Slow Safari Web Browser

[duke68012]

We’ve just got Virgin Media Broadband. 
Our speed is great on our phones and my MacBook EXCEPT when using Safari web browser, when using safari it takes ages for web pages to load.

is there a way to fix this?

Other web browsers like Google Chrome work much faster.

[amacbishop]

Hi,

I'm also an experienced Mac and Safari user and I'm fairly certain that this issue is specific to Virgin Media + Safari (and all other Apple-made apps on my MBP in fact). All other browsers and apps work fine when on VM, but Safari, Music, Maps, Weather and Mail are all slow to connect. If I switch my WiFi to use my iPhone Hotspot, they connect quickly - and if I'm on WiFi elsewhere they're quick.

This is something I've only recently noticed too. I suspect there are issues with SSL negotiations, as once the page starts to load (often after 10 seconds or more) the content loads swiftly and behaves normally.

As a web developer testing on various browsers, the delay on refreshing Safari is excruciating.

Andy

[Client62]

Are some of these browsers are using a VPN like tools such as Apple Private Relay / Browsing.

Using the various browsers check public IP always match the value show in the Hub's info pages ?

https://whatismyipaddress.com/

[amacbishop]

The IP reports the same in Safari and Firefox. I'm not on a VPN for everyday work.

However, as a test, I've just connected to a VPN and now Safari and all the other Apple apps respond quickly. I think we're onto something ...

[Client62]

"The IP reports the same in Safari and Firefox"  Is it the correct IPv4 the public IP of the VM Hub ?   ( there should not be an IPv6 )

[Tom_W1]

Hi @amacbishop sorry to hear you're having issues specific to the browser.

Can you confirm if you've cleared the cache/cookies, as well as confirming if this happens in private mode too?

Many thanks

[amacbishop]

Hi Tom,

Yes, I barely use Safari - only really for testing sites we're building - and I've cleared caches, cookies etc. Connecting through a VPN sorts it, so might it be DNS settings?

Cheers

Andy

[Ilyas_Y]

Hey @amacbishop, thanks for getting back to us on the forums.

Are you able to restore Safari, back to it's original settings?
Let us know.

Kind regards,
Ilyas.

[stephenwales]

Go to network settings and check that you do not have Auto Proxy discovery on, Virgin plays absolute havoc with Safari if it's switched on. It doesn'tt affect Brave, Edge or Chrome the same way and can also be left on with Vodafone, EE BT etc with no effect

[Dazzer21]

I had exactly this problem - I can confirm that turning the proxy option does the trick, for me at least! Thank you. 

[myauntie]

Hi @duke68012 - I just experienced the same exact issue with my MacBook Pro when upgrading from Virgin's Hub4 to the 1GB download Hub5.

I spent days going round in circles with Virgin to no avail, and all of the responses below did not resolve the issue, therefore I contacted Apple directly and we were able to resolve it!

After trialling a few different things, what worked was adding a new network location in my Network System Settings - if you follow the steps below and restart your machine, you will be able to use Safari again without the 60-90 second lag when loading 🙂

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202480