Airport Extreme dual-band 802.11n & new XBOX 360 Slim

[St. Germain]

I'm having issues getting my new XBOX 360 Slim to connect to my dual-band Airport Extreme when using wireless n. I can get it to connect with n but my connection speed on the 360 drops to 1 or 2 mbps, even though the signal remains strong. I can see the speed drop of the 360 using Airport Utility on my laptop. All other devices on the network are fine. When I switch the 2.4 GHz band on the AE to b/g only, then the connection speed on the 360 shoots up to 54 mbps. That of course neuters the rest of my wireless n devices to g speed since most connect to the 2.4 GHz band due to the limited distance of the 5 GHz band.

Short of finding a solution, my next step is to try a different router brand. I'd rather stick with Apple, but have had more issues with 2 AE models than all of my other Apple hardware combined.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I'm having issues getting my new XBOX 360 Slim to connect to my dual-band Airport Extreme when using wireless n. I can get it to connect with n but my connection speed on the 360 drops to 1 or 2 mbps, even though the signal remains strong. I can see the speed drop of the 360 using Airport Utility on my laptop. All other devices on the network are fine. When I switch the 2.4 GHz band on the AE to b/g only, then the connection speed on the 360 shoots up to 54 mbps. That of course neuters the rest of my wireless n devices to g speed since most connect to the 2.4 GHz band due to the limited distance of the 5 GHz band.

Short of finding a solution, my next step is to try a different router brand. I'd rather stick with Apple, but have had more issues with 2 AE models than all of my other Apple hardware combined.

I'll be honest...I don't like Airport. You could always try a new router and if it doesn't change simply return it. I don't know the controller the 360 has in it. It could be a very low quality one compared to what's installed in Laptops etc. Have you tried with the 360 being the only wireless device on the network? Also do remember that if you're not downloading anything or doing any gaming on the xbox the bandwidth used will drop on any monitoring tools you might be using.

One last thing, try downloading a large game demo and see if the outgoing bandwidth is relatively correct. I have attached 2 pictures of what my network speeds look like with Wireless N from a laptop. Notice that Uploading to the server spikes faster but also drops considerably while downloading from the server is more consistent. I use a Netgear WNR3500L router running DD-WRT firmware.

802.11n down

802.11n up

 

[St. Germain]

I figured out the issue. I had my dual-band AE set to broadcast the 5 GHz band as a separate network name. When I did this, the 360 Slim didn't see the 5GHz band at all and whenever I connected to the 2.4 GHz band using n, I would see the drop in speed.

After A LOT of testing and returning the first 360 Slim, I figured out that if I didn't set the AE to broadcast the 5 GHz band with it's own SSID name, the 360 would connect just fine in wireless n. In fact it is connecting much more reliably to the 5 GHz band on my AE than my late 2009 MBP.

 

[TyShawn]

Just ot verify You are saying keep the %Ghz SSID the same or unchecked in "Wireless Network Options" and this should fix the issue? I have tried making the SSID different and leaving it the same and still am only connecting at <10 Mbps. Making streaming movies impossible to do.

 

[nermal0]

Thanks for bringing the issue up in this thread. In the airport utility I also see that my xbox 360 is connected at 5mbps speed only, which slows down my game downloads.

Your solution of not having a separate SSID for the 5GHz network didn't work for me, it still connects at 5mbps only. In fact initially it starts connecting at 58mbps, but as soon as you transfer data to the xbox it falls down to 5. Signal quality is excellent since the 360 sits right next to the AE.

802.11n can be used in the 5GHz band and the 2.4GHz band. The 360 only supports the 2.4GHz band, it will never see or use the 5GHz. There seems to be an incompatibility with the 2.4GHz 802.11n mode between the 360 and the AE. When I set the AE Radio Mode to "Automatic", 802.11n will be used in both bands. Setting it to "802.11a/n - 802.11b/g" will disable n on the 2.4 GHz band. The xbox now connects at 54mbps 802.11g, which is fast enough for me. My 802.11n devices still connect to the 5GHz band and get full speeds. Except for my iPhone 4S, which supports n on 2.4GHz only. The speed on the 4S drops from 68mbps to 54mbps, and I can live with that.

In short: AE's 802.11n is causing problems with xbox 360 slim (at least for me). Using 802.11g in the 2.4GHz band fixed it for me.

 

[psxguru]

Thanks for bringing the issue up in this thread. In the airport utility I also see that my xbox 360 is connected at 5mbps speed only, which slows down my game downloads.

Your solution of not having a separate SSID for the 5GHz network didn't work for me, it still connects at 5mbps only. In fact initially it starts connecting at 58mbps, but as soon as you transfer data to the xbox it falls down to 5. Signal quality is excellent since the 360 sits right next to the AE.

802.11n can be used in the 5GHz band and the 2.4GHz band. The 360 only supports the 2.4GHz band, it will never see or use the 5GHz. There seems to be an incompatibility with the 2.4GHz 802.11n mode between the 360 and the AE. When I set the AE Radio Mode to "Automatic", 802.11n will be used in both bands. Setting it to "802.11a/n - 802.11b/g" will disable n on the 2.4 GHz band. The xbox now connects at 54mbps 802.11g, which is fast enough for me. My 802.11n devices still connect to the 5GHz band and get full speeds. Except for my iPhone 4S, which supports n on 2.4GHz only. The speed on the 4S drops from 68mbps to 54mbps, and I can live with that.

In short: AE's 802.11n is causing problems with xbox 360 slim (at least for me). Using 802.11g in the 2.4GHz band fixed it for me.

I have mine set to 2.4GHz b/g/n and 5GHz n only. Hold down option before clicking on radio modes if you don't see this combination available.