Recently I've been having major problems with my Airport (PowerBook G4) -- a lot of stalls and stops when opening even the most basic webpages, can't download new software (although I did manage to download the latest airport update) -- it's almost as if I'm on dial-up. It's always run a bit slow, but lately it's just been unacceptable. I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with my provider. Does anyone here have any idea why this is happening?
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Airport operating worse than usual...
- Thread starter TootsieToots
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Have you tried Power Cycling? Turn off your computer, and unplug the Airport Router and the cable modem. Wait a minute, and then plug everything back in.
TootsieToots said:
Dunno what OS you have, but I will assume up-to-date on everything. Click airport signal thingy on top right, and click "use interference robustness" or whatever it's called. Then try.
Or....run the airport setup assistant and make sure it doesn't prompt you for any airport firmware upgrades. If so, do them.
And, hmm, any new 2.4ghz phones in the house? Could cause interference.
Also, make sure you're getting a good direct connection from modem to computer. If that's slow, airport will be even slower. Yum.
Good luck!
TootsieToots said:
Are there other wireless networks in the area of yours? Perhaps they are causing interference. Do you live in an apartment or house? What room of your apartment/house are you in with regard to where the airport is located?
Interference Robustness is supposed to help your airport card deal with interference (but shortens your range). My first impression is that something (or someone) is causing interference. Check and see if you pick up any other wireless networks when you go to connect to yours.
I don't own an Airport base station, but I would guess it has similar features to most other routers (firewall, mac filtering etc) - you may wish to play around with its settings (specifically anything related to 'channels') with regard to interference issues and other wireless networks.
Just some ideas.
Last week, my airport express went from awesome (~80% signal strength to my iMac, great speed) to sucktacular (~5% signal strength, terrible speed, when it worked at all). An investigation revealed that a visitor had unplugged the airport, and had stuck it in a power bar between two brick power adaptors (one for the cable modem, and the other for the charging station for some wireless headphones). Obviously, the interference and shielding from those two angry spools of copper were causing the problem - a quick relocate to the original outlet restored my signal to its earlier levels. Dunno if you have the same problem, but if you do, its a quick fix 
Anik
Anik
TootsieToots said:
My airport sucks, too. I noticed that when I ping -f it, I get about 27% packet loss consistently (this is pinging it from the wired network). I get 0% pinging my router or any other machine in the house. I've tried different network jacks but it's always the same with the airport. My signal strength is good, and I can regularly ping things. It's just I drop packets between the airport and the main router. It sucks.