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AirPort Extreme: Wireless Connection Problems

M

michaelsaxon

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Nov 15, 2006
365
79
We've moved to a new house and I've noticed that our wireless signal on our devices often suddenly drops from full bars to less than full bars (distance away doesn't seem to matter) and we then lose internet connectivity until it restores to full bars.

I've tried switching the channel from auto (where it had set itself to 1) to 11, but that isn't making a difference. I'd blame our ISP, but it does seem to only happen when the bar drops, which makes me think it is a router problem.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
That could be because of many reasons. Could it be that someone uses the microwave when the connection drops? Or that the cooling of your refrigerator kicks in? Or any other big house appliance?

If you have an Airport Extreme with 5GHz and devices which support 5GHz, try to switch to that frequency band. The range is significantly smaller with 5GHz though, so your wireless network might not get into every room in your house (depends on the size of your house of course). The 5GHz band is much less crowded than the 2.4GHz band, which is the band for most WiFis (those from your neighbors could interfere), Bluetooth, cordless phones, baby monitors, wireless speakers, microwaves, etc.

Another thing to try would be to copy a file over your network (from your laptop to another laptop or a hard disk connected to your Airport Extreme). If only the internet connection drops, but the file transfer continues without problems, it's your internet provider/router/modem. If the file transfer rate drops or stalls, it's your WiFi.
 
I had problems where i would lose internet connections. I went into airport utility and changed dns servers from the cable company's, to googles. 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 havent had a problem since.
 
I changed to channel 5 and the Google DNS servers and things seem to be better. I'll report back if the disconnections return!

Thanks!
 
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