New Airport Extreme (MIMO) - 5GHz Issues

[NATO]

I recently bought the new Airport Extreme Base Station (MIMO 802.11n) to replace the previous dual-band Airport Extreme as I wanted the extra range and speed advertised due to the MIMO antenna configuration. However, I've been having nothing but bother with it and after replacing it this afternoon at the Apple Store, I've discovered this replacement is doing the exact same thing!

Basically the problem is that it just won't establish a stable 5GHz network. I've set it up to have a seperate SSID for the 5GHz network for diagnostic purposes and while the 2.4GHz network appears fairly quickly and is very stable, the 5GHz network takes a few minutes just to appear in the list of available networks but I can't connect to it. After a few minutes it disappears from my available network list and reappears at which stage I can connect. However it seems to drop the internet connection after a short while so in essence it's totally unusable for its intended purpose.

I went through Applecare, eventually speaking to a guy from level 2 tech support who went through a whole pile of tests etc and determined that it was a faulty unit (either that or firmware issue). He advised I try exchanging the unit for a new one. I did that today and it shows the exact same issues as before. I've found some threads on Apple's support forums and it seems there are other people having the same issue.

I'm curious if anyone here on MacRumors has bought the new router and is experiencing the same issues as me? The default configuration is for the 5Ghz network set to 802.11a/n and the 2.4Ghz network set to 802.11b/g/n so even though you might be connecting at 'n' speed you might still be on the 2.4Ghz network. The way to check is to connect to your network and then hold 'alt' before clicking the airport icon at the top of your screen. You will see whether you're connected at 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz.

If you're having similar issues I'd love to hear from you.

Thanks.

 

[skorpien]

I'm not experiencing those issues, but then again I have changed the default radio settings. Mine is set to 802.11n only (5GHz) - 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz). The way I figure, I don't really need the a compatibility.

 

[N10248]

Mines been very reliable so far but the 5GHz network does take longer to show up so that bit may be normal.

Also I've made sure my keychain doesn't have the password for the 2.4ghz saved so it will never join the slower network by mistake.

 

[NATO]

I'm not experiencing those issues, but then again I have changed the default radio settings. Mine is set to 802.11n only (5GHz) - 802.11b/g/n (2.4GHz). The way I figure, I don't really need the a compatibility.

Are you definitely sure it's connecting to the 5Ghz network? You have 802.11n on both networks so I'm just curious if it's definitely the 5GHz side you're on.

Thanks

 

[skorpien]

Are you definitely sure it's connecting to the 5Ghz network? You have 802.11n on both networks so I'm just curious if it's definitely the 5GHz side you're on.

Thanks

Positive. I have a unique 5GHz SSID, I've deleted the other SSIDs from my list of wireless networks, and holding down Option while clicking the AirPort fan shows a transmit rate of 270/300 Mbps on my MBP/uMB respectively.

 

[NATO]

Maybe I got two from a bad batch, I might return it and wait a while until the next firmware update then give it another go.

 

[Celeron]

Mine works fine, no problems with the 5ghz band showing up. Have you tried putting it on a different 5ghz channel? I find in my house that channel 149 works best.

 

[rusty2192]

New AEBS worth it?

I didn't really want to start a new thread, and it looks like you guys have experience with the new AEBS, so I figured I'd ask here.

Is the new one (MC340LL/A) much better than the old one (MB763LL/A)? I am thinking about getting one, and there is a refurbished old one for $129 I think, as opposed to $179 for the new one. Is it worth it?

 

[NATO]

Mine works fine, no problems with the 5ghz band showing up. Have you tried putting it on a different 5ghz channel? I find in my house that channel 149 works best.

I've played about with the channels a little and it seems to be working much better on channel 40. I'll run it for a few days and do some tinkering to test it but it seems that it's doing much better now its on a different channel. Although I had my 2.4GHz network set to a custom channel to avoid interference with neighbouring networks, I never had an issue before with the automatic channel selection for 5GHz but it just shows you that you need to check.

The 5GHz channel does seem to show up later than the 2.4GHz but at least it looks as if it's more stable than before.

Thanks I'll post back if I discover any issues in the next few days.

 

[baddj]

Mine works fine but i did have to change the channels.

 

[pedroh]

Thanks

Had the same problem and manually setting the channel appears to have fixed it for now:

It also seems to have fixed the problem I was having with the connection to my base station dropping and hence losing the connection to my AirDisks.

Now onto the next problem that Snow Leopard has caused (Apple have really screwed up this release)