Increasing speed on Apple network

[omeletpants]

I have the following set-up:

-iMac next to DSL router with Airport Extreme. Downloads are at 5.2mb

-Macbook at other end of the house with a Airport Express 10 feet away. Download speed is 1.7mb

Networks settings:
-Automatic connection
-WAP2 Personal
-None of the proxy settings are checked
-Extreme in simultaneous dual band
-Express in 802.11N

The Airport Extreme is located as high as I can go

Any thoughts on improving speed of the Macbook location? Thanks.

 

[calderone]

Can you be more specific on your download speeds? What are you using to test? Are your figures in megabits or megabytes?

mb doesn't really refer to anything. MB is megabyte. Mb is megabit.

 

[omeletpants]

All are kbps

 

[calderone]

All are kbps

Kilobits/sec. Are you sure?

 

[omeletpants]

The sad part is that the Macbook is in a room just outside my coverage range. If I move the Macbook just 5 feet closer to the Extreme then I get 5000 kbps. But with the Express and the Macbook in that room I drop down to 1700 kbps.

 

[omeletpants]

Kilobits/sec. Are you sure?

Yes, that's what the Speakeasy test site says.

 

[calderone]

You say there is an Airport Express in the mix. Do you have it configured to act an as extender?

On the Macbook. Hold option and click the airport menu bar icon. What is your Transmit Rate?

To add, if you do have the Express configured as an extender, make sure the BSSID is reporting as the Express' Airport ID and not the Extreme.

 

[omeletpants]

You say there is an Airport Express in the mix. Do you have it configured to act an as extender?

On the Macbook. Hold option and click the airport menu bar icon. What is your Transmit Rate?

To add, if you do have the Express configured as an extender, make sure the BSSID is reporting as the Express' Airport ID and not the Extreme.

this is what it shows when I'm in the other room near the Express:

Airport: on
PSY Mode 802.11N
Channel 2 2.4ghz
RSSI -47
TX Rate 104
MSC Index 15

When I take the Macbook back to the room with the DSL router and Extreme all the values change

Transmit rate goes to 149
Channel 149 5 ghz


Finally, both the the Macbook and iMac show a different BSSID ID when they are separated. When I bring the Macbook to the same room as the iMac then they show the same BSSID

 

[calderone]

So when near the Express, you are connected to the Express via 2.4Ghz 802.11N on channel 2.

When near the Extreme, you switch to 5Ghz.

This is evident from the BSSID switch. I still need to know what role the Express has. You can check this in Airport Utility. Is it extending or joining your Extreme?

Is your Extreme dual band? If so, and you Express is 5Ghz capable (it should be) then extend the 5Ghz SSID and see what happens.

It could be a DNS issue, but I would need to know more about your setup.