A Time Machine, a Airport Extreme and an Airport Express: still drops signal

[aaronchow]

I live in a two stories building. I have the cable modem setup at the basement connecting with a Time Machine. Then on the second floor I have an Airport Extreme setup at one end and an Airport Express at the other end. They were setup as an extenders. I set the network using 5GHz N only.

But my network still drops from time to time and sometimes surfing the web is extremely slow, so I have to unplug and replug the routers downstairs in order to get back the regular speed. Is this normal? Is setting up too many extenders a problem?

I am renting an old Motorola cable modem from Comcast. If I purchase a newer modem myself, will I see drastic improvement on internet speed?

 

[waw74]

wireless networks aren't an exact science, what works in one place, may not work in another. due to differences in construction, and outside interference. also using wireless extenders will hurt your speed, as the first repeater will use half of it bandwidth to talk to the main, and the other half to talk to the other side. also 5GHz is apparently really bad about going through walls.

also with cable modems, your speed will vary over the day, depending on your neighbors activity. i've seen anywhere from 2MB/s down to about 1MB/s it's always slowest in the early evening when my neighbors get home from work.

as far as a new modem fixing things, 2 questions...
if you plug in via ethernet to the router in the basement, are you still running slow?
do your file transfers to the time capsule run at normal speed while the internet is slow?

if the answer is yes, then a new modem might help.


that being said, not sure why replugging the main speeds up your internet.

also if there is anyway to run a cable up to one or both of the devices on the second floor, that would also help out a lot.

 

[gsahli]

Get iStumbler and check if there are interfering routers nearby:
http://www.istumbler.net/index.html
If so, change channels.