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AC Extreme extending 5th gen extreme wireless - how to improve it?

D

Drecca

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 30, 2010
252
66
So I have all of my laptops upstairs, along with almost everything using a wireless connection. My downstairs only has the apple TV.

My cable connection comes into the house downstairs, near my bookshelf. So I have the cable modem plugged into the 5th gen airport extreme.

I then extended the wireless signal using the AC airport extreme upstairs.

For the most part it works fine, but there are times where the connection lags just a tiny bit, with dropped packets too between the routers. For example during a voip call, the other person would start talking and I only catch the tail end of their sentence. And then as long as that conversation continues, all is fine

Jabber / IM conversations too. Most of the time, sentences will be posted right away, sometimes there will be lag. I open a traceroute and there are timeouts between the routers when this happens.

So would buying another AC airport extreme and connect it downstairs help with this? Or do i really need to start drilling holes and wiring all this?
 
C

COrocket

macrumors 6502
Dec 9, 2012
485
12
Have you tried using the AC router as the original and the 5G to extend? The AC has a more powerful antenna, so it might help get a better signal upstairs to be rebroadcast.
 
Altemose

Altemose

macrumors G3
Mar 26, 2013
9,189
487
Elkton, Maryland
Drecca said:
So I have all of my laptops upstairs, along with almost everything using a wireless connection. My downstairs only has the apple TV.

My cable connection comes into the house downstairs, near my bookshelf. So I have the cable modem plugged into the 5th gen airport extreme.

I then extended the wireless signal using the AC airport extreme upstairs.

For the most part it works fine, but there are times where the connection lags just a tiny bit, with dropped packets too between the routers. For example during a voip call, the other person would start talking and I only catch the tail end of their sentence. And then as long as that conversation continues, all is fine

Jabber / IM conversations too. Most of the time, sentences will be posted right away, sometimes there will be lag. I open a traceroute and there are timeouts between the routers when this happens.

So would buying another AC airport extreme and connect it downstairs help with this? Or do i really need to start drilling holes and wiring all this?
Click to expand...

Hook the AC AirPort Extreme to the Modem and if absolutely necessary, make the 5th gen the extender. The newer one is stronger so it may be plenty strong for what you need.
 
A

Agent47

macrumors member
Jun 11, 2014
68
74
Extending a Wifi network will introduce lag due to the packets having to be relayed. VoIP and video streaming will suffer. Also consider that the extended network segment communicates with the main network at half-duplex, introducing more potential for lag.

Unfortunately I'd drill some holes and run some CAT6, and install another access point connected to the airport extreme. Or another Airport extreme in bridge mode.


Drecca said:
So I have all of my laptops upstairs, along with almost everything using a wireless connection. My downstairs only has the apple TV.

My cable connection comes into the house downstairs, near my bookshelf. So I have the cable modem plugged into the 5th gen airport extreme.

I then extended the wireless signal using the AC airport extreme upstairs.

For the most part it works fine, but there are times where the connection lags just a tiny bit, with dropped packets too between the routers. For example during a voip call, the other person would start talking and I only catch the tail end of their sentence. And then as long as that conversation continues, all is fine

Jabber / IM conversations too. Most of the time, sentences will be posted right away, sometimes there will be lag. I open a traceroute and there are timeouts between the routers when this happens.

So would buying another AC airport extreme and connect it downstairs help with this? Or do i really need to start drilling holes and wiring all this?
Click to expand...
 
R

rkuo

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2010
1,207
810
I'm assuming if it was convenient to hardwire you would have done it already.

First, use the 802.11ac extreme as your main router. Be sure to place it away from metal shelves and try to get it physically closer to the area where you have dropouts.

Second, locate the extender closer to your main router. It's important that you give the extender the best signal possible to extend while still covering the areas you need covered. You can try to test the signal strength in the location where you place the extender with istumbler and a macbook. SNR needs to be 25db or higher.

Third, what are you making VoIP calls with and what band are they on? If it's 2.4ghz you might be getting interference from around the house or from neighbors. If you can VoIP on 5ghz that will make the likelihood of external interference much lower.
 
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