Slow Connection Between Airport Bases?

[antoinelive]

Hello everyone!

I have a Wifi network at home with two airport bases (1 airport extreme base with USB drive hooked up, 1 airport Express) They are both on the same network and use 802.11n.

Here are the access speed to the hard drive I get when my macbook is connected through wifi to the different airport bases:
- connected to the airport Extrem: up to 7.1 Mo/s
- connected to the airport Express: up to 1.2 Mo/s (and not allways!)
It seems that the connection between the two bases is not fast enough!?
I have tried to restart both stations, but it didn't make any differences.

When I test the internet connection, there are no differences between the two bases, but then, the speed of my connection is never so fast (max 800ko/s)

My question is: is this huge difference normal? Should I check or change something?

Thank you for your help!
Have a good day!

Antoine

PS: I search the forum, but didn't find any topic on that... May have missed it... If it exists, be so kind to let me know! Thanks

 

[Warnich]

I have the same problem.
However, my network has not always been that slow.

I've exchanged the Airport Express - same difference.
So I'll try to do a complete reset of the Extreme.

 

[SteinMaster]

I have an Airport Extreme, Time Capsule, and Airport Express on my home network. I set-up the Airport Extreme as my base connected to my cable modem. I was getting slow connections (transfer rates = 40-50) because it was in the basement. I bought an Airport Express and set it up to join my Airport Extreme network. I use the Express for AirTunes. The Airport Extreme was set to allow the network to be extended (in Airport Utility). I then set-up a Time Capsule also to join my network and to extend the network. I have the Time Capsule sitting by my desk so my Time Machine backups are fast. Now I get blazing fast transfer speeds (250-300). I have notice a significant increase in my wireless speeds. I get a strong signal on the third floor also.

Check to see how your routers are set-up on the network in Airport Utility. Try extending the network on the Airport Extreme and have the Airport Express join the network in order to extend the network. I would do a factory reset on both routers to make sure you are starting from scratch.

You also may want to check your wireless channels for your network. I use iStumbler to see if there are other wireless networks (neighbors) that are using the same channel as me (2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies). I did change my 2.4 Ghz channel and saw some transfer speed improvements. My neighbor was using the same channel with a strong signal, so there was some interference.

802.11n uses the 5Ghz frequency. If you have a lot of walls or other obstructions, this will significantly slow down your transfer speeds. 5Ghz is pretty much line of sight for the best performance. 2,4 Ghz is better at penetrating walls. Access where your routers are and if walls, metal, etc could be affecting the signal strength. Good luck.

 

[Warnich]

Downgrade your Time Capsule firmware to 7.4.2
(there's a menu for it in Airport Tool)

Worked for me