Understanding AirPort Status

When you option-click the Airport/Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar, you get a display of various status parameters. For example, PHY Mode, BSSID, and of particular interest to me Transmit Rate (which I am assuming is the speed of the connection).
Where are these parameters documented? Can't find anything in the documentation or online.

Interestingly, Apple's own Apple AirPort Networks (although an excellent read) does not cover this in any detail, however, I would recommend the following title from Take Control eBooks: Take Control of Your 802.11n AirPort Network (2.0) which does.

Similar Messages

  • Airport status at 3 bars but can't connect to internet

    My 17" Powerbook is the only one of five Macs in the building that isn't able to connect to the internet with our Airport Extreme base station. The airport status icon shows 3 "bars" but will not connect. When we put the Powerbook within 15 - 20 feet of the base station, it works fine, but this is not practical.
    If it matters, the other computers are a G4 MDD, an eMac, a 14"iBook and a G4 iMac "flower", all using a mix of older Airport cards and new Extreme cards. I have checked the Interference Robustness setting and it doesn't have any effect.

    "When we put the Powerbook within 15 - 20 feet of the base station, it works fine"
    So if I have this correct, when the powerbook is close it behaves normally, when it is moved away it still sees 3 bars, but will not connect. but other compouters have no problem.
    it sounded like interference at first, but other computers ought to be similar on that point.
    Can you see the other computers on the network when you can't get to the internet?
    can you see the base station? (airport admin utility)
    any other networks in the area?
    handheld phones / microwaves nearby etc?
    airport card seated properly in the powerbook?
    If you restart does the connection return temporarily?
    any encryption running? if so, turn it off and see if the connection returns after restart.

  • AirPort status not showing up in menu bar...

    I just started up my computer, and looked at the menu bar for the status of my AirPort connection, and found that it's not shown...
    Nothing in the troubleshooting manual tells me how to turn it on-- it only tells me that it should always be on.

    Try the following ...
    o Launch System Preferences
    o Show > AirPort
    o On the AirPort tab, enable "Show AirPort status in menu bar"

  • Airport status icon blinking in menu

    My MacBook's Airport status icon in the menu bar blinks periodically, losing then recapturing wireless access. Very annoying. Obviously I can't download anything while it's blinking. And this appears to be when I'm connecting to my Airport extreme wireless N at home as well as my Dlink wireless N at work.... but connecting to a slower G router does not appear to cause this. Any ideas?

    I am having a very similar problem. Did you find any fixes for this?
    I have a snow base station and have no problems connecting to it with a clamshell iBook running OS X. But with my PowerBook G4, whenever I turn Airport on and try to access the base station, the airport status icon constantly flashes, almost like a pulse.
    Today I took my PowerBook to a hot spot, and Airport worked great, so I know that my card is fine.
    One thing I'm wondering about -- what firmware are you using on your base station? I currently have 4.0.4, so it's possible that upgrading to 4.0.9 will solve this problem. I'm reluctant for the moment to try the firmware upgrade because the clamshell iBook connects to the snow base station so smoothly. I don't want to mess up one set-up while trying to fix another.
    I'll check back in case you have new information, including (I hope) a fix for this.
    Steve
    PowerBook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Help! Airport Status Off

    Hi all!
    this weekend my AirPort started having problems. The AirPort icon suddenly showed that the AirPort status was off and, obviously, internet connectivity went down. Following is a list of troubleshooting steps I already took but without any success:
    - went to Network Settings and hit the button 'Turn AirPort On' -> nothing happens.
    - restarted Mac -> working fine initially but issue was back after a while
    - hard-reset of the TimeCapsule -> problems persisted
    - downgrade of the firmware of the TC to 3.2 -> problems persisted
    - powered-on a PC laptop -> no problems with the PC, wireless always available.
    - connected through a Linksys wireless router -> same issue
    - reset of the MAC's PRAM and NVRAM -> issue persists
    I have no idea what else to try. Any suggestions are very welcomed!
    I've been doing all software upgrades and, recently, there was a major one. However, no upgrades were performed this weekend and no issues were found right after the last upgrade...
    Can you please help me?
    Thanks in advance
    Eduardo

    Download iStumbler, www.istumbler.net to let a look at the signal strength and noise on your wireless network.
    You can also identify other networks that may likely be interfering with your wireless. Check to see what channel they are using and compare to your channel. Any network within a few channels can be causing problems on your wireless.
    If you find this to be the case, use AirPort Utility to change your channel to a value that is as far away as possible from other channels.
    From your post, it is also possible that your wireless card or the internal connection to your antenna may have an intermittent problem. If iStumbler doesn't help, your next step should be to have your laptop checked out at a repair center.

  • Flashing/Blinking Airport Status Icon

    Hello Everybody
    I hope you can help me. After clicking my university's wireless network name and entering the WEP password, the signal icon flashes with five bars before going dead/blinking for a few seconds and then appearing to have no signal - very unusual. I have spent a lot of time trying to fix this with our IT experts with no success. We rebooted the computer on a different HD and the same thing happened which led us to believe it was a problem with the Airport card and not the software. However, when I go on various other wireless networks, I can surf the web with full signal so the card appears to be fine. Obviously, I don't want to send it off to the workshop unless I'm sure it's a hardware problem since I will be charged for diagnostics if they don't find a problem with the card
    Thanking you in anticipation of a favorable response to my query,
    Jack

    I am having a very similar problem. Did you find any fixes for this?
    I have a snow base station and have no problems connecting to it with a clamshell iBook running OS X. But with my PowerBook G4, whenever I turn Airport on and try to access the base station, the airport status icon constantly flashes, almost like a pulse.
    Today I took my PowerBook to a hot spot, and Airport worked great, so I know that my card is fine.
    One thing I'm wondering about -- what firmware are you using on your base station? I currently have 4.0.4, so it's possible that upgrading to 4.0.9 will solve this problem. I'm reluctant for the moment to try the firmware upgrade because the clamshell iBook connects to the snow base station so smoothly. I don't want to mess up one set-up while trying to fix another.
    I'll check back in case you have new information, including (I hope) a fix for this.
    Steve
    PowerBook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.6)  

  • Airport Status in menubar - get rid of the time???

    Hi there,
    A small question, but the answer has been eluding me.
    I have just gotten a new imac with Leopard, my first experience with it. I have the airport status showing in the menubar, and it also displays the time connected.
    I don't want to see the time connected and want to turn this part of the display off. However i cannot find anywhere, where I can do this! On my old comp, running 10.4, I am able to turn it off. However I can't remember how to do it.
    Anyone able to enlighten me?

    Hi everyone, I found the answer to the question at my other thread.
    http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1568991&tstart=0

  • Airport status in menubar - remove the time connected??

    Hi there,
    A small question, but the answer has been eluding me.
    I have just gotten a new imac with Leopard, my first experience with it. I have the airport status showing in the menubar, and it also displays the time connected.
    I don't want to see the time connected and want to turn this part of the display off. However i cannot find anywhere, where I can do this! On my old comp, running 10.4, I am able to turn it off. However I can't remember how to do it.
    Anyone able to enlighten me?

    I looked at the article you found and followed the instructions -- I guess I wasn't used to having a submenu there and didn't think to look. We just installed a Time Capsule as our main router and had to set up the options differently -- the TC runs NAT instead of the modem as it used to. Once we got the TC working correctly, that timer appeared -- I figured it had to do with the connection time, but I thought at one point, our modem disconnected but the timer kept increasing. So, I wasn't even sure what it was for.
    To clarify, if you want to get rid of the timer, click on the airport icon on the menu bar and you'll find there is a submenu for your network. In that submenu, you'll find an option for showing the time connected & you'll be able to turn it off.

  • How to remove airport status from menu

    Hi,
    due to an error within my brain.app I forgot to switch off the "show airport status in menu" before using the migration assistent.
    But the new Mac has no airport, Doh!
    Now I am unsable to remove the icon from the finder menu. Am I?
    Any hints how to remove the icon?

    Glad it worked! Thanks for the !

  • My airport status bar shows exclamatory sign

    My mac book pro, when I start internet it does not work. My airport status bar shows exlamatory sign. Massage appears that sf assigned IP address and can not connect to internet

    "Using the AirPort status menu to control AirPort
    You can display the status of your AirPort connection in the menu bar. You can use the AirPort status menu to switch between AirPort networks, turn your AirPort Card on or off, open Internet Connect, or create a Computer-to-Computer network.
    If you want to create a Computer-to-Computer network, make sure the "Allow this computer to create networks" checkbox is selected in the AirPort pane of Network preferences.
    To display AirPort status in the menu bar:
    Open Internet Connect [Application in the "Applications" Folder] and click the AirPort icon in the toolbar.
    Select the checkbox.
    Four signal bars appear in the AirPort status menu. The more bars that are black, the higher the signal quality."
    -- From Mac Help for 10.3

  • Airport status question

    Hi all,
    I just got a new MacBook, and have set up a wireless network at home. Is there any way to remove unwanted wireless networks from the Airport status indicator in the menu bar? I don't really want to see all my neighbor's networks listed there.
    thanks,
    Jon

    System Preferences > Network > Show > AirPort > AirPort tab
    - Show AirPort status on menu bar (enabled)

  • AirPort status icon lost/gone.....

    I am so frustrated. I cannot get my AirPort status icon to appear on my dock even with the "Show AirPort status in menu bar" clicked.
    What am I doing wrong? And what can I do to remedy this situation???

    NVgirl,
    you might try unchecking the option to show airport status in menu bar, quit out of system preferences, then go back in and re-check the option. Sometimes the setting in the property lists isn't updated properly but I find that if I change it to something else, quit the program, and then change it back it will sometimes fix the issue.
    If that doesn't work, might try going to ~/library/preferences/ and deleting com.apple.systempreferences.plist. After that, restart the computer and try re-checking the option.
    Let us know if none of that works

  • AirPort Status on MacPro without a wireless card installed

    Hi,
    I have an interesting glitch. I had used the Migration Assistant to move my preferences and apps over from my MacBook Air to the Pro when I got it. Now I have an icon in the menubar for the Airport status, and I cannot turn it off because there's no airport card installed.
    Is there somewhere that I can go to change the icon to not show?
    Thanks!

    You can get rid of it by pressing the Command key while dragging it off the menu bar. It should disappear in a puff of smoke.
    Keith

  • Can't get Airport status back in menu bar (even by selecting the option)

    The Airport status symbol has disappeared from my menu bar. Selecting the option in System Preferences or Internet Connect does not work and reverts back to being unselected when I go back and check.
    My airport connection is still working, and I can still connect to the internet, but it's annoying if I want to turn Airport off.
    Thanks!
    Message was edited by: squaxon - typo

    Hi Squaxon, and a warm welcome to the forums!
    Try trashing this file and reboot...
    /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/com.apple.airport.preferences.plist

  • How to disable Airport Status using Apple Remote Desktop?

    I am in a school and students have began using the "Create Network" item in the Airport Status menu to send inappropriate messages to each other. I can uncheck the "Show Airport Status in menubar" which will eliminate this but I'd rather not have to go around to 200 computers. Is there a Unix command that I can send in ARD that will disable this menu from even showing up? Thanks.

    I see that you are also using AD and OD together. You can use OD to push out a computer MCX preference, that will disable the student's ability to do just what you want.
    Select the computer list, click preferences at the top, choose Network, Sharing & Interfaces, set it to Always and check Disable Internet Sharing.
    It works well.
    I know this is not what you asked for, but hopefully it solves your problem.
    Bill

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