Losing the network over airport extreme

We have an airport extreme base station (802.11g) that is nearing 6 years of use. We occassionally lose the network connection to our machine from our airport extreme, both on the ethernet connection and the wireless. To get it back, we disconnect power from the base station, and then re-power it. The base stations resets and we reconnect.
However, this past month we've had to perform this operation more often, and it has been four or five time this weekend alone. This last reset was three since the previous reset.
I'm wondering if my base station is dying of old age? How can I effectively troubleshoot this issue? The manual doesn't seem to cover my symptoms.
Thanks in advance.
Ray

Welcome to the discussion area, Ray!
The symptoms you are describing indicate that you are likely picking up wireless interference from another source...perhaps another wireless network, cordless phone or security system...which is causing the network to slow down and lock up.
The first thing to check as a culprit is your cordless phones (if you have them). Pick a time when you can leave them off for a day or so and see if your network performance improves. If it does, you likely have your answer. Move the phones as far away as possible from the router or any computers. Or, you may need to look at new phones that do not use the 2.4 GHz band that wireless networks do.
You won't be able to do much about the issue if it is a neighbor's phone that is causing the problems. In the past, my neighbor...across the street...could literally bring my network to a standstill instantly if he was in his front yard talking on his cordless phone. Luckily, he moved.
To get an idea if there may be other wireless networks near you that are interfering with your network, download a utility like iStumbler. Look for other wireless networks and note the channel they are using. Then set your wireless network to a channel that is as far away as possible from other networks.
Unfortunately, iStumber cannot detect a "hidden" network if a user has chosen the option on his router to not allow his network name to be displayed. And, iStumbler cannot detect nearby wireless security systems at the neighbors' or cordless phones, so it will be somewhat of a guessing game to figure out where the problems might be coming from.
For more causes of interference, which is becoming a massive problem due to the growth of wireless, see this Apple Support Document:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1365?viewlocale=en_US
Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

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