed Internet connections that have a high latency (5 Mbps or greater). The installer tweaks some system parameters.

There is an optional uninstaller that can be used to restore the settings that were in effect at the time just before the system parameters were changed.

What does the Broadband Tuner do exactly?

The installer increases the default values for the size of the TCP send and receive buffers. With larger buffers more data can be in transit at once. A startup configuration file is also updated so that these changes will persist across restarts.

The system parameters are sysctl variables that are set as follows:
net.inet.tcp.sendspace: 131072
net.inet.tcp.recvspace: 358400
kern.ipc.maxsockbuf: 512000

This change has a system wide effect and is applied even if the network is not high speed connection with a high latency, with the exception of modem connections for which the system uses small default TCP buffer sizes.

Can someone translate this into layperson-speak? Not sure why I installed it in the first place, as I usually wait and install things after the dust has settled a bit. I guess I had a wild hair today!



Jamie

[xmen65]

I've never thought these types of tweaks made much of a difference. I always thought cable and DSL were considered low latency. What do you have? I have a medium speed DSL connection and probably average around 1.4 mbps. How fast is your connection?

[picaman]

I have a cable modem through RoadRunner--checked my speed here: http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=1

With tuner installed: 4150 down, 353 up.

With tuner uninstalled: 4124 down, 352 up.

I think I'll leave it uninstalled From what I've subsequently read, this tuner is aimed at people with satellite connections.



Jamie

[colt .45]

Mine didnt change.
_________________
1st Generation Mac Mini 1.5/512/40gig/Superdrive/Tiger