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AirPort issues...

rcr

rcr

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 27, 2010
67
0
Bristol
My wireless connection is very unreliable, dropping off every 30mins/couple of hours. I live in a block of flats and there's lots of networks so I figured that may be an issue.

I read that changing the frequency to 5GHz in the AirPort Utility can help, but the Utility doesn't find any AirPort device. Am I missing something? Could there be a problem with AirPort?
 
Do you have an Apple Airport Extreme base station? If not, you can't use the Airport Utility. You'll have to use whatever config mechanism is provided by your base station.
 
Airport Utility will ONLY work if you are using one of these three devices:

Airport Extreme
Airport Express
Time Capsule

If you are using a third party router then you will need the utility of that router to change the channel. Look in the router's manual or type in http://192.168.1.1 or http://192.168.0.1 to access the settings. If you still can't figure it out look at the manufacturers web site for support.

The major benefit of using Apple's routers (noted above) are their ease use and reliability. They're very non geeky and incredibly simple to set up.
 
Thanks for your replies.

I was confused as the wireless receiver on my iMac is called AirPort. But this is just the receiver right and not the router, which is where the frequency is adjusted.
 
I'm still finding my internet freezes now and then. It doesn't come up lost connection, the loading bar on Safari stops and it just, freezes. I get it going again by stopping AirPort and then starting again. Only takes a few seconds to do, but it's an irritation.

I notice that it intermittantly flashes up 'looking for networks' on the right click AirPort menu even when it is connected.

Any suggestions?
 
rcr said:
I'm still finding my internet freezes now and then. It doesn't come up lost connection, the loading bar on Safari stops and it just, freezes. I get it going again by stopping AirPort and then starting again. Only takes a few seconds to do, but it's an irritation.

I notice that it intermittantly flashes up 'looking for networks' on the right click AirPort menu even when it is connected.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

It could be several things, the first I'd check is the channel being used on your router. Most default to 5 or 6 however if you live in an area where there are lots of Wi-Fi networks you may be competing for the same channels. You can download and run iStumbler, let it run for about 10-15 minutes and it will tell you what channel you and the neighbors are using. If my guess is right then change the channel to one not being used. You will have to look at the manual for your router. It that isn't it another guess is the DNS settings your ISP is using.
 
Level is 4 yellow bard, signal 35-42% noise 9% channel 1... BTOpenzone and BTFON are on the same channel here and are the only other service with the same signal strength (we are on BTHomeHub2).

Is this typical?
 
rcr said:
Level is 4 yellow bard, signal 35-42% noise 9% channel 1... BTOpenzone and BTFON are on the same channel here and are the only other service with the same signal strength (we are on BTHomeHub2).

Is this typical?
Click to expand...

So, you have several networks, and they're all on the same channel? You already have your answer: pick a different channel. I'd change it to 11.
 
Detrius said:
So, you have several networks, and they're all on the same channel? You already have your answer: pick a different channel. I'd change it to 11.
Click to expand...

I figured out the two other networks on the same channel are also mine, they're the open network originating from my router, so if I change my router channel they also change. Which means no body else is on channel 1. So I don't think that is my problem... I think it's either something to do with safari which is where the jams occur or the wireless receiver.
 
rcr said:
I figured out the two other networks on the same channel are also mine, they're the open network originating from my router, so if I change my router channel they also change. Which means no body else is on channel 1. So I don't think that is my problem... I think it's either something to do with safari which is where the jams occur or the wireless receiver.
Click to expand...
Turn off those unprotected network connections and try a different browser,or try redownloading safari.
 
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