Cause Analysis: Internet Connectivity varies between Mac OS X Host and Windows 7 Guest

[IndiePen]

Hey VirtualBox Community, nice to meet you! It's my first posting on the forum - I'm very much looking forward to interacting.

Host: Macbook, Mac OS X 10.11.6
Guest: Windows 7 (Super Lite Version) - using, network-wise, Network Address Translation (NAT)

Introduction

Recently, when I wanted to connect to more exotic VPN regions on my Windows-7 Virtual Box, I noticed that I couldn't establish a connection to VPN locations far away from me - e.g., a connection to Vienna, Austria, when I'd be, for example, located in Wellington, New Zealand.

This struck me as odd, not only because the nature of VPNs should allow one to assume different locations easily, but also because I could easily establish connections to every exotic location imaginable on my Mac OS X host.

Problem

I dug a little deeper, ran some tests and found, in essence, that internet connectivity or internet connection quality, respectively, is much better on my host. In other words, internet is much faster on my host system and much slower on my Virtual Box.

For example,while Packet Delay Variation (PDV) between Sydney, Australia and Germany, Europe was +4.8 MS on my host system (OS X), it was 102.8 MS on my guest system (Windows 7). In simpler terms (school grades), DSL Report's internet connectivity grader (google "Ping Test DSL Reports") gives an A+ to the host's internet connection, while assigning a B-C to my guest's internet connection - while they are using the same internet access.

I could illustrate this further but I'll gues you get the point: Internet on the Virtual Box is much slower.

Next to the issue of generally slower internet on the Virtual Box, certain software that needs good internet connectivity to work properly (such as, VPNs - see introduction) is impaired - which is bad.

The problem persists across WIFIs and is not specific to one single internet access. Tested it in residential WIFI, Hotel WIFI, McDonalds WIFI, etc.

(let me know if there are further questions on your part)

Question

There's some questions on my mind. Maybe you guys can help me shedding light on them.

1. Am I right with assuming that internet connectivity should be the same on host and guest? I always assumed that it should be the same, given that they share the same internet access, however, now I want to double-check.

2. Did you guys make similiar observations? Maybe someone else was facing a similiar issue. Maybe it's just me.

3. Most importantly, do you have any idea what's impairing the internet connectivity on the Virtual Box and how I can remove those "internet road blocks"? I am really rather clueless what makes internet connection quality worse on my Virtual Box and would love to get some input from the community.

Discussion

I am really looking forward to the discussion and, of course, am more than happy to provide further information! Thanks for reading this post.

[socratis]

I'll answer your questions really briefly, to get any misconceptions out of the way, and then we can talk about it:

Internet on the Virtual Box is much slower.

No. No way.

1. Am I right with assuming that internet connectivity should be the same on host and guest?

Yes. Absolutely correct.

2. Did you guys make similiar observations? Maybe someone else was facing a similar issue. Maybe it's just me.

None so far has reported or observer anything similar, so, it must be you.

3. Most importantly, do you have any idea what's impairing the internet connectivity on the Virtual Box and how I can remove those "internet road blocks"?

Now we're getting into the gist of the problem. My previous answers were short on purpose, just so that we are clear and on the same page. There is no inherit network slowdown due to VirtualBox. Period.

Now, you said you're using NAT, right? I mean I could see issues if you were using wireless Bridged (not wired Bridged), but this has still nothing to do with VirtualBox, only with your hardware. So, that's out of the way.

Are you monitoring your network traffic? May I suggest a couple of applications, so that you know what's going on at any given time? I have several monitor tools running at all times. Your preference may vary, but you can use either of them (I use all of them concurrently):

• MenuMeters (not for >= 10.11).
• X Resource Graph.
• Built-in Activity monitor.

Have you tried to "grade" your connection without the VPN part included? Just simple, straight networking? If no, please do that. It might be your VPN client that's the culprit, I don't know. i just want it not to be part of the variables that you're testing.

[IndiePen]

Thanks very much for the reply! It's greatly appreciated. Your comments proved to be very insightful!

As it turned out, a simple fix miraculously solved all the problems: Switching network connection from NAT to Network Bridge (WLAN). Hope this helps everyone else experiencing similiar issues.

Socratis, thanks again for your input!

[socratis]

IndiePen, glad it was resolved, but just to clear the confusion in my head; you're talking about the situation getting fixed by switching from using VPN over NAT, to using VPN over Bridged, right? Because native speeds (without the VPN involved) should not be different (Bridged vs. NAT). Can you please clarify that? And also, did you try to grade your network connection (NAT or Bridged) without the VPN?