Device limit on Airport Extreme?

[Crazy Badger]

I know these are obsolete now, but I have one from 2013 which still works perfectly well, or at least it seemed to be. Over that time the number of connected devices has continued to grow, and I now think this might be causing problems with some devices intermittently dropping off and then back onto the network.

I have less than 16 devices hard wired through 2x8 port switches into a single port on the AE, and probably other 20-25 devices connecting via WiFi. One of the hard wired devices is a FreeNAS server, which is running various VMs so is probably using another 13 or so static IP addresses, so I'm nowhere near the 255 limit for the IP range.

Any idea what the limits are for these, as I can't seem to find anything definitive online?

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I know these are obsolete now, but I have one from 2013 which still works perfectly well, or at least it seemed to be. Over that time the number of connected devices has continued to grow"
and
"Any idea what the limits are for these, as I can't seem to find anything definitive online?"

Does it matter, so long as it "still works perfectly well" ?

When you run up against "the limit", you'll soon know about it...

 

[Crazy Badger]

Thanks for your incredibly helpful input, but I also wrote:

" I now think this might be causing problems with some devices intermittently dropping off and then back onto the network."

This is why it matters, as I think I might be running up against it.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I now think this might be causing problems with some devices intermittently dropping off and then back onto the network."

Perhaps, then, it's time for something newer.

I wouldn't recommend an Airport Extreme, however -- they're old technology that Apple has discontinued development of.

I'd be looking at one of the new "mesh type" systems that use two or three units, such as Netgear's Orbi, the Linksys Velop, google wifi, eero, Ubiquiti Amplifi, etc.

I have a Velop 2-unit system, it works fine. I will say upfront that my internet connection is on the slow side (8.4mbps at its best), so the old 2009 Airport Extreme that I have works about as well as the Velop. But then again, I'm not connecting more than a few devices to either of them at any one time.

 

[Crazy Badger]

Thanks for more words of wisdom

Actually, they did get thinking about adding another AirPort Express onto the network which I had sat doing nothing in the garage. Extending the network has resulted in a split of devices across the 2 AirPorts which so far appears to have resolved the issue.

The main problem was with Alexa and a number of TP-Link smart plugs dropping of the network and making my smart home seem pretty dumb. Since adding the Express they’ve not dropped off once in the last 12 hours, so maybe that’s the solution if you have similar random disconnects from a AirPort Exteme - add an AirPort Express

 

[Mac*Brian]

OK, so I’m resurrecting a really old thread, but it helped me immensely today! I’ve got two Airport Extremes and probably way too many home-automation devices. ? One is a base station and the other one is configured as an Extender. Both are on wired Ethernet. Lately I’ve been having trouble with some of my WiFi light switches in the house mysteriously dropping off the network. Last summer I picked up a couple of Airport Extremes at a garage sale for $10 each. (One of them is actually a 2TB time capsule but the hard drive needs replaced. That’s an optional project for another day!) The other one is just a normal Extreme. I finally got my drill out and drilled a hole in a wall to run an Ethernet cable out to my garage where I added that 3rd Extreme as another extender. This gives me the capacity for 150 wireless clients now. This thread encouraged me to go ahead and “get ‘er done” and I’m really happy with the results. I have 3–4 Wyze cams right outside the garage that now have a full three bar signal strength because of the third extender. I have greater capacity now for wireless clients and this additional extender also gives me more reliable Wi-Fi further out in the yard for when I’m weeding in the flower beds and streaming audio.

Yeah, I know the AirPort Extreme is old, dated and discontinued technology…but it’s working well for me and I’ve been able to grow it to meet my needs. Yeah, eventually I’ll switch to something newer…someday…but in the meantime…the Extremes gives me “mesh” networking on the cheap!

 

[Earl Urley]

I'm still using a last-gen AEBS with three Wyze cams, including the latest Wyze Cam Pro.. the AEBS has a 1.5 GHz dual CPU, its really nicely powered for its intended purpose, which is as a straight access point doing no routing, it's hooked into a Mini configured with pfSense.

 

[EugW]

I'd be looking at one of the new "mesh type" systems that use two or three units, such as Netgear's Orbi, the Linksys Velop, google wifi, eero, Ubiquiti Amplifi, etc.

I have a Velop 2-unit system, it works fine. I will say upfront that my internet connection is on the slow side (8.4mbps at its best), so the old 2009 Airport Extreme that I have works about as well as the Velop. But then again, I'm not connecting more than a few devices to either of them at any one time.

There is pseudo-mesh support with the AirPort Extremes. It works to provide seamless handoff... but only with Apple devices. That's fine for me though since all of our non-Apple hardware is stationary anyway, and it works with the latest Apple hardware including the iPhone 14 Pro Max we got this week. Because the units are cheap on the used market these days, I built up a multi-access point setup using them, and it's 100% stable.

BTW, that ancient AirPort Express on the left still works, but the latest AirPort Utility software can't read its status because it's old. Also, the "Cabane" is actually a shed outside. I ran outdoor Ethernet to the shed for better backyard coverage, and that works great too even through our Canadian winter. I even had one partially exposed to the elements in another spot in the backyard and that worked too until some animals chewed through the Ethernet cabling.

 

[xraydoc]

There is pseudo-mesh support with the AirPort Extremes. It works to provide seamless handoff... but only with Apple devices. That's fine for me though since all of our non-Apple hardware is stationary anyway, and it works with the latest Apple hardware including the iPhone 14 Pro Max we got this week. Because the units are cheap on the used market these days, I built up a multi-access point setup using them, and it's 100% stable.

View attachment 2108892

BTW, that ancient AirPort Express on the left still works, but the latest AirPort Utility software can't read its status because it's old. Also, the "Cabane" is actually a shed outside. I ran outdoor Ethernet to the shed for better backyard coverage, and that works great too even through our Canadian winter. I even had one partially exposed to the elements in another spot in the backyard and that worked too until some animals chewed through the Ethernet cabling.

I'm doing essentially the same thing. I've got four AirPort 802.11ac units all connected with a gigabit ethernet backhaul, all configured for the same SSID, and they give me excellent coverage throughout the house and along its perimeter for security cameras. Our MacBooks, iPhones and iPads devices happily bounce between the APs as they need to switch to get the best signal. My non-Apple home automation gear is stationary like yours, so it's a non-issue for them, and the two desktop PCs I have in the house are connected via ethernet.

The only issue I have is with a single stubborn older model AppleTV 4K attached to a TV in front of my treadmill in the basement. Despite an AirPort not 25 feet away, it insists on connecting to a different one upstairs, resulting in tons of video buffering and pixelation issues. I set up a separate AP with a unique SSID just for this specific AppleTV as it's not in a place where ethernet is convenient, and that fixed the issue of course, but still a weird phenomenon. The treadmill right next to it and the TV it's connected to don't exhibit this weird behavior of connecting to a distant AP, so it's something odd with this one specific AppleTV or a curious signal void in it's exact location (it's on top of the TV which is mounted up on the wall, so not easy to move).