Mac OSX 10.9 Drops Packets - Workaround

Since updated to 10.9 I had problems on network.  Simple ping commands showed that frequently the request timeout.  Netstat showed that outgoing packets dropped to zero for 15 seconds by that time.

A simple workaround before Apple fixes the bug:

on command line, type

$ sudo sysctl -w net.link.ether.inet.arp_unicast_lim=0
net.link.ether.inet.arp_unicast_lim: 5 -> 0

(you can set this also in /etc/sysctl.conf)
This disables the unicast ARP requests.

To query the status after change, type:

$ sysctl  -a | grep net.link.ether.inet.arp_unicast_lim

Let's hope that apple will fix it in the next patch.

{ Updates }
  2014 Apr 6, Ken: OS X 10.9.2 has fixed the problem.
  2014 Apr 22, the problem comes back  :(   the workaround still works, though.

  2014 Sept 22, Ken: Tested 10.9.5 ping 60 sec to google.com no drop packets.