Airport Extreme loses signal in next room

Purchased an Airport Extreme in May 2012 and it works extremely well for the wirelesss MBP (while in the same room) and wired Xbox 360. When we leave the room however, it immediately loses signal and may load a webpage slowly but most of the time we can't even get that much signal. We have a relatively small home (approx 1300 sqft) and it is pretty comapct in its layout. What can we do to improve the signal as I am pretty sure the Airport Extreme should be able to handle this radius? Thanks!

Thank you for your prompt reply! I actually did move it up about 2.5 ft onto a higher shelf prior to seeing this response and that seemed to "fix" the issue we were having for the moment. It is amazing how such a small change made such a big difference. Unfortunately, the way our layout is, this is about as centrally located as we can get it. All the rooms in the house are squared around the middle area that contains laundry, bathroom, closet, etc.
In reference to your suggestion to make sure the power level setting is set to 100%, how do I check that? Also, I do have the dual band model and I am unsure again as to how to check which is selected for wireless?
Thank you again!

Similar Messages

Airport Extreme loses signal

We have an airport Extreme. It worked fine in our new home for the first month. Now, with no change in any electronic equipment in the house, unless we are in the same room as the unit, we have very limited WIFI, and the signal drops continuously. We have a 5ghz and a 2.4ghz set up. The 5 is the worst, the 2.4 seems better, but that one still drops. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your prompt reply! I actually did move it up about 2.5 ft onto a higher shelf prior to seeing this response and that seemed to "fix" the issue we were having for the moment. It is amazing how such a small change made such a big difference. Unfortunately, the way our layout is, this is about as centrally located as we can get it. All the rooms in the house are squared around the middle area that contains laundry, bathroom, closet, etc.
In reference to your suggestion to make sure the power level setting is set to 100%, how do I check that? Also, I do have the dual band model and I am unsure again as to how to check which is selected for wireless?
Thank you again!

Airport Extreme - max. signal 75%?

Hi everybody,
I just installed a brand new Airport Extreme base station in my home, connected as a bridge to my DSL modem. I set it up in different locations and signal quality is disappointing. At best, placed in the middle of my living room on a table and sitting right next to it, I get a 75% signal on iStumbler on my MacBook with 9% noise (yes, I tried other channels too). Is this the best this -expensive- machine can do? Or are there ways to improve the signal?
Thanks for helping out!
Menno

the 5Ghz signal is much weaker than the 2.4.
Remember the old saying in physics class that you cannot gain something without giving up something else in return?
Given the same amount of Wi-Fi power....which is limited by law......the higher the frequency, the weaker the signal strength.
5 GHz signals are capable of higher speeds, but they are absorbed much more quickly by walls, ceilings or any other obstructions compared to 2.4 GHz signals.
The bottom line is that you really need to think of 5 GHz as a "line-of-sight" signal. If the computer is in the same room as the wireless router, it will likely connect at 5 GHz. If you take the laptop down the hall a few rooms and around the corner, the laptop will likely not pick up the 5 GHz signal at all.
Unfortunately, the fancy advertising that talks about all the speed advantages of 5 GHz almost always neglects to mention the downsides.

Airport Extreme - Boosting signal?

I just moved into a new apartment, and my Airport Extreme works great in the living room or office where I keep it. But when I go down a hallway (about 25 ft. away from the Extreme) and into the bedroom, I'm lucky if I get half a bar.
Any way to get a stronger signal? I've tried playing with the different channels but that didn't seem to do anything.
Would purchasing an Airport Express boost the signal in the bedroom?
Oh, and FYI, the Airport Extreme was purchased in July.
Thanks for the help.

It should, but most specifications are based on an open area with no other form of Wi-Fi interference present. With this type of environment, all wireless routers can reach far greater distances. However, as you can imagine, real-life situations can differ greatly from manufacturer's specifications, and at best, they should be only considered as guidelines.
Apartment complexes, university dormitories, etc. then to have high concentration of Wi-Fi operating and any of these near to you could interfere with your Wi-FI. A handy (& free) utility, iStumbler, (if you're not already familar with it) can help you "see" what other Wi-Fis are present. I would recommend looking for those with the strongest signal values and what channels they are oprerating on ... then, change your AirPort's radio channel to one at least 3-5 channels away. Once you can verify that you are getting the best performance and range posssible, and then, still require more coverage, would I recommend adding an additional base station.

New airport extreme loses power.

I am using my new ME918LL/A Airport Extreme as a bridge to extend a home network. After several hours the unit will lose power as is indicated by the light going out and the unit being unavailable on Airport Utility. Resets do not work, the only option is to unplug and plug in the unit.

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply... here goes:
First thing to note, when Airport Utility is opened it may take several launches before it even recognizes the ABS. Also, sometimes the status in the Airport Utility says Orange/Yellow for the internet connection even when we can test the connection directly to a MacBook Air and it's fine.
In the smaller window that appears, check to see if there is a listing for Status
If yes, click on the green or amber dot next to Status, and post back the message that you see there
No Status label.
Next, click on Edit in the lower right corner of the same window
Click the Internet tab at the top of the next window
What is the setting for Connect Using?
DHCP
Next, click on the Network tab at the top of the window
What is the setting for Router Mode?
DHCP and NAT
Click the Base Station tab and note the Base Station Name
How many characters, including blank spaces, are there in the name?
Are there any special characters, like an apostrophe, asterisk, dollar sign, etc in the name?
19 characters, no special characters, two spaces
Click the Wireless tab
Note the Wireless Network Name
How many characters, including blank spaces, are there in the name of the wireless network?
Are there any special characters, like an apostrophe, asterisk, dollar sign, etc in the name?
9 characters in the network name, no special characters, no spaces.
The Yosemite operating system has a number of network bugs that are creating issues for a number of users. Are you running Yosemite on your Mac?
Yes, Yosemite on all three Macs, but, again, never had any issue with networking with the previous Airport Extreme. The only thing different between this ABS and the previous one is that i enabled the separate 5Ghz networking option.

Airport Extreme loses USB printer unless printer left on all the time

Running the 802.11n Extreme with firmware 7.1.1 and Airport Utility 5.2.1 (released 13 August 2007) with an Epson RX650 connected directly to the Extreme's USB port.
It appears that the USB port on the Extreme only checks the status of a connected USB printer when the Extreme itself is restarted - if you ever turn your USB printer off (for example, at bedtime) and on again(e.g. the next morning) the Extreme does not re-check the USB port status.
A bit odd, since the intention of USB is to be hot-pluggable...
Any solutions better than restarting the Extreme every time you turn your printer on?

I have this exact same issue,
Airport Extreme just looses my printer all of the time, and leaves Tiger and Leopard in the 'Connecting.' or 'Opening Printer Connection..' stages 40% of the time.
It's an extremely annoying bug, and you have to turn off / un-plug things in the exact order otherwise it just wont:
a) recognise the printer over it's own USB port or
b) Finder will never be able to connect to it, even when it can blatantly see it.
My Printer is an Epson R1800

Airport Extreme - Weak Signal

Good morning -
I have a 17" iMac G4 800 (no Airport Card - cable connected to the Airport base station) and a 12" PowerBook G4 133, networked with Airport Extreme. I connect to the internet via DSL with a Siemens Speedstream 4100. My ISP claims download speeds up to 6Mbps although it's usually closer to 4 or 5 (I don't know if this is relevant but thought I'd include it).
The Airport signal at the PowerBook is very weak - no more than 1 or 2 bars. It's only 50 feet away and inside the house. This is a relatively recent development - perhaps the past two or three months at the outside. The PowerBook works fine at other locations, so I don't think it's the antenna, and a friend's PowerBook also had the same problem during a recent visit.
- I have a closed network, so I don't think there's any additional drain on the signal.
- Unplugged both microwave and cordless phones and saw no change in signal power.
- Moved the Airport to provide a more direct line to the PowerBook, and rebooted both the modem and the Airport.
- Downloaded and ran MacStumbler and did find that several other nearby networks were on the same channel as I was (Channel 6). I've cycled through all other channels 1-11 but I'm still at one or two bars on my PowerBook.
I suppose that another closed network (not detectable by MacStumbler) could be causing the slowdown - but on all channels?
- Increased the Transmitter Power to 100% and changed the Multicast Rate to 11, since I don't need the range to be especially broad, but again I'm still mighty low.
BTW, what is the "Mode"? Presently it's set to 802.11 b/g compatible. Would that setting have an impact on my situation? Since I don't know what it is, I don't much want to play with it just yet...
What else should I be checking/doing?
Adriana
iMac G4, Powerbook G4, Airport Extreme Mac OS X (10.4.8)

It could be that a different type of device is operating at, or causing interference at, 2.4 GHz and causing your wireless network problem. Cordless phones are one big culprit. See KB 58543, AirPort: Potential sources of interference for some other ideas.
- Increased the Transmitter Power to 100% and changed the Multicast Rate to 11, since I don't need the range to be especially broad, but again I'm still mighty low.
Increasing the multicast rate can decrease the range. The multicast rate is the guaranteed data transfer rate. The network will drop if this rate can not be guaranteed.
BTW, what is the "Mode"? Presently it's set to 802.11 b/g compatible. Would that setting have an impact on my situation?
There are 3 settings:
802.11b only - The wireless network operates at the slower (11 Mbps) 802.11b protocol for all clients. Since 802.11g is backwards compatible, both 802.11b and 802.11g devices can connect.
802.11b/g - The wireless network allows both 802.11b and 802.11g clients to connect. The network speed will be slowed only if any 802.11b clients actually are connected.
802.11g only - The network operates at the faster (54 Mbps) 802.11g for all clients. 802.11b clients will not be able to connect.

AirPort Extreme loses ethernet connection

I am running about 20 or so base stations in my school and every once in a while, a couple of the stations loose their ethernet connection. They are still broadcasting wirelessly, but they disconnect from the network. The stations are running fw5.6 and my clients are running 10.4.2 or WinXP SP2. The only way to fix the problem is to power cycle the base station. I also have the older graphite stations which work fine, which leads me to think that this is not a network issue.
Any suggestions?

I also lose ethernet connection. Sometimes once a day, other times 10 times per day. The other day I was so frustrated about losing my connection that I just walked away from it, without cycling power. When I came back (about 30 minutes later) from my cooling-off period, I found that the connection was back. So, with my AirPort Extreme, cycling power is not the only solution. It's not an acceptable solution though.
I was wondering what you mean by your statement, "They are still broadcasting wirelessly, but they disconnect from the network." I'm relatively new to this stuff and this baffled me, which isn't hard to do.

New Airport Extreme dropping signal intermittently

Frequently my signal fails for no apparent reason, it shows full power on the status bar but sometimes it just looses my base station, then finds it, then find others in the building then looses them all again and so on. I have reconfigured the bases station, restarted the modem, renewed the DHCP lease but remains a problem. Most annoying.
My mac is older and the Airport Extreme card could be faulty I guess??
Any help is appreciated.

I would suspect wireless interference before failing hardware. There are only three non-overlapping channels in the 802.11g spectrum, and it's subject to interference from other 2.4 GHz devices like cordless phones and microwave ovens. The best you can do is try to mitigate noise and interference from competing networks.
Are your network preferences set to join your network (by default, join "your wireless network name")?
Try changing the wireless channel from "automatic" to some fixed channel, and experiment with different channels. Try enabling interference robustness.
Ironically, the popularity of wireless networking has contributing to the 802.11g standard's increasing uselessness. The draft 802.11n standard uses a different spectrum and more efficient means of handling data, with the cost of a reduced ability to penetrate obstructions.
This is a mixed blessing... we want our own wireless networks to have a big range; our neighbor's, small
The following quote from Enterprise Networking Planet seems to describe your situation:
2.4 GHz wireless LANs can experience RF interference from cordless phones, microwaves, and other existing wireless LANs. The interfering signals degrade the performance of a wireless network by periodically blocking users and access points from accessing the shared air medium. If it's not possible to reduce potential interference in the 2.4 GHz band to an acceptable level, consider deploying a 5 GHz system. The noise floor in the 5 GHz band is generally lower compared to the 2.4 GHz band, which allows 802.11n to function at higher data rates.
Since you have a newer 802.11n Extreme, you ought to look into a 802.11n USB wireless dongle for your iBook - they're not expensive. Shop around.

Airport express loses signal but software says it's OK, and light is green?!

My AirPort express wireless 7.6.4 has just stopped working although the light is green and the Airport Utility software in the computer (10.9.5) says the connection is "excellent". I have it connected to a BOSE speaker which works (I tested it with an iPhone in the dock to make sure it wasn't the speaker gone). The airport express uses a wireless signal from an airport extreme (7.6.4) which is working because I tested the AP extreme and printed wirelessly from the computer. The airport extreme is connected to a modem via an ethernet cable. I have done a soft and hard reset on the AirPort express, and I still can't get my audio happening. I accidentally turned off the modem earlier and that is when the problems started. Obviously the signal is there according to the software. I have run out of ideas how to fix this!

I did what this thread recommends last night...worked perfectly!
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6732758&#6732758
I unplugged all modules, left them for 5 mins minimum. Then reconnected modem and then Airport express. Immediately got a gree solid light after reboot and then Airport Utility used to set up my base. Internet is super fast again.

Airport extreme loses internet connection all the time with imac and macbook pro

I keep losing the internet connection with airport extreme on my imac and macbook pro but NOT with my pc

Ok, so when you say you lose internet connection, is it disconnecting from your wireless network so there are no bars?
And are there usually full bars?

Airport Extreme loses guest account

Hello everyone.
I must be missing something here, I know it has to be easier than this.
I just received my AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) and AirPort Express. Both brand new, both updated to latest firmware. I configured the AEBS as a new wireless network, created a new SSID, WPA2 personal password and set the AirPort Express to join the network that I created on the AEBS. My problem is, for some reason, the guest network that I created during the configuration of the AEBS is gone. I have reset the AEBS three times, created everything again, and it does the same thing. It loses the guest network each time.
My AEBS is connected to my ISP's DSL modem, the DSL modem handles the DSL account user name and password.
Am I missing something, does the AEBS lose the guest account when an AirPort Express is involved or something? I know I have to be missing something, I just don't know what or where.
Thanks for all your help.

Zyxel's info specifies that this a ADSL2+ Router. See link below.
This type of device, which combines a modem and router on the same chassis is also known as a gateway.
That being the case, you would have to configure the AirPort Extreme to connect with this device using Bridge Mode. Otherwise, you would be breaking networking rules by having two routers both working on the same network.
http://us3.zyxel.com/Products/details.aspx?PC1IndexFlag=420060623092947&Category GroupNo=C8A3A230-907F-4CA8-9C3B-3A84F5A06405
When you configure the AirPort Extreme in Bridge Mode, you must also power cycle the entire network.
That means powering everything down...order is not important.
Wait a few minutes and start the Zyxel device first and let it run a few minutes by itself
Then start the AirPort Extreme the same way
Then start each other device one at a time about a minute apart
If you really need the Guest Network feature, you might want to check with Zyxel support to see if the ADSL 2+ Router could possibly be configured as a simple "bridge mode" modem.
Or, your ISP may have a simple modem that they offer. You would want to make sure that this is not a gateway device or router....only a simple modem.

Airport extreme loses touch

I have an airport extreme conected to a linksys cable modem and networked to a G4 and an emac both running 10.3. This setup worked flawlessly for 4 years. Then without any changes I could no longer get access through the base station. The network shows up and the signal is strong. I did a firm reset and got everything to work again for 3 or 4 days before the problem started anew. This cycle has been going on now for over two weeks. I have updated the firmware and the software. There is a surge protector on the power supply. I can connect the G4 directly to the modem so I dont think it is the cable.
Can anyone offer me a suggestion on how to permently solve this rather frustrating issue?

The AirPort Extreme built-in your iMac is a wireless adapter (much like the one built-in the iPhone). It is not a wireless router. However, you could use your iMac's OS X Internet Sharing feature to share the iMac's Internet connection to the iPhone ... effectively turning the built-in wireless adapter into a software router.
To setup for Internet Sharing (Wired to Wireless):
Setup the Network
Cable Modem > (Ethernet cable) > \[Ethernet port] iMac > (wireless) > iPhone
Enable Software Firewall - iMac
System Preferences > Security > Firewall
o Block all incoming connections (enabled)
Enable Internet Sharing - iMac
System Preferences > Sharing
o Select "Internet Sharing" from the options in the left column
o Share your connection from: Built-in Ethernet
o To computers using: AirPort (checked) (Note: Uncheck all other entries in the list.)
AirPort Options...
o Network Name: <anything you want>
o Channel: Automatic
o Enable encryption (using WEP) (optional)
o Password: (optional)
o Confirm Password: (optional)
o WEP Key Length: (optional)
o Click OK
o Select "Internet Sharing" again
o Click "Start" to start Internet Sharing
o Click Start

Airport Extreme Base signal knocked out by Linksys LinkExtender

After installing a new AE Base and configuring it, all the computers in the house connect fine with a strong signal, but when the Linksys Link Extender is plugged in to enable a computer in an adjacent building to get a stronger signal, the AE Base signal gets weaker, another network shows up (on AirTrafficControl) and some older Apple computers are dropped off the internet.
Is there some configuring that needs to be done to the Extender so it will not do this, or is there a better way to connect an older PC to this airport system?
Many thanks,
...Tom

(Extreme BS is early model two ethernet conns, I think renamed snow)
No. The dual Ethernet (aka snow) 802.11b AirPort base station (ABS) is completely different than a round 802.11b/g AirPort Extreme base station (AEBS).
Identifying AirPort hardware

Airport Extreme loses connection on applying security

I have just bought an Airport Extreme as my first step on my transition from PC to Mac but it's making me think twice!
I can connect to the AEx when i don't apply any security or devices. then as soon as i try to upgrade the security to WEP or WPA or any security combination my PC loses the connection with the error message "Airport utility was unable to find your base station after restarting".
I've tried everything I can think of including tens of Hard Resets trying different combinations of settings to no avail. Any ideas?

I have the exact same problem, I've tried to configure with WPA and password, and the PC just won't recognize a valid connection, won't connect to the internet.
I have a perfect connection without security. Can someone help with configuration? My MacBook Pro recognized the network and can sign in without a problem. I just can't seem to get the PC to sign into the network.

Airport Extreme loses signal in next room

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for