Analysis: All about Broadband Tuner

have ’s make one thing clear aboutBroadband Tuner 1.0 , the public utility company released by Apple in late November : it ’s for multitude withbroadband connection .

FiOS can provide pep pill of 622 Mb per second downstream and 155 megabits per 2nd upstream . To compare , a current fast U.S. cable modem might provide 3Mbps downstream and 512Kbps upstream , so yeah , FiOS ismuchfaster . The faster your connection , the more significant it is that your computer has a magnanimous buffer for sending and receiving info because so much data is in transit at any give time . All that Broadband Tuner 1.0 does is set three organisation - full variable quantity , using the sysctl facility , to increase the size of the TCP buffers .

That ’s latency over your local link — latency over the Internet is much high , as each hops adds a bit of hold , primarily due to that slaphappy speed - of - light limit . From my home in Minnesota , my ISP is 7ms aside , Apple ’s connection server in California is 60ms off , and Sony ’s Web waiter in Japan is 190ms aside . seize I could achieve 5Mbps to Sony , upwards of 120 KB of data would be “ in transit ” at any given metre . If the buffers are little than that , you might wind up in a situation where each side stops send while wait for an acknowledgment . That ’s ineffective .

Broadband Tuner makes TCP buffers great to debar this inefficiency . It increases the nonremittal TCP send fender from 32 KB to 128 KB , the default option receiving buffer from 32 KB to 350 KB , and the default maximal buffer size of it for both side of a connection from 256 KB to 500 KB ( using the traditional definition of 1 KB as 1024 byte ) .

The Broadband Tuner installation parcel does n’t really install any files . The .mpkg , or multi - package , Indian file contain two normal package , each of which suffice only to let the Installer play pre - installation and post - installation script . The .mpkg script looks inside any

That ’s all there is to Broadband Tuner . It copy no files to your system , and only create a small textbook file ( or adds a few lines to it if it already exists ) . It does not add any binary code or modify the kernel in any way . Therefore , reports likeMacFixIt’sof kernel panics after installing it are illogical at best . Ca n’t bechance . And then anMWJstaff member experience similar worry after installing Broadband Tuner 1.0 — not a kernel panic , but a refusal to get through the kernel - load part of the boot process . So much for that theory .

We do n’t know just what make these problem , but we suspect it is the previously mentioned

For most mass , the easy localisation is to blue-pencil the

The easier path around potential job is not to install Broadband Tuner 1.0 unless you have a FiOS connexion , or one that ’s just as amazingly fast . Using buffers larger than necessary not only wastes RAM , but also may slack down your TCP connectedness . buffer that hold back more information than TCP can broadcast or have in a reasonable time may lead the internet mess to post fewer gigantic packets , rather of a greater routine of smaller packets that could provide more throughput .

For non - FiOS connections , apply a utility that allow you tune your scheme to jibe your connection . The most recommended public utility is Sustainable Softworks ’ $ 30IPNetTunerX , with the capableness to adjust most connection variable quantity along with explanations of them and pre - primed documents for unwashed connection state of affairs . We ’re not cognizant of a mathematical product that will automatically test your connection and recommend the good preferences , though it would be both useful and pop .

In the interim , feel gratuitous to apply Broadband Tuner if you have a FiOS connection , or assay IPNetTunerX for other berth , or exist with the system ’s defaults . Optimization can become a second vocation if you get caught up in every detail , so if you ’re the obsessional - compulsive character , maybe you should just leave it alone .