Slow Airport Extreme on wifi

I have a new Macbook with a factory installed airport extreme card (80211). It is very slow linking to the internet. It is constantly going in to scanning mode. I have to click on that to turn Airport on and even then it takes forever to have a page download. It has happened in other locations too so I don't think it's my Internet connection....Any ideas?

Steve,
There is no such thing as a "factory installed airport extreme card." I think you intended to say your Macbook has Airport. Can you tell us how you are trying to connect to the Internet? Do you have a wireless router (that is what an Airport Extreme is) and if so what kind?
Airport is Apple's implementation of 802.11X WiFi, however in order to make it work it has to wirelessly connect to WiFi router which is connected to Internet (DSL or Cable) modem.
This link is information on Airport Extreme.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB053LL/A?fnode=MTY1NDA0Mg&mco=MjE0NDc3Ng
If you don't have a router connected to your Internet Modem then your Macbook will continue to scan and not connect until it can locate a WiFi router.
Regards,
Roger

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How do I connect my airport extreme to wifi as a repeater

how do I connect my airport extreme to wifi as a repeater?

Thanks for the info.
Unfortunately, Apple has designed their routers to only extend or repeat the wireless signal from other Apple routers.
It would be extremely unlikely that the AirPort Extreme would be able to extend or repeat a wireless signal from another manufacturer's router.
I suppose that it could not hurt to try, but if the Extreme is still unopened, it might be a better idea to return the Extreme, get the information about the router at the neighbor's and then use a product from the same manufacurer that would be compatible to repeat or extend the wireless.

What are the best settings to use for the newest AirPort Extreme (AC wifi) with my optimum online service provider?

I have the current generation of the AirPort Extreme and a handful of devices that utilize the new 5Ghz A/C frequency. My internet speeds were blazing fast when I had first set it up but lately it has been lagging terribly. I was told that changing my dhcp did help, which it did it seems like it might be back to its normal speeds but I just want to know what are the best settings to configure for the airport so that I can get the most out of my service on all my devices? I'm using a CAT 6 cable which does help, I have a guest wifi setup with a wifi password which I understand will slow it down a little. Can anyone just point me in the right direction or just give me a step by step guide on what settings to configure? Should I really consider turning off the guest network?

I am assuming that you are looking to configure your network to provide the highest level of bandwidth possible for your network clients. If that is the case, the following are a few things to consider:
The Internet modem should support Gigabit Ethernet. That is the Ethernet connection between the modem and your 802.11ac AirPort Extreme should be Gigabit Ethernet.
Use CAT-5e or CAT-6 Ethernet cables between all wired connections.
Only expect 802.11ac performance with 802.11ac clients in the same room as the base station.
Eliminate or significantly reduce any forms of Wi-Fi interference on both the 2.4 & 5 GHz bands.
When streaming, especially HD video on your local network, use wired connections between the host and player devices when possible.
Other than the above suggestions there are no "magic" settings that you can make on your AirPort. Note: The Guest network shares the same bandwidth as the "main" network. Unless you have a network goal to provide this type of network, it is best left disabled.

Extremely slow Airport Extreme

Is my Airport Extreme just dying? Experiencing extremely slow downloads and intermittent dropping of internet across multiple laptops & iPhones. Did a side-by-side wifi speed test (w/ SpeedSmart app on iPhone) of Airport Extreme connected to Verizon FIOS modem vs. FIOS modem's built-in wifi. Airport download 0.23Mbps vs. built-in 7.23 Mbps. Upload, Airport 0.53 Mbps vs. built-in 7.83 Mbps. Routers about 18” apart, iPhone in same position for both tests.
I updated the firmware in the Airport, rebooted (several times - Airport and modem). Get close-to-normal downloads for short while, then problems recur. Any thoughts appreciated.

How old is the extreme? What model from the base please.. A1xxx and what firmware is it running?
How is it setup? It should be in bridge to the FIOS plugged into it by ethernet.. and should be setup to create a wireless network with a different name to the FIOS and on a different channel. Auto should allow the channels to be determined by the router at start up it is not always going to work right.
It is also a question of what iphone as later ones can do 5ghz which is faster on the airport than 2.4ghz is on the FIOS.

Airport Extreme Poor WiFi Performance

I've been doing periodic bandwidth tests with speedtest.net for several years now. I have an account, so my results are saved. I do them from a Mac Mini and also from my iPad.
The MacMini is hardwired to an Airport Extreme. The iPad is, of course, using WiFi. Usually it is on the 5GHz network, but sometimes (I have no idea why) it selects the 2.4GHz network. The 5GHz network is "n only", the 2.4GHz network is b/g/n. Security is WPA/WPA Personal. The Airport Extreme is on firmware 7.6.1. (I rolled back in December, a couple of months after I noticed the degraded WiFi performance.)
Until mid-October of last year, the results on the iPad were similar to those on the MacMini.
For example:
On October 4 : iPad - 10.27 Mbps; Mini - 11.25 Mbps
On July 21   : iPad - 10.13 Mbps; Mini - 11.39 Mbps
However, beginning with tests done in late October, the results for the iPad are markedly inferior to those of the Mini:
On January 17: iPad - 00.49 Mbps; Mini - 06.14 Mbps
Today        : iPad - 00.87 Mbps; Mini - 08.69 Mbps
Oddly, when I switch the iPad to the 2.4GHz network, it does much better: 2.40 Mbps (today) But, still, much worse than before October and much worse than the Mac Mini. All the iPhones in the house are on the 2.4GHz network and get results similar to the iPad. However, none of them have as much test history saved.
I don't think it's a question of interference. None of my neighbors have 5GHz capable routers. On 2.4 GHz, I'm using channel 1. Both of my neighbors with routers are on channel 6. No cordless phones or other cordless devices in this house.
I have recently reset the network settings on both the iPad and iPhone.
So, what did I do to mess up the WiFi on my Airport Extreme?

Thanks.
Model is A1408.
I set the 2.4GHz network to channel 8.
I had to leave the 5GHz network to "Automatic" because choosing 36, 40 or 44 prevented both of my Airport Expresses from connecting. They would only connect with "Automatic".
All the names are alphanumeric and short: mgn, mgn5ghz, AirEx, etc.
I disconnected my MacMini's ethernet cable and just used WiFi. As expected, bandwidth decreased from the normal 10Mbps to about 2.8 Mbps.
I did not do a factory reset as family is about to come home and I don't want to be fiddling when they're expecting working WiFi. I'll do it tomorrow.
Here's the Wireless Diagnostics Log:
# --- Check Connectivity
# --- Wi-Fi Interface
          Interface Name                    : en1
          MAC Address                    : 00:24:36:f0:a9:33
          Network Name                    : mgn
          Active PHY Mode                    : 802.11n
          Security                    : WPA2 Personal
          SSID                    : mgn
          BSSID                    : b8:8d:12:63:32:8d
          Country                    : TH
          RSSI                    : -51 dBm
          Noise                    : -89 dBm
          Rate                    : 130 Mbps
          Channel                    : 8
          Channel Width                    : 20MHz
# --- Bluetooth
          Power State                    : On
          Paired Devices                    : 0
# --- Wireless Environment
          2.4 GHz Networks          : 2
          5 GHz Networks                    : 2
          Current Channel Networks          : 2
          Recommended 2.4GHz Channels          : [ 11 6 1 2 3 4 5 7 9 10 12 13 ] 8
          Recommended 5GHz Channels          : [ 36 40 44 48 153 157 161 165 ] 149
# --- Network Configuration
          Primary IPv4 Interface          : en1
          IPv4 Address                    : 192.168.0.76
          IPv4 Router                    : 192.168.0.1
          Primary IPv6 Interface          : None
          IPv6 Address                    : None
          IPv6 Router                    : None
          DNS Servers                    : 192.168.0.1
                                          8.8.8.8
                                          8.8.4.4
# --- Debug Log Entries
01/20/14 16:48:29.6470           Large preferred networks list count <31>
01/20/14 16:48:43.2710           SMTP port check time out
01/20/14 16:48:43.2760           Current Wi-Fi network is an AirPort network

Airport Extreme-have wifi connection but no internet on some devices???

I just replaced my linksys router with the latest (tower) Airport Extreme and an Airport Express as an extention of the network. Now I had a heak of a tme setting this up to mimic what the linksys did so I would have a smooth transition. I have a windows server 2008 R2 server which is my file server, DHCP & DNS server. I set my Extreme with the "DHCP & NAT" set the range I use which is 10.0.0.10 - .253, Set the router's address to 10.0.0.10 in network properties as well as setting the default host to point back to my server at 10.0.0.100. I also checked "Enable NAT port mapping protocol". Everthing seems to be working great most of the time...my wired PC's have internet and their proper IP addresses, my iMac and MacBook Pro have internet and proper IP addresses, iPad, iPhones...BUT I am noticing on my iPhone 5 that I'll show a full wifi signal but no IP address there for no internet. Now this happened a couple times and the only way I got it back was to do a rest of the phone. I have never had any wifi issues with this prior to installing the Extreme and Express. So I thought it was just the iPhone but my iPad just behaved the same way and a rest took care of it. Worse at the same time I checked my MacBook and I have the exlimation point over the wifi in the top tool bar. I can see and pick my SSID but couldn't get an IP address until I clicked the Airport Utility then it connected.
So basically I am looking for any suggestions or better yet fixes on my issues. I'm not sure if I have the Airport Extreme configured properly for it to work with the Windows 2008 Server.
I appreciate any help at all!
Thank you greatly in advance,
Dave

And when is apple going to put a NAT only mode on the Extreme????
Apple have a policy of not telling.. you can ask .. but they don't tell.
I am a rather recent arrival on the Mac/Apple seen so I would also wonder how an OSX server is setup with AE..
For wireless in particular, you can use Enterprise level security.. and that might fix it... because instead of using a preset key, as standard in wireless you can use a username and password combo from a radius server.. which might then be used to pass IP via dhcp. Something to consider if you don't mind getting a bit more complex..
Look at this thread which is looking at using ox x server which is basically the same issue you are having.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2756247?start=0&tstart=0
The idea of using a static range of IP addresses.. that might work.. with DHCP actually turned off.. I have used this setup for something completely different.. ie to pass different DNS to clients that need access to Netflix from overseas.. I did not explore it from a your no dhcp setup.. but that is another option to try.. there is so little info supplied it is hard to know and you just have to trial and error with it.
Here is another interesting post
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyU4vpMljEI
Clearly other people are hitting the issue.

Painfully Slow Airport Extreme Issues

So I replaced a 54G Belkin wireless router this weekend with a new Airport Extreme thinking I would like to be able to get N speed (N-capable MacBookPro and MacBook in the house) and the benefit of connecting a hard disk.
Unfortunately, both the speed and range of the new Airport Extreme are horrible. The Belkin router performed at better speed and range and I'm close to just reinstalling it.
I've read everything on this site related to slowness but no change in set up has successfully produced better results. Any ideas?
Dragging in Chicago...

Well, the "speed" really depends on your ISP, it really does not matter if you have a G or N if your ISP has a cap on your connection G & N or even 1Gbps will have no impact on your speed.
It also depends if you are in a house or apartment. If you are in a rural area you will get better results than a heavy traffic downtown apartment building. Sometimes the AEBS will work best being in the top floor of the house, other times it will work best being in the basement of the house (mine is setup in the basement and it works just fantastic.)
Microwaves, wireless phone systems, and other wireless devices such as a cell phone tower will have a great impact in your wireless network.
Try moving the AEBS around the house you will find some spots to provide better coverage than others...
P.s.- have you tried to set the "N" to 5Ghz and to interference robustness??
Message was edited by: Sonicray

Airport extreme with wifi internet

Friends, I`ve just bought the airport extreme. I have 2 macs (imac G5 e Macbook pro). My current internet is through a wifi system in my condominium. I therefore, don`t use ethernet cables (modem cable) for my internet. I already use wifi to connect to the internet.
My idea with the airport extreme was to connect my external HD and Printer to it and share with my two computer (as well as the files from the 2 computers). Indeed a personal wireless network.
I could connect the imac to the airport extreme and it recognized well. The problem is with since my internet is not through cables (currently wifi), I got the airport printer and HD but not the internet. How can I solve this and have the airport connections (printer and HD) and my wifi internet (another network)? Can I put 2 network together? thanks. Marcelo

Marcelo, I believe you should look into a wireless access point (WAP) to connect to your condo's wireless internet network. Then use a network cable to plug one of the WAP's network ports into the WAN port of the Airport Extreme. This way you can create a separate wireless network with the Airport Extreme for your computers/HD/printers and the Airport Extreme will route packets destined to the internet out the WAN port which is connected via a cable to the WAP to your condo's wireless network.

Time Capsule better than Airport Extreme in wifi capabilities??

Hello people,
I recently talked to a friend of mine (Mac user) who told me that Time Capsule has in fact a better WiFi capability than Airport Extreme since it has to cope with all the traffic for Time Machine. I dunno if this rumor is right but if it is i'd like to know more since i'm looking for a WiFi router and if Time Capsule gives better signal strength and thus larger or better bandwidth than i might just go with it.
So what do you people think?
Thanks
Andrei D.

So you are sure then that there are no hidden functions or hardware capabilities that would allow Time Capsule to have better wireless capabilities?
Yes.

Slow airport extreme

My airport extreme base station which is approx. 3 yrs. old, is running slow or not connecting at all. I'm running several devices, not all at the same time. What is the capacity of this unit for the number of device ? Does it refresh every so often? Thank you.

System Prefs->network->airport->tcp/ip.......
1> I set the tcp/ip settings manually. (was default at auto)
2> I set IPv6 to "off" (was default at auto)
Safari pages seem to load at faster/normal speeds now.
I just got my new MacBook Pro 2.16 ghz core duo last week. I eventually noticed the internet browsing speed difference between wireless and wired..like these other people. The airport connection could barely load some pages sometimes while the cabled connection loaded pages fast. The signal is strong, and it is connected to the network, and internet, and all sharing works, even the windows box. The airport card was just choking on something.
I have a netgear wireless router MR814v2. not an apple airport base station. So it would not show in airport admin utility as 1 guy suggested.
anyways, seems ok now after making those 2 adjustments
/me knocks on wood.
MacBook Pro 2.16ghz core duo 17" Mac OS X (10.4.7) 2 GB RAM 7200rpm hd

Can i use airport extreme as wifi range extender in conjunction with a Linksys AE4500 router

can i use airport extreme base station as wifi range extender in conjunction with a Linksys AE4500 router

If you are trying to "extend" using wireless only......Apple tells us that their "extend a wireless network" feature is designed to only work with other Apple routers.
So, in order to use your AirPort Extreme as an extender, you would need to have another Apple router.....an AirPort Express, Time Capsule, or another AirPort Extreme as the main base station.
I haven't tested the specific Linksys model that you have, but have owned and worked with several other Linksys models, none of which were compatible with Apple for the purpose that you ask about....so I would have to say that it is extremely unlikely that your model would be compatible with the AirPort Extreme.

Slow Airport Extreme 5th Gen Data Transfer

Airport Extreme Slow Data Transfer
When transferring files between PC – Nas, Nas – PC, & PC – PC my speeds are extremely slow (1.3 – 3.3mbps). Files range in size from 350mbps to 4gb. Here is my set-up:
Acer Aspire 5532 Win 7 x64 (internal 5ghz nic)
Toshiba Toshiba Satellite C655 Ubuntu 12.04 (internal 5ghz nic)
Gateway GT5418E Win 7 x64 (USB 2ghz nic)
Iomega 2TB Nas
Seagate GoFlex Home 3TB Nas
5th Generation Airport Extreme
Firmware Version: 7.6.3
Wireless Security: WPA2 Personal
Channel: 149 (automatic), 11 Automatic
Radio Mode: 80211.n Only (5ghz) – 80211n Only (2.4ghz)
Multicast Rate: High (also tried low and medium)
Use Wide Channels: Checked
2nd Generation Airport Extreme 5ghz extended network
It doesn’t seem to make a difference if I am using the extended network or sitting 5 feet from the primary (either band) with the extended disabled. I ran a LAN Speed test: averaging 12 – 16mbps write and 20+ read. Any advice would be helpful!
Thanks!

Hi madtytan,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
These settings will help ensure maximum performance, security, and reliability when using Wi-Fi.
For more information on this, take a look at this article:
iOS and OS X: Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4199
Best of luck,
Mario

AIRPORT EXTREME RUNNING EXTREMELY SLOW., AIRPORT EXTREME RUNNING EXTREMELY SLOW.

why is a brand new airport extreme running extremely slow. Worked fine before the firmware update.

I nearly fainted when I just read your post. I bought the new airport extreme on June 24, 2011, just as the store was closing -- 8:45 PM. At home it worked well right out of the box, but the next morning it has been nothing but trouble. I wracked my brain to figure out what could change overnight, and your suggestion that it was updated by firmware is logical. Oddly, it works well with my desktop, which is less than two feet away (I don't use ethernet), but in the next room over it is fast only sporadically. I replaced the prior extreme because it suddenly quit, and the genius spent some time diagnosing it and concluded it no longer worked.

Airport Extreme as WiFi only

Hello,
I have a Netgear WNDR900 router. It is a fast gigabit router with 2/5ghz Wifi. However, upstairs my wifi is still spotty at times.
I have been researching a little bit about this and my ultimate solution would be to pickup 2 AE and link them together using wire (cabled home) with DHCP on one and bridge mode on the other. However, I was wondering if I could save a couple of hundred bucks by only getting one and just create a separate WiFI network using the Extreme or even just turn it off on the Netgear and just using the WiFi on the Extreme upstairs? Is this an ok solution or are we starting to talk about mutliple layers of network configurations etc? The higher the router the better the coverage I would guess?
//Cheers

Are you sure about this? I didn't think you could do this without using 2 Apple products?
If you are trying to "extend" your Netgear network using another Apple product using wireless only, that would not be supported. I understood that you planned to connect the second router using a wired Ethernet connection.
I never saw a support document on their site detailing this?
I doubt that you ever will, since Apple is not likely to be interested in telling you to connect to another manufacturer's router when they want you to buy more Apple products.
The Ethernet cable from the Netgear would connect to the WAN port on the AirPort Extreme. The Extreme would be configured to "create a wireless network" using the exact same wireless network name, same wireless security settings and same wireless password as the Netgear network. The tricky part of this for most users is matching up the security settings for both routers exactly. Finally, the AirPort needs to be configured in Bridge Mode to operate correctly on the network.
If you like Netgear routers, you could do the same on another Netgear router.
If you are still not sure about this, I suggest that you wait for another user who has done this to confirm.
How would I know what router I was connecting to?
If you have a Mac, hold down the option key while you click on the fan shaped AirPort icon and look for the BSSID. That is the ID of the router to which you are connected. If you are close to the Netgear, you will see its ID. When you move the Mac close to the Extreme, you will see a different ID, since you will be connected to the AirPort Extreme.
Does the 2.4/5 allow for 2 network names on the AE?
Yes

Slow AirPort Extreme Connection

I'm having a slow wireless connection problem using AirPort Extreme Base Station for a last few weeks. It's possible that this problem started when I installed OS update 10.4.7., but I'm not totally sure.
When I'm connected to the Internet via LAN, I have no problems with the speed. However, when I'm connected wirelessly, pages loads very slowly as if there were 10 other computers on the network. It takes long to get to the web page, and once the page starts loading, it loads in several steps with pauses between the steps. The speed of downloading a file appears to be OK once it starts although it still takes a long time to get it started.
It happens with Safari, FireFox, and IE. My G3 iBook 600MHz behaves the same way with OS 10.3.x.
I tried both soft reset and hard reset of the base station, and re-installed the firmware v.5.7. I tried the different channels and encryptions, switched between wireless b and g, turned off all the cordless phones in the house, and brought the iMac right next to the base station to minimize the interference.
With all these, the wireless connection is still very slow although the signal strength is at full strength.
I'm wondering if anybody is having a similar problem after installing OS 10.4.7. update. I would appreciate any suggestions to solve this problem.

After all the trial and error, finally I've figured it out.
First, I removed DNS Server address from the box at Network Preference/ Airport/ TCP/IP location. This immediately improved the web page loading speed. In addition to this, I also set my IPv6 to "off."(Default was "automatically")
With combination of these two network settings, I'm back to the full speed.
In the past, I wrote down DNS Server address in the box when Safari was having problems finding web address, and I always had to click load button twice to load a particular page. Back then, providing the DNS Server address solved the problem.
I suppose when Apple fixed this problem during one of the updates, it ended up making the network slower unless DNS Server address was left blank.
If you are still having slow connection problem, try this setting.

Slow Airport Extreme on wifi

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