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5th Gen Airport Extreme issues

S

supernet33

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 29, 2008
367
25
So I had a 4th gen APE and it worked great but I got a new 5th Gen APE for a gift....

My internet was going really really slow, speed tests were .05 down... but the wifi connection strength is perfect...

I use my MBA and on the 5Ghz and speed tests are great...

So I change the channel on the 2.4GHz to channel 10 and speeds are great on the iPhones and iPad... I change back to automatic and speeds are crappy again...

Could it be the APE is bad? How come my 4th Gen worked perfect on automatic but not the 5th?
 
supernet33 said:
So I had a 4th gen APE and it worked great but I got a new 5th Gen APE for a gift....

My internet was going really really slow, speed tests were .05 down... but the wifi connection strength is perfect...

I use my MBA and on the 5Ghz and speed tests are great...

So I change the channel on the 2.4GHz to channel 10 and speeds are great on the iPhones and iPad... I change back to automatic and speeds are crappy again...

Could it be the APE is bad? How come my 4th Gen worked perfect on automatic but not the 5th?
Click to expand...

Do you have interference robustness enabled? There could be a lot of other people near you (maybe) that have routers on the same band. Are you using Airport Utility 5.6 so you can still use the advanced features?
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Do you have interference robustness enabled? There could be a lot of other people near you (maybe) that have routers on the same band. Are you using Airport Utility 5.6 so you can still use the advanced features?
Click to expand...

Thanks, I tried to install it but it is saying I can't since I have ML..

I don't think i can enable interference robustness with the new air port util :(
 
supernet33 said:
Thanks, I tried to install it but it is saying I can't since I have ML..

I don't think i can enable interference robustness with the new air port util :(
Click to expand...

Hmmm... that stinks. I have it on my iMac which has Mountain Lion, but I installed it when Lion was on it so it got migrated. I just tried to install it on my new MBP with ML and got the same thing you did. That's unfortunate because the new AirPort Utility isn't very good lacking the advanced settings.

Edit: Do this; I just did it and it works. :)
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Hmmm... that stinks. I have it on my iMac which has Mountain Lion, but I installed it when Lion was on it so it got migrated. I just tried to install it on my new MBP with ML and got the same thing you did. That's unfortunate because the new AirPort Utility isn't very good lacking the advanced settings.

Edit: Do this; I just did it and it works. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks, Where is that setting?
 
supernet33 said:
Thanks, Where is that setting?
Click to expand...

Here it is...

Screen%2BShot%2B2012-02-13%2Bat%2B5.30.36%2BPM.png
 
Last edited:
Thanks for trying....

Could it be this Airport is bad?

Doesn't the automatic pick out the best channel ???
Like I said my old 4th gen was perfect..
 
SandboxGeneral said:
See the edit in my last post.
Click to expand...


Thanks but what I don't get is my signal strength is perfect, great... but when i surf the internet or do speed tests it's complete crap..

And like I said, the 4th gen worked perfect.... in the same spot.. So far i miss my 4th gen, i wish i didn't sell it :(
 
supernet33 said:
Thanks but what I don't get is my signal strength is perfect, great... but when i surf the internet or do speed tests it's complete crap..

And like I said, the 4th gen worked perfect.... in the same spot.. So far i miss my 4th gen, i wish i didn't sell it :(
Click to expand...

Is there any reason you can't leave it on 2.4GHz channel 10? You said that setting worked great right?
 
SandboxGeneral said:
Is there any reason you can't leave it on 2.4GHz channel 10? You said that setting worked great right?
Click to expand...


Channel 10 worked great, but then went slow again!!! now channel 4 is way better, but I had to disable "use wide channels" (look at attached pic from post)..

I just don't get it at all why my 4th gen worked great but this newer improved 5th gen sucks.


Also another thing, i checked under system profile, wi fi, what other people are using the same channels i was using and 1 other person is but very weak signal.. AND i used a channel that no one was using and still slow speeds
 
supernet33 said:
Channel 10 worked great, but then went slow again!!! now channel 4 is way better, but I had to disable "use wide channels" (look at attached pic from post)..

I just don't get it at all why my 4th gen worked great but this newer improved 5th gen sucks.


Also another thing, i checked under system profile, wi fi, what other people are using the same channels i was using and 1 other person is but very weak signal.. AND i used a channel that no one was using and still slow speeds
Click to expand...

How long before the speed goes from good to poor? Can you post some numbers on those speeds? Do you have an Ethernet adapter for you Air or another computer you can hook up via Ethernet? If so, do they experience the same slow speed over the wire?
 
SandboxGeneral said:
How long before the speed goes from good to poor? Can you post some numbers on those speeds? Do you have an Ethernet adapter for you Air or another computer you can hook up via Ethernet? If so, do they experience the same slow speed over the wire?
Click to expand...

About 1-2 min, but seems stabled now on channel 4..
Ethernet works great, just 2.4Ghz wireless is slow.
 
supernet33 said:
Thanks, do you have any idea why my 4th gen was rock solid and this one isn't?
Click to expand...

No I don't, I can only speculate.

Perhaps there is something wrong with it, or maybe Apple changed the way the AEBS works in some way or maybe your old had interference robustness turned on whereas this one doesn't have it at all.
 
There are a number of factors with wireless that depend on who your wireless neighbors are. Not much you can do about that, unfortunately.
 
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