Time Capsule consistently dropping signal while transfering files.

[JW008]

I posted last week wondering which of my devices (TC, iMac (running 10.5.2), Apple TV) was malfunctioning and now I'm pretty sure it's Time Capsule running in 5 Ghz 802.11n.

My Apple TV cannot keep the signal-- it drops it daily--which means I have to retype the password every single time (which those of you with long passwords on your Apple TV know is reaaaally annoying). When transferring files (be it to the Apple TV or to the TC hard drive) it consistently drops the signal and makes me restart the file transfer.

A couple of notes:
1) I have an Airport Express running in bridge mode and when I switch to use that network (802.11g), I've had no trouble syncing anything to my Apple TV.

2) I usually can get around 1 GB transferred without a problem, but anything over that I get the dropouts.

3) If I'm browsing the web it seems as if the file transfers do better--still not great--but better. (This might be a spurious relationship, though--I have no idea if keeping the TC connection active really would make the transfer run better).

4) I couldn't get the initial Time Machine back up to wirelessly back up (around 60 GB), but after transferring using ethernet, I've not had any problems with subsequent back ups--but they've all been well under 1 GB.

5) I've not been able to sync a movie to my Apple TV while using the N network. The signal is dropped every single time.

I'm about ready to call Apple and see what they say, but wanted to check here first and see if anyone had any suggestions about things to try, settings to change, etc. Or if anyone had any general opinions or insights into the problem.

Thanks!

 

[Monetthecat]

Have you checked to see if you have an other networks on the same channel around you? iStumbler is a nice widget to see what networks you might be conflicting with.

I was having the same issues with the Time Machine dropping a file large transfer. I corrected the issue by removing the 2 NAS drives I had attached to the TM and hardwiring the AppleTV to the TM for the initial transfer. I'm running b/g/n 2.4 and while I'm disappointed in the range and throughput I'm getting at least the connection stays up now

 

[JW008]

Have you checked to see if you have an other networks on the same channel around you? iStumbler is a nice widget to see what networks you might be conflicting with.

I was having the same issues with the Time Machine dropping a file large transfer. I corrected the issue by removing the 2 NAS drives I had attached to the TM and hardwiring the AppleTV to the TM for the initial transfer. I'm running b/g/n 2.4 and while I'm disappointed in the range and throughput I'm getting at least the connection stays up now

Do you have a link to iStumbler? What exactly would it show me?

Have you had any luck with large file transfers now or are you still having problems?

Thanks!

 

[Monetthecat]

Here is the link: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/networking_security/istumbler.html

 

[iSee]

My solution:

I've been watching this thread for an answer because I've been having the same problem after recently getting a TC. I've got now so that it doesn't keep dropping the signal. I had a similar setup:

TC: 802.11n, 5Ghz -- DHCP server, connected to broadband router.
AEBS (White UFO): 802.11g, bridged from the TC.

One weird thing about my setup: I am using a rev A MBP upgraded with an 802.11n card. Heh, can't call Apple support with that in the mix 😉.

For me, the fix was setting the TC to 802.11n, 2.4GHz (or whatever the lower frequency is, I can't remember exactly now.) I guess my cordless phones were interfering at 5GHz. Could be other devices, too. In my case, it's probably not a neighbor's device, but that is also possible.

Oh well. I assume 5Ghz would have been faster if it had been reliable. But I wasn't able to complete any of my benchmarks. I haven't had a chance to run my benchmarks with the current settings, but it is clearly a lot faster than before.