Low AirPort Extreme Speed

I have an Airport Extreme BS [g] connected to a cable modem. My iMac and Mac Pro both have full bars and get just about 10mbps download speeds. My G4 MDD on the other hand is one bar down from the top and gets 2.82mbps down speed, pathetic Why such a dramatic difference when all the machines and equipment are in the same room?
When I connect the MDD via Ethernet directly to the APBS my speed jumps up to just about 10mbps down just like the other machines. So, bad AP card? Other? What can I dig into, to troubleshoot?
Thx for any help,
Tony

Hi.. I also want to know what I can do to tweak my 802.11g pci wireless card's speed as well.. I have the 2003 PM MDD dual 1.25(last to boot into OS 9). My wireless speed sometimes is slow, and sometimes its fast. Should I just get a wireless n usb or PCI card, or is there a way to make my wireless G go faster?
Also, its strange that I can't access the airport software on my computer even though this pci card is a wireless G card?

Similar Messages

New Airport Extreme Speeds?

My new Airport Extreme (ac) arrived at much the same time as my ISP provided me with FTTC and a connection speed of up to 70 Mbps.
My VDSL modem (wireless disconnected) is connected by Ethernet (+Power adapters) to my Airport Extreme, which in turn is connected again by Ethernet to my Mac.
I created a wireless network in the Airport configuration in the usual way to service other appliances.
The wireless connection as measured by the speedtest app (latest toy) on my iPod Touch gives me:
Ping 79
Download 10.46 Mbps
Upload 6.41 Mbps
At the same time, Speedtest.net gave me a connection speed from the computer (presumably the Ethernet connection) of
Ping 31
Download 65.89 Mbps
Upload 7.41 Mbps (usually 16+)
The associated Pingtest reported
Ping 33
Jitter 1ms
Line quality A.
Reading through the discussions, I realise I may not be comparing like with like, but I have to admit to being somewhat disappointed by the wireless speeds achieved and possibly their quality from the Airport Extreme.
I would appreciate knowing if it possible that I have made some glaring mistake in my Airport configuration that would account for this?
Thank you in anticipation,

Using power line adapters is going to introduce an element of uncertainty.
Anything resembling a controlled test will require that you first measure the speed with your Mac connected directly to the VDSL modem, followed by comparing that speed to the Mac connected directly to the Extreme.
Remember to reset the modem between those two measurements. Usually that just means powering it down and letting it rest for a moment or two.
Any latency introduced by the Extreme itself should be negligible. Repeated tests may be necessary due to local variations from your ISP. Claims of "up to 70 Mbps" means just that - you may, during ideal conditions, enjoy connection speeds of 70 Mbps. Other times, it can be much less. Perform your tests during times of low demand.
Following those tests, introduce the power line adapters and test again. Household wiring is a poor substitute for Gigabit-capable Category 5e or 6 Ethernet cable.
Then, unplug your Mac's Ethernet connection and measure its wireless connection speed. Any resulting reduction in speed will be a function of your wireless environment and the protocol you are using. At present, the newest MacBook Air models are the only Macs capable of using 802.11ac.
An iOS device's speed will always be less than what a Mac can achieve due to its hardware power constraints.

Airport Extreme speed limit to 130 Mbit

Is it normal that the maximum speed of the Airport Extreme is always limited to 130 Mbit when you've configued it as 802.11b/g compatible? I've use the Network Utility to check the Link Speed.
I need the 802.11 g mode because sometimes I need to connect some older PC's.
Also before mine network was a wired when. The link speed was 100Mbit. When I copied a file from a Mac to another Mac I got have some transfer speed about 8 a 9 MB/s. (I use the iStat widget to check this).
At this moment mine network has become a wireless one. The link speed is 130Mbit which is higher then the wired network. Although when I'm copying a file from one Mac to another one mine speed transfer is maximum 4 MB/s.
This is half the speed as before.
Is this behaviour normal? Of-course I didn't expect the same results as with the wired network but at least I expected some better results.

I have also noticed that when you setup the Airport Extreme to only the 'n' network at 5GHz you will get a maximum speed transfer of 270Mbit.
But I've find it very strange that when you select the network for b/g/n that you will always be limited to a maximum transfer of 130Mbit. I find it normal that the speed of the network will slow down at the moment that there is a connection busy with a device that only supports b/g.
Most people do need this compatibility. Game-consoles, smartphones, printers and so on. 90% of the time those devices are not connected with the network.
Whenever you setup this mode of compatibly you will have always a slower network then the Airport Extreme is capable of doing. Of-course you can connect another router when setup for 'n' 5GHz and the other setup for b/g. But this isn't the way to go...

Maximizing Airport Extreme Speed

Hello All,
I'm currently running my home wireless network with an Airport Extreme with b/g/n 2.4GHz setting. I want to be able to run a/n 5GHz only, to take advantage of the full speed. The issues is my roommate only has a g-enable Dell, and he would be without internet access. Can I get an Airport Express, extended it wirelessly, set it up for him with b/g/n 2.4GHz, and still have full speed with the Airport Extreme? Thanks!

Hi...
You can't do this wirelessly, but why not do it cabled? Connect the express to the extreme via cat5, then configure the extreme as the "master", with wireless options of 802.11n 5ghz only selected, and aldo set as the DHCP server. On the express, set it to 802.11g only, and configured as a bridge. You'll then have 2 wireless networks a g and an n, but they are on the same LAN so DHCP, printer sharing and everything works fine. The only thing is they would need to be close together and connected by a cable. That's how I've set it up, an n network for the appletv and one macbook, whereas the rest of the wireless clients go on the slower g network.

Time Capsule & Airport Extreme Speed Issues

Hello everyone!
I hope to be able to have a solution to my home network problems..??!! (hopefully!)
My Home Network Setup & Problem
I have my ADSL modem hard wired into a 1st generation Airport Extreme, I also have a 3rd Generation 2TB TimeCapsule extending the wireless network.
One iMac & one MacBook Pro (new(ish) ones) use the network for home use.
All softwares and firmwares are upto date. My house is relatively small with excellant wireless coverage throughout.
My problem is that when I transfer files wirelessly across the network either to my TimeCapsule or computer to computer it peaks at about 2mb/sec and is "sporadic" at best!
I monitor the wireless traffic with iStat Pro and see a graph which goes up and down continuously, it obviously is not happy. The same happens with downloads from the web but this might not be a network issue, but maybe it is?
It is not normal to wait 4hrs for a 7Gb transfer, surely!!
Any suggestions would be most helpful. I've reset everything, started from scratch and had no success. I can answer any questions you may need to know to help with this, i'm not an expert with computers but I have an alright knowledge.. Please don't confuse me with too much technical lingo but I understand the basics!!
All machines have OSX Lion also
Matt

Possibly, but I would venture to guess that the TC is not in the optimal location to maintain the highest data transfer rates on the extended network with the AEBSn.
To help locate where that would be, we will need to make Signal-to-Noise Ratio calculations to measure the signal quality of the AEBSn at the location the TC.
SNR (in dB) = Signal (in dBm) - Noise (in dBm)
You can easily find the Signal and Noise value using System Profiler on your Mac laptop.
ref: Click on the Apple icon on the menu bar > About This Mac > More Info... > Contents > Network > AirPort > Interfaces > en1 > Current Network Information > Find your wireless network > Signal / Noise
While your still in the System Profiler, note the value for Transmit Rate.
These values should be negative numbers. For example, mine currently read: -67 dBm / -95 dBm, with a transmit rate of 27 (Mbps). Plugging in these numbers yield: SNR = -67 - (-95) = 28. My Mac Mini is about four rooms away from my AEBS with about five walls between them. As you can see, the signal is still quite useable ... but the bandwidth is minimal, especially for streaming.
SNR Guideline
40dB+ SNR = Excellent signal
25dB to 40dB SNR = Very good signal
15dB to 25dB SNR = Low signal
10dB to 15dB SNR = Very low signal
5dB to 10dB SNR = No signal
Again, what we are interested in is the SNR value of the AEBSn at the current location of the TC. Since we only want to measure the AEBSn, you will need to (temporarily) power-down the TC. With your MBP near the TC, take the signal & noise measurements. Since we are trying to find the best location for the TC, move the MBP to the next possible location that you can place the TC and take the same measurements. Repeat this as many times as you require to build a good sampling of data for different potential locations. Now that you collected the data, plug them into the SNR formula to come up with the SNR value. Note these values and determine which location provides the highest SNR value ... this, theoretically would be the best location of the TC. You will want SNR = or greater than 25dB.

Low Airport Extreme throughput

It seems to me that the throughput on my Airport Extreme network is much, much lower than it ought to be. I'm lucky to get bursts of 12 MB per second (not Mbps, but MB/s), and in practice it varies wildly from that and drops below 1 MB frequently in my testing of file transfers through the Finder.
My setup:
Airport Extreme base station: 802.11n only (5 Ghz)- closed network, WPA2 personal, sharing a public IP address
Airport Express 802.11n set to extend the network
Airport Express 802.11g hard-wired to the base station and creating a separate WiFi network (for iPhones, Wii and TiVo)
iMac connected by Cat6 cable to AEBS
MacBookPro connected by WiFi to the 802.11n network.
I've been troubleshooting this in my inexpert, inept way for weeks now and nothing seems to make a difference. Is 10-12 MB/second with frequent drops below 1 MB/s normal and expected for an 802.11n only network? Am I overlooking something obvious?
Message was edited by: Darren Raymond

Sorry for the momentary hijack. I thought "Mbps" was the same as "MB/s." What's the difference?

More Time Capsule / Airport Extreme Speed Issues

I have noticed a few of these post and also need assistance on this.
My setup is:
Brand New Dual Band Time Capsule
Brand New N Band Airport Express
Older G Airport Express
The time capsule is set up as the router, N Band Airport Express is used to extend the network. The older G band express is connected to the network for music streaming but not to extend it.
We have three computers, iMac with G band airport card, Macbook and a new MacBook Air.
When we are in the range of the time capsule the internet speed is great. Download speed > 5 mps or more.
When we are in the range of the Airport Express the internet speed is terrible and unuseable ~ < .5 mps
I have tried changing the channel settings for the G and N bands on the router with no change in performance. I have disconnected the cordless phones (DECT type) and no change.
Suggestions are greatly appreciated. If this does not work can someone recommend another router which works with our Macs that I can extend.
Thanks

With your networking equipment, I would suggest the following for best overall bandwidth performance for both radios:
o Reconfigure the Time Capsule (TC) to use the following radio mode: 802.11n only (5 GHz) - 802.11b/g/n
o Configure the TC to use a separate Network Name for the 5 GHz radio.
o Configure the 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) to extend the TC's 2.4 GHz radio.
o Configure the 802.11g AirPort Express Base Station (AX) to join the 2.4 GHz network.

Airport Extreme Speed Tests (2GHz vs 5GHz)

I tested a 702mb file transfer (sending and receiving) with the Apple Extreme 802.11n. One system (20" Intel iMac) is on ethernet and the other (17" MacBook Pro with 802.11n enabled) is using the wireless connection. I wanted to find out if I should be running 802.11n in the 2GHz or 5GHz range. I have always though the better the signal strength the better the connection would be, but my findings were completely opposite.
The laptop remained in a static spot with no microwave oven or any strange electronics around to interrupt. I transferred the file up to my iMac and back down and viewed the network traffic through the Activity Monitor. I also used iStumbler to check my signal strength.
I know my testing has its flaws, but this is what I came up with...any recommendations to get better speed or am I looking at the best case?
Test 1:
2GHz - Channel 6
Signal Strength: 62%
File Send (Average/Max Burst): 2.6MB/s / 5.5MB/s
File Receive (Average/Max Burst): 5.8MB/s / 8.2MB/s
Notes: The speed is all over the place for both sending and receiving. The graph in Activity Monitor looks like a heart monitor.
Test 2:
5GHz - Auto Channel
Signal Strength: 35%
File Send (Average/Max Burst): 8.3MB/s / 8.5MB/s
File Receive (Average/Max Burst): 6MB/s / 6.9MB/s
Notes: The speed was not sporadic like the 2GHz test, although this time the sending was faster than the receiving.
Test 3:
5GHz - Auto Channel - Interference Robustness Enabled
Signal Strength: 36%
File Send (Average/Max Burst): 8.7MB/s / 8.8MB/s
File Receive (Average/Max Burst): 4.1MB/s / 5.8MB/s
Notes: Slower on the receiving than Test 2, but a bit quicker on the send.

Your general results are consistent both with my experience and what the protocol should be able to do.
1. Your absolute best results will be in .11n only mode at 5 GHz. .11n mode is more efficient and it is only at 5 GHz can you use 40 MHz wide channels. There is also essentially no interference at these frequencies particularly in channels 36, 40, 44, and 52 - the defaults for .11n at 5 GHz.
2. If you use .11n at 2 GHz you will have three problems: interference from ovens and other Wi-Fi networks, using .11n in compatibility mode that allows it to share with other networks at these frequencies, and the use of only 20 MHz wide channels.

Update to Airport Extreme - speed increase?

Seems like I experienced a speed bump when I did the upgrade. Anyone else think that, or is it just a coincidence?
I tested with www.speakeasy.com .. came in at between 13000 and 14000 kbps.

Unless you are running a FIOS (fiber) Internet connection you shouldn't notice anything different. Although, the speeds you listed would exceed an 802.11"b" connection they are far from exceeding an 802.11"g" connection.
What we need to know is what speed ranges were you getting before the update and what speed does your ("g" max speed) iMac G5 get?
Greg

Help with a 3rd party airport extreme card

I have a G4 power mac running 10.3.9. I purchased the following 3rd party card on ebay:
- Truly Plug & Play - NO complicated software CD setup at all.
- Uses Airport Drivers built into MAC OS X
- Amazing 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless - Airport Extreme speed
- Range: 50' Indoors, 150' outdoors (maximum range in ideal conditions).
- Supports WPA (TKIP,AES),802.1x and standard 128/64-bit WEP Wireless Security
- Fully Compatible with: Apple Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White), G4 Power Mac (all models except Cube) or G5 (tower, PCI model only) computers, with a spare PCI slot, running Mac OS X 10.2.6 with AirPort installer, or Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger & 10.5 Leopard.
Installed the card in an open slot and Airport setup assistant does not find it. The lights on the card are dark and it just is not working. So far the seller has not responded to my emails. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get this thing running? Thanks

What model G4. You need to add this info to your Apple Discussions profile.
What is the make/model of the Airport card?
 Cheers, Tom

Will airport extreme card work with my emac?

I want to put an airport extreme card in my Emac. Please let me know if it will work in my machine. My Emac specs:
Power PC G4
CPU Speed: 800MHz
L2 Cache: 256 KB
Memory: 1Gb
Bus Speed: 100MHz
Purchase year: 2002 (before USB2)

According to:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107440
Only the eMac ATI Graphics model and USB 2 models could take Airport Extreme.
According to:
http://www.designedinca.com/macs/emac/may2003/800cd/
the ATI Graphics model replaced the August 2002 to May 2003 which was also 800 Mhz.
Thus your machine was the one before the Airport Extreme became available:
http://www.designedinca.com/macs/emac/aug2002/800/
So no, you can't put an Airport Extreme card in it. You can though get Airport Extreme speeds via a LAN capable WiFi access point via its 10/100 ethernet port.
You can also buy the original Airport card from:
http://www.a1acomputing.com/usorapaicam7.html
Message was edited by: a brody

PC wireless card for Airport Extreme

What type of wireless card do I need in my PC to work with my Airport Extreme network?

You can use any wireless card which supports either the 802.11b or 802.11g protocols; AirPort Extreme speed requires 802.11g.
Wireless cards that use only 802.11a or the 802.11n draft may not be able to interoperate with the rest of the network.
(24278)

Time Capsule with an Airport Extreme bridge resulted in slow LAN speeds

Wondering if other people are seeing this. I am unsure if this was a result of upgrading both my TC and AEx to 7.6, but my LAN speeds had suffered in this configuration.
1. Comcast cable modem connected to the WAN port on my TC.
2. Connected an ethernet cat6 cable from the TC to my Airport Extreme, which was configured as a bridge.
3. My desktop was connected to the Airport Extreme.
4. When doing file transfers within the LAN or general internet usuage, my network speeds were extremely low.
5. Disconnected the cat6 cable from the TC and plugged that directly to my desktop.
6. Network speed jumps up by a factor of 5. LAN file transfers and internet usuage has returned to what I had expected.
Is there a known issue where a bridged AEx conncted to another Airport "main" device will result in all machines connected via the AEx to have slow LAN speeds?
I didn't see this issue months ago. I did less than 2 months ago upgrade our machines to the 7.6 firmware, but after experiencing some hiccups on the network, reverted back to 7.5.2. However, the slow LAN speeds haven't gone away when the two airport machines are connected to each other.
Any insight or advise is appreciated.

By now, millions of users have updated to 7.6 and I cannot recall seeing a post similar to yours on this forum.
As far as a "known issue", you would need to contact Apple regarding that.
Suggest that you have the AirPort checked out at an Apple store if you have one near you.

Too slow down/uploading speed FTP + airport extreme b.s.

Hi guys,
I've just switched form WIN to MAC...I've bought the Apple Powerbook 17" and Airport Extreme Base Station...I didn't have any problems with setting up airport extreme for connection to the Internet + I've connected PC and MAC wirelessly to the Internet.
Here's my problem...I've found out that the download speed from FTP server is to low (under 1 MB/s when using airport extreme).....while when I connect my PC to the Internet using LAN cable, the speed is about 6MB/s ....
where's the problem?
Is there any possibility of raising the speed when using airpport extreme?
Any ideas?
Thank you

Geoffrey,
I haven't gotten to the bottom of it yet - I am going to reset the base station and revert the firmware back to the second-to-latest version. I've heard there can be issues with the latest version.
I notice you're connecting wirelessly - that probably always will be slower but you can tweak your settings a bit - if you have 'enable interference robustness' on, you could try turning it off, there's also a speed setting there too.
My problem happens with it in wireless, yes, but weirder, working wired too - my adsl modem runs into the airport, then out to a router. Speed on a PC connected to that router seems ok, but all my macs are slow as anything, If I connect them directly to the ADSL modem, the speed improves - it seems to be an issue between the Extreme, and the macs - and, weirder still, some are on OSX.3.9 and some are on OS9.2.2

What's the maximum speed that AirPort Extreme can share with Wifi?

The thing is that I am going to buy a new Wifi Router, but I was considering an AirPort Extreme from Apple but is not specify what's the maximum speed of Internet connection for the Wifi to share, I know that the limit might depend on my service provider, but I don't know what is the theoretical maximum of the AirPort Extreme, does anybody knows?

1,000 Mbps on an Ethernet connection
450 Mbps on a wireless connection, assuming you have a new computer and it has line of sight with the AirPort Extreme. Otherwise, the speed will be lower due to obstructions absorbing the signal.

Low AirPort Extreme Speed

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