Poor WiFi Speed on new Airport Extreme

[topgazza]

Easy to get working but my speed is 65 on my Oct 2013 iMac upstairs whereas on my daughters 2013 MBP in the same room its 156. Both say they are on 2.4GHz.

Its seems a waste of time having an ac wifi if my house/walls won't allow the 5Ghz range to be chosen. But the difference in performance between the iMac and MBP is surprising and disappointing. I probably get the same from my Sky router

Anyone any ideas or tips please ?

 

[wuush]

• Relocate the iMac to a different position with better Reception
• Move Airport and iMac away from large Structures (Metal etc.)
• Look for Wifi Interference on the 2,4 Ghz Band with something like iStumbler or a mobile App, then change the channel accordingly
• Use Wired Keyboard and/or Mouse since bluetooth interferes with the 2,4 Ghz Band
• Move the MBP to a different location since it interferes with the iMac Wifi
• Get A different AC Router with external antennas.
• Move your Airport Extreme to a different position, preferable away from Kitchen Equipment (Microwave) and Phones, higher up(i.e. not standing on the ground) is also a good idea.
• Try to use the 5Ghz Band.
• Get a directional Repeater just for your iMac

Information on the Building, Pictures or maybe draw a sketch of your network in your home.

I don't believe you would get the same network speeds with a standard router supplied by your ISP, that must be the best ISP in the world, but try it out and post the results this might help. Does the Sky Router have External Antennas? was it in the same Location as the Airport Extreme now?

 

[topgazza]

Basically my router is downstairs in the lounge near the phone socket with the AE alongside it or in the hallway with little interference from walls or other equipment with a clear "view" up the stairs to my study

Sky router performs a little bit worse on the MBP but the same , transmit speed a solid and constant 65, on the iMac which is nearer the AE. So I get the same performance on the iMac no matter what position I put the AE in but some difference on the MBP.

I have the AE set to network -router mode - OFF bridge mode
Network mode - Create a a wireless network

Sky Router/Modem - Wireless off

I know the ISP router is not the best but its OK and its difficult to change as its part of the package. The improvement in wireless with the AE is just not worth the extra money. Mainly I was wondering if there was any thing I need to select on the AE different ? Its working but its not great. A transmit speed of 65 is no great shakes

EDIT: just created a dedicated 5GHz network and MBP went up to 300 and iMac 176 which is plenty ! But still puzzled why MBP is significantly better than the iMac... which is newer and is on Mavericks whereas MBP is still on 10.8.5 ? Also the automatic function clearly isn't working properly as the interference is obviously not significant because 5Ghz is getting such a good performance. Curious...

 

[wuush]

Basically my router is downstairs in the lounge near the phone socket with the AE alongside it or in the hallway with little interference from walls or other equipment with a clear "view" up the stairs to my study

Sky router performs a little bit worse on the MBP but the same , transmit speed a solid and constant 65, on the iMac which is nearer the AE. So I get the same performance on the iMac no matter what position I put the AE in but some difference on the MBP.

I have the AE set to network -router mode - OFF bridge mode
Network mode - Create a a wireless network

Sky Router/Modem - Wireless off

I know the ISP router is not the best but its OK and its difficult to change as its part of the package. The improvement in wireless with the AE is just not worth the extra money. Mainly I was wondering if there was any thing I need to select on the AE different ? Its working but its not great. A transmit speed of 65 is no great shakes

EDIT: just created a dedicated 5GHz network and MBP went up to 300 and iMac 176 which is plenty ! But still puzzled why MBP is significantly better than the iMac... which is newer and is on Mavericks whereas MBP is still on 10.8.5 ? Also the automatic function clearly isn't working properly as the interference is obviously not significant because 5Ghz is getting such a good performance. Curious...

The automatic network selection in Mavericks suck* ****. Especially when both Bands have the same SSID. I think i read in the Yosemite Forum it is better in 10.10 and selects 5Ghz when the Bandwidth is better and doesn't go for signal strength, which Mavericks is apparently doing and thats why it prefers 2,4 Ghz so often.

I just think the MacBooks are better engineered since they are for mobile use and often rely on Wifi, still sucks, especially because i think both (imac and macbook pro) have 3 antennas.

The only thing which might improve your wifi reception without too much hassle might be to place your Airport Extreme on a shelf (higher up) and use a longer Lan Cable from Sky Modem to the Airport Extreme.

 

[topgazza]

I'll try both of those and many thanks for your advice...always appreciated

Apple is this curious mix of great looking, well engineered and integrated systems only let let down by "little" things like this. Microsoft never used to care but with Apple its seems a curious oversight and complacency in some parts of the business. Still...when it all works its brilliant

 

[sharky25ant]

The automatic network selection in Mavericks suck* ****. Especially when both Bands have the same SSID. I think i read in the Yosemite Forum it is better in 10.10 and selects 5Ghz when the Bandwidth is better and doesn't go for signal strength, which Mavericks is apparently doing and thats why it prefers 2,4 Ghz so often.

I just think the MacBooks are better engineered since they are for mobile use and often rely on Wifi, still sucks, especially because i think both (imac and macbook pro) have 3 antennas.

The only thing which might improve your wifi reception without too much hassle might be to place your Airport Extreme on a shelf (higher up) and use a longer Lan Cable from Sky Modem to the Airport Extreme.

Create a different 5GHz network from the airport application and then go for the network preferences from the mac. After that put the 5GHz network to first place and 2,4 GHz the second place. I solved my automatic 2,4 GHz selection problem on wifi like this. So when my macbook close to timecapsule it always selects 5GHz...

 

[wuush]

Create a different 5GHz network from the airport application and then go for the network preferences from the mac. After that put the 5GHz network to first place and 2,4 GHz the second place. I solved my automatic 2,4 GHz selection problem on wifi like this. So when my macbook close to timecapsule it always selects 5GHz...

Thank you, i know this, but i just think this way of doing it isn't really easy and simple.

It would be way better if they just changed the way how Mavericks handles Wifi-Signalstrength.

Pretty much every Router has the same ssid for 2,4 Ghz and 5 Ghz in stock configuration and the fact that OSX doesn't even prefer 5Ghz even with an airport extreme just shows its ****ed up at the moment.

 

[topgazza]

After playing with the position of the AE I now get 176 - 264 Mbs...on my iMac for some reason it does go up and down. Which I guess is pretty good ?

 

[rkuo]

Basically my router is downstairs in the lounge near the phone socket with the AE alongside it or in the hallway with little interference from walls or other equipment with a clear "view" up the stairs to my study

Sky router performs a little bit worse on the MBP but the same , transmit speed a solid and constant 65, on the iMac which is nearer the AE. So I get the same performance on the iMac no matter what position I put the AE in but some difference on the MBP.

I have the AE set to network -router mode - OFF bridge mode
Network mode - Create a a wireless network

Sky Router/Modem - Wireless off

I know the ISP router is not the best but its OK and its difficult to change as its part of the package. The improvement in wireless with the AE is just not worth the extra money. Mainly I was wondering if there was any thing I need to select on the AE different ? Its working but its not great. A transmit speed of 65 is no great shakes

EDIT: just created a dedicated 5GHz network and MBP went up to 300 and iMac 176 which is plenty ! But still puzzled why MBP is significantly better than the iMac... which is newer and is on Mavericks whereas MBP is still on 10.8.5 ? Also the automatic function clearly isn't working properly as the interference is obviously not significant because 5Ghz is getting such a good performance. Curious...

Wifi access points have the best transmission in a horizontal donut pattern. Not a sphere. That may account for your lower speeds. You should try testing the iMac at a similar distance but on the same floor and see how it does.