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WiFi disconnecting?

MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
Hi,

Previously our AEBS was at the furthest end of the house and I'd experience some kind of WiFi drop out. The WiFi icon on the menu at the top of the screen would still show four bars of strength, but if I opened AirPort utility it would show I'm disconnected from the internet (the globe) and a warning symbol next to the AEBS, stating that it was previously a part of the network.

We moved the AEBS to a better location which is literally in the room next to me, however I just noticed it happen again now after a couple of weeks.

We have the 4th Gen AEBS, handling DHCP & NAT, and I have the base 2011 21.5 inch iMac.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?
 
T

ttx336

macrumors newbie
May 29, 2011
14
0
MythicFrost said:
The WiFi icon on the menu at the top of the screen would still show four bars of strength [...]
Click to expand...

for the majority of us, we connect first to a LAN (local area network) and through it connect to the WAN (wide area network, typically The Internet). Your WiFi signal is showing the signal strength from your router (AEBS in your case), which is your connection to your LAN. You can have a great LAN connection, either WiFi or wired Ethernet and have no connection or a poor connection to the Internet (WAN),

You have already mentioned NAT, that is one necessity for connecting to the Internet, DNS is another and you have to have a public IP address, which is usually done via DHCP by the router, this is a separate subnet from your LAN.

All that to say, if you have a good LAN connection but poor or no Internet, look at the "other side" of the router, you may have to contact your ISP for some help there, but the bottom line is the router is just not connecting to the ISP's network to get out to the outside world.

How is the AEBS connected? Is it wired to a modem?

-Gary
 
Last edited:
MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
ttx336 said:
for the majority of us, we connect first to a LAN (local area network) and through it connect to the WAN (wide area network, typically The Internet). Your WiFi signal is showing the signal strength from your router (AEBS in your case), which is your connection to your LAN. You can have a great LAN connection, either WiFi or wired Ethernet and have no connection or a poor connection to the Internet (WAN),

You have already mentioned NAT, that is one necessity for connecting to the Internet, DNS is another and you have to have a public IP address, which is usually done via DHCP by the router, this is a separate subnet from your LAN.

All that to say, if you have a good LAN connection but poor or no Internet, look at the "other side" of the router, you may have to contact your ISP for some help there, but the bottom line is the router is just not connecting to the ISP's network to get out to the outside world.

How is the AEBS connected? Is it wired to a modem?

-Gary
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply,

We have a Gateway modem (w/ DHCP & NAT disabled) which shares the connection to the AEBS (which is handling DHCP & NAT) via ethernet.

The signal strength shows very strong, but when I launch AirPort utility it can't find the AEBS. For that reason, I don't think the LAN connection is good -- and I think the problem is the AEBS, not the modem or ISP.

If I toggle WiFi on and off after this problem occurs, it's fixed immediately. But then it could come back a minute, an hour or a day later.
 
MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
Giuly said:
If it is located literary next to you, why don't you just hook up the iMac via Ethernet and see whether it help or not?
Click to expand...
It's not right next to me, it's in the next room which I share a wall with, but to run a cable from there out the door and then into the back part of my room is far too long.

Strangely enough I never experience WiFi dropouts when I dual-boot Windows 7. Sometimes slow performance, but never dropouts.

iPad and iPhone are also fine. The problem was worse (and effected iPhone and iPad) when it was far away.
 
Giuly

Giuly

macrumors 68040
Oct 16, 2009
3,348
4
That depends whether you ask for timezone, state o
You can run a single Category 5e cable over 100 meters/300ft, so that shouldn't be a problem.

But it all appears to point to bad reception of the iMac, so either have it checked out at an Apple Store or add an AirPort Express to the network, either as an extender or as a bridge via Ethernet on the iMac.
 
MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
Giuly said:
You can run a single Category 5e cable over 100 meters/300ft, so that shouldn't be a problem.

But it all appears to point to bad reception of the iMac, so either have it checked out at an Apple Store or add an AirPort Express to the network, either as an extender or as a bridge via Ethernet on the iMac.
Click to expand...
Ah, I see. Good to know.

I thought that, but then my iPad and iPhone also had these issues when the AEBS was further away. My family's Macs also were experiencing the issue too.

I thought maybe other nearby networks could be disrupting the AEBS?
 
MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,940
38
Australia
ttx336 said:
I'm very sorry that I only just now saw that you had replied to me!! :confused:

Did you get this resolved? If so, how? If not, perhaps I can be of some assistance...

-Gary
Click to expand...
No problem :)

Yes we moved the router closer, and now it doesn't drop out anymore. Thanks =)
 
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