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Airport Express Speed Issues

J

JHeincker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 22, 2007
8
0
Ok my current set up includes a cable modem to a Linksys wired router, to an Xbox 360, PS3 and Airport Express. This is the set up I have had for about three months. When downloading files or streaming videos the download speed rarely settles in more than 200 kb/s. My old place had a DSL model, which had a slower internet connection, but the airport express speeds(same set up) were much faster. I have tried directly wiring the computer to the router which unsurprising, resulted in much higher speeds.

The things I can think it could be:

1. A lot of wireless networks in the vicinity.

2. Airport express just not up to streaming at hight 802.11n speeds, although it is rated for them.

3. Attached to a slower port on the router.

Anyone have any ideas on what the issue(s) might be?
 
for most routers, if you have a device that is wirelessly connected at a slower than N speed (a,b,g), the whole frequency will be stuck at that speed. might this be the case?
 
Have you tried changing the channel on the Airport? Go to Airport Utility>Manual Setup>Wireless>Channel and then set it to "1" try an Internet speed test, if still slow try channel "6" and then the speed test again, and then "11" if neither of the first two give desirable results. Another thing you could try is seeing if moving the computer next to the router affects the speed incase you are getting interference.
 
I am currently downloading a large file, and the only device connected should be a new macbook(aluminum), and I am running at approximately 70kb/s. Seems really slow.

Moving closer did nothing. There is two iphones in the house, but neither one should be connected, as they are both on standby and showing 3G. The only thing I can think of is an older airport express that isn't n compatible, but that is what I was originally using as the main base station at the last place, and I was getting speeds way faster than 70kb/s.

Would updating to a time capsule as a main base station speed things up?

I have swept the channels, and they all run about the same. 6 was the fastest though, so that is what i am currently running on.
 
What was the result when directly connected to the modem and wireless when using www.speedtest.net ? Also, when downloading files it is dependent upon server speed as well as your internet connection, so that does not necessarily mean that your internet speed is 70KB/s.
 
Wireless: 1.59 mbps download
0.88 mbps upload

Wired: 2.73 mbps download
0.92 mbps

Pretty Standard??????

When wired the same file that was downloading at 70 kbps wirelessly levels out at 1.4 MB/s wired.

Something seems wrong. Wired is 20x faster than wireless????
 
JHeincker said:
Wireless: 1.59 mbps download
0.88 mbps upload

Wired: 2.73 mbps download
0.92 mbps

Pretty Standard??????

When wired the same file that was downloading at 70 kbps wirelessly levels out at 1.4 MB/s wired.

Something seems wrong. Wired is 20x faster than wireless????
Click to expand...

I think that you might be a bit confused, when you are downloading it is read in KBps and not kbps as they are different measurements of speed. KBps stands for kilobytes per second while kbps stands for kilobits per second, a KB is 8 times a kb. ie. 100KBps = 800kbps. Now your wireless is slower than it should be as your wired connection is a bit less than twice as fast.

You might want to try changing your DNS servers now, go to System Preferences>Network make sure that AirPort is highlighted and then click on "Advanced". Now click on the DNS tab, try adding "4.2.2.1" and "4.2.2.2" then hit ok and apply. Then try the speed test again.
 
iBookG4user said:
I think that you might be a bit confused, when you are downloading it is read in KBps and not kbps as they are different measurements of speed. KBps stands for kilobytes per second while kbps stands for kilobits per second, a KB is 8 times a kb. ie. 100KBps = 800kbps. Now your wireless is slower than it should be as your wired connection is a bit less than twice as fast.

You might want to try changing your DNS servers now, go to System Preferences>Network make sure that AirPort is highlighted and then click on "Advanced". Now click on the DNS tab, try adding "4.2.2.1" and "4.2.2.2" then hit ok and apply. Then try the speed test again.
Click to expand...

I was speaking about the readings from safari. When downloading the file wirelessly safari tells me it is downloading around 70 KB/s and when downloading while connected directly to the router it is up to around 1.4 MB/s. I understand that wireless will be slower, but that much slower???

Thanks for clarifying the kb and KB difference for me. I have always been curious, but never looked it up.

Also on the DNS servers. Currently I have three listed, and they are all 68.105.XX.XX I am reluctant to add the two that you mentioned as they seem completely different from what I already have. If you insist that is something i should try I will add them. Let me know!

Thanks for all your help!
 
JHeincker said:
I was speaking about the readings from safari. When downloading the file wirelessly safari tells me it is downloading around 70 KB/s and when downloading while connected directly to the router it is up to around 1.4 MB/s. I understand that wireless will be slower, but that much slower???

Thanks for clarifying the kb and KB difference for me. I have always been curious, but never looked it up.

Also on the DNS servers. Currently I have three listed, and they are all 68.105.XX.XX I am reluctant to add the two that you mentioned as they seem completely different from what I already have. If you insist that is something i should try I will add them. Let me know!

Thanks for all your help!
Click to expand...

You download at 1.4MB/s when connected to the modem? That doesn't make any sense at all, that would mean you have an 11mbps connection. Your speedtest said that you had a 3mbps connection, what is the quoted speed of the connection that you pay for? And if you want to read up a bit on DNS servers you can look here, but basically the ones that I gave you will find the local DNS server and connect to those. I Pinged them with my computer and they gave me a very fast response time, you could always save the ones that you're using right now and change back if the new servers don't help.
 
The service I pay for is download speeds up to 12.5 Mbps so that seems right.
The modem is plugged into the router which was plugged into the laptop. I made sure to check that the file was actually downloading at 1.4 MBps not Mbps. I am not currently around the cpmuter I'm on my iPhone but I hope to be back with access to the setup soon, so I can run the speed test again
 
Retest for wired connection:

Download: 25.89Mbps
Upload: 1.09 Mbps

Retest for wireless connection

Download: 1.63 Mb/s
Upload: 0.56 Mb/s

That big of a difference seems really off to me.
 
1. activity from other devices
2. activity in local area from other networks.

wireless will not be maxed out by your internet connection, even with 802.11g, you should be seeing download speeds of the full 25mb/s (bits) - but something is not configured properly (or too much interference).

i know that at my house, the microwave will bring our wireless to a complete hault.

wired ftw.
 
DoFoT9 said:
1. activity from other devices
2. activity in local area from other networks.

wireless will not be maxed out by your internet connection, even with 802.11g, you should be seeing download speeds of the full 25mb/s (bits) - but something is not configured properly (or too much interference).

i know that at my house, the microwave will bring our wireless to a complete hault.

wired ftw.
Click to expand...

I do live in an appt, and there is several(10) other networks i can see. So maybe if anyone is running the microwave, or on a cordless phone that could be it, but I agree with that stuff that it usually brings it to a grinding halt, not slowing it down.

Does anyone think the router might be some of the problem?
 
JHeincker said:
I do live in an appt, and there is several(10) other networks i can see. So maybe if anyone is running the microwave, or on a cordless phone that could be it, but I agree with that stuff that it usually brings it to a grinding halt, not slowing it down.

Does anyone think the router might be some of the problem?
Click to expand...

could be, try running it at 5GHz (802.11n) only, and not 802.11g (2.4GHz) and see how you go
 
iBookG4user said:
Have you tested the wireless network with another computer, and does it have the same issues?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I only have one computer.

DoFoT9 said:
could be, try running it at 5GHz (802.11n) only, and not 802.11g (2.4GHz) and see how you go
Click to expand...

I have an older airport express that I use to hook up a printer in the office. It does not have the n capability. I could try to use the just one to see the outcome.

I reset everything, and the speed was nearly equal. It has been slowing since. I am not sure what the deal is. I think that maybe using an apple router instead of me 4 year old linksys might help, and give me better control over my router settings. Download speed has increased five fold though just by resetting the router and cable modem. I did get the wireless to return a speedtest download speed of 24.X Mbps speed, but I am not sure what is causing it to slow like this.
 
JHeincker said:
I have an older airport express that I use to hook up a printer in the office. It does not have the n capability. I could try to use the just one to see the outcome.

I reset everything, and the speed was nearly equal.
Click to expand...

it has to be something to do with interference then, either that or it is failing (doubt it).
 
I'm having a similar problem with my Airport Extreme.

Been prefectly fine and super fast for over a year, but now the speeds are extremely slow and it's having a hard time connecting.

Wireless d/l speeds are at 1.6 Mbps
Wired d/l speeds directly off modem are at 24.x Mbps

I'm currently on 7.4.2 firmware, but had down graded to 7.4.1 and 7.3.2, still having the problem on those. Changed channels, still having problems.

Next step is to go to only 5GHz on 802.11n, but if that doesn't work.... I'm out of ideas.
 
Try updating to the newest firmware then doing a "Restore Default Settings" in AirPort Utility and setting up the base station again. That improved my AEBS that had been through a number of firmware upgrades/downgrades and was experiencing poor performance.
 
Make sure you're running at 5.0ghz(N) only - 2.4ghz spectrum is too prone to interference. If you can't get it to change to 5.0ghz click on the wireless options button and make sure your country is set to United States and that "use wide channels" is checked also. When you've done all this and it's set to 5.0ghz, sit right on top of it and see what kind of throughput you get.

Also - uncheck the "enable air tunes" check box in the music tab if you're not going to use airtunes on it.

If this doesn't work - it's buggered.
 
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