Ongoing Internet connectivity problems -- can there be a mismatch with ISP based purely on age of device?

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Is there anything about Release Version 1.69.168 Chromium: 128.0.6613.138 (Official Build) (x86_64) (the last one I can use on my MacBook Pro) that is incompatible with current ISP offerings – i.e., cable (Spectrum) or 5G (Verizon)?

I’ve had ongoing connectivity problems since early in October. Tech support for both Spectrum and Verizon claim their equipment checks out and that they are not getting similar complaints from others in my area.

My MacBook Pro has been fully checked out at my local Apple Store at least three times, with no issues (hardware or software) found. At the last visit a reinstall of the macOS (Catalina) was done. For three days everything seemed back to normal. Then the same issues started happening again and have continued since then.

The problems I experience aren’t limited to the normal delays or failure to load webpages or whatever it is that causes “No internet connection” and “Trying to connect” to appear on-screen, sometimes only for a few seconds, other times for longer.

All of the issues that occur (many different kinds of delays or failure to respond to keypresses or mouseclicks) are intermittent. Sometimes everything is completely normal. It can change from good-to-bad or bad-to-good unpredictably and very quickly.

I asked the question in the first paragraph of this post because at this point I don’t know what can be causing these issues except a mismatch between what Catalina supports for Internet and what the ISP’s may have changed about how they deliver their signals. Yet no claim that that is likely has been made by anyone at Spectrum, Verizon, or Apple.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro (running OS Catalina – v. 10.15.7)
Brave Release v. Version 1.69.168 Chromium: 128.0.6613.138 (Official Build) (x86_64)

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The easiest way you can test to see if this is related to Brave in any way would be to try using another browser and see if these issues occur when using the other browser.

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Mac tools

The Terminal.app, is in your /Applications/Utilities/ folder.

Testing connection between Mac and an IP address on the Internet:

Open a Terminal.app command line window and enter:

ping -c 30 -i 3 8.8.8.4

8.8.8.4 is the IP address for a major DNS server operated by Google.

In the ping command, the “-c 30” portion, limits the count of PINGs sent, to 30.

In the ping command, the “-i 3” portion, sends a PING every 3 seconds.

Thereby, you may adjust the number of PINGs sent, and the PING interval.

You might open 2 Terminal.app command line windows:

  • ping your local area network modem/router 's gateway IP address (might be 192.168.0.1 < look it up)

  • ping 8.8.8.4

So, leaving both Terminal.app command line windows open and PINGs running, let us say that you believe that you have encountered some network issue with the Internet connection . . .

The command line window that PINGs 8.8.8.4, might show widely inconsistent reports, but at the same time, the PINGs to your local area network are stable.

You’ll get the idea.

If, when you encounter some glitch, but both command line windows’ PINGs are running smoothly, consistently, then you know that your network connection is probably not the source of the glitch/performance issue.

Monitoring Brave Browser and Mac OS at the same time:

Brave Browser Task Manager window on the left.

MacOS Activity Monitor on the right. Compare the Process ID (“PID”) numbers. You’ll get the idea.

e9187b15ec3e1f9d801b417eb74f257de5a65fd3
e9187b15ec3e1f9d801b417eb74f257de5a65fd31280×800 418 KB

Down detectors

Is It Down Right Now

  • https://www.isitdownrightnow.com/easydns.com.html

You can change the domain - substitute your ISP’s domain for easydns.com

Down Detector

  • https://downdetector.com/

In a Brave Browser New Window, go to:

brave://net-internals/#dns

Click on Clear host cache

Next, same window, select “Sockets” on the left.

Click Close idle sockets

Click Flush socket pools

Quit everything and Restart your Mac.

How to Flush DNS Cache in MacOS Catalina & Big Sur

Be Prepared for Testing

Clear cookies, cache, history, etc.

In a Brave Browser New Window, go to:

brave://settings/clearBrowserData

Select the Advanced tab

Set Time range to “All time”

ENABLE everything except:

  • Passwords and other sign-in data

(Myself, I would NOT make that exception)
(because I would have a backup prepared.)
(In other words, be prepared.)

Click on the “Clear data” button

1 Like
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@Mattches… I forgot to include that I had done testing with Safari to compare. Performance was noticeably better with Safari much of the time, but I did at times experience some of the same, or similar, issues.

I’ve been back to the Apple Store to test internet performance there. No problems for the hour I spent there. However, because the problems occur only intermittently (i.e., sometimes performance is completely normal) – but quite often – it’s hard to come to any conclusion when problems don’t occur at another location. Especially since both Spectrum and Verizon claim their equipment checks out as okay.

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@289wk . . . Thanks for that detailed reply. I’m familiar with some of what you wrote about and have taken the relevant steps. I wouldn’t want to get into complex checking of specific websites because the issues I experience don’t seem limited to any particular websites.

I’ve also been working with a specific Apple Genius who seems fully competent on checking everything that could be involved in the delays and otherwise abnormal behavior i’ve been experiencing. The fact that it’s intermittent has actually proved to be a handicap since I haven’t been able to duplicate it during any Apple Store visits. But when it’s bad (which is often) it’s really bad. Trying to do anything that involves the Internet becomes impossible. And performance is affeeted more in Brave than in Safari.

My post here was primarily to find out whether having to use an older version of Brave (because of hardware support considerations) could affect Internet reception (e.g., due to technical changes in how the ISP’s are delivering service). No one has suggested that to date, and I haven’t encountered any such claims in any information sources I’ve checked, so I assume not.

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@mk7z Generally don’t think using an older web browser would cause an issue, especially when yours isn’t too far behind. But when asking ChatGPT if using older versions of a web browser could cause connection issues, it answered like below:

So then I decided to ask about your situation:

I ran your original post replies through ChatGPT. I’m not sure how accurate it is compared to hallucination, but I guess just means more to think about.

1 Like
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Thanks a lot for that, @Saoiray. My external keyboard has died, so i will reply more fully when I’m up & running again. Right now all text is via mouse clicks on virtual kb. Sheer torture.

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Thanks @Saoiray. The explanation that seemed most likely was the first (“Incompatibility with Modern Web Standard”). That said, since my version of Brave functioned without the current issues for the approximately 6 months I used it with Mac OS Catalina, it’s not clear how any changes to versions of Brave that I haven’t been able to upgrade to (because Brave stopped supporting Catalina shortly after I updated to it from the previous OS, Mojave) could affect my version of Brave.

In my latest reply in “Will a reinstall of Brave fix major performance problems” I suggested that the issue seems to be one in Brave.Trying to locate its actual source, after all the steps I’ve already taken, seems futile for someone without the technical still required to go beyond what I’ve already done. If others were posting with similar issues I assume Brave team would look into it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

At the moment I can’t see any remedy except to use Chrome until I add a new computer and see whether any of the current issues persist in the then-current version of Brave.

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UPDATE:

Now that I’ve been Braveless for a few days I’m going to backtrack and go with that paragraph about “Incompatibility with Modern Web Standards”.

Because I have been having similar issues with Chrome. They are not as bad as with Brave but maybe Brave’s shields are the reason why – i.e., better privacy affecting performance.

My thinking now is that ongoing enhancements in updates to current browsers may result in degraded performance on older devices that can’t update their operating systems to be compatible with those enhancements.

It’s still a mystery to me why in the case of both Brave and Chrome response time (to key presses or mouse clisks) is at times as good as it is for a while before it starts showing the symptoms I’ve reported.