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Time Capsule wireless range = not good?

G

grimslade

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2008
57
0
I've been trying to get my TC up and running. What I've found is that the TC seems to have considerably less range than my Verizon-provided Westell DSL Modem/Router. As in, I get no signal from the TC in rooms in my house in which the Westell router does just fine.

This is frustrating. Has anyone else noted poor range from TC's base station? Have any tricks/tips?

TIA
 
You could try an set it to 5Ghz rather than the default 2.4. There may be other appliances in the 2.4Hhz frequency that may be interfering.
 
HLdan said:
You could try an set it to 5Ghz rather than the default 2.4. There may be other appliances in the 2.4Hhz frequency that may be interfering.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I've got it on 5Ghz only. Reception still stinks. No one else thinks so? Maybe it's just me...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

I have had poor reception also.
 
I installed the TC last weekend in our computer room, which is in the front of the house. I replaced a 2-3 year old Linksys router (probably running 'b') which was running just fine.

I thought 'n' was going to be an improvement - wrong!! I don't get nearly the same range from the TC that I did with that old $50 router. Most of the rooms in the back of the house have are getting a signal strength of 3 out of 5 bars. We used to get to 5 bars.

Very strange. I certainly did not expect to get a worse signal from a $300 device.
 
grimslade said:
Thanks. I've got it on 5Ghz only. Reception still stinks. No one else thinks so? Maybe it's just me...
Click to expand...

It's the 5Ghz that's causing the problems, I think. The higher frequency does not travel so far. Try switching it to 2.4 Ghz and you'll find much better distance. Of course, you then lose transfer speed.

I had this problem with my AEBS. I kept it at 2.4 Ghz until the new Airport Express came out and then bought two of those as a range extender. Now at 5 Ghz right throughout 3 floors of my house.
 
I wonder what's causing people to have such bad reception. I have a pretty big house, Time Capsule at 5GHz (802.11n only) on the middle floor near far corner. Full bars reception throughout the house.
 
numbersyx said:
It's the 5Ghz that's causing the problems, I think. The higher frequency does not travel so far. Try switching it to 2.4 Ghz and you'll find much better distance. Of course, you then lose transfer speed.

I had this problem with my AEBS. I kept it at 2.4 Ghz until the new Airport Express came out and then bought two of those as a range extender. Now at 5 Ghz right throughout 3 floors of my house.
Click to expand...

I've come to that conclusion as well. It seems to be working fine on 2.4G. It gives up some speed, but speed doesn't matter if I can't get a signal. My apartment is not huge, but the walls are pretty thick, and I guess they don't play nicely with 5GHz. My TC is not ideally situated either, but it's where my Internet connection comes in, so I can't do much about it right now. My Express (with N) didn't help either, because where I have it (near my stereo), it couldn't hold a signal from the base station. Ah, well... I may get another couple of Expresses at some point and go back to tinkering. For now, I've gone to N (g/b/a compatible) and disabled my DSL modem's wireless function.
 
I am seeing this issue on mine too, but it is a little wierd. My g/f's Macbook can see it just fine with the current settings. My Macbook pro is having issues. Any ideas there?
 
I'm getting much better signal using 5 GHZ. When my Apple TV was using 2.4 GHZ, I had about 3 bars. When using 5 GHZ, all bars lit up.
 
I think in general, in a clean spectrum, 2.4GHz will have been speeds at further distances than the same signal in 5GHz.

I think the major problem with the 2.4GHz is the interference from a) other devices b) other wireless networks.

The 5GHz band is clearer, but I think in general the wavelengths don't go as far.

I tested a TC running 5GHz n only this weekend....and a Linksys running 2.4GHz G only. After a certain point.....maybe a 150 or so feet away, I got better speeds on the G network than the N network.

-Kevin
 
I tried moving the laptop around in the house and it seems to be an issue with one room. I am still trying to work that out.
 
Sometimes I wonder if the range problem with the TC and the AEX is in the design. Sure it looks great, but everybody else in the world that makes these things have external antennas sticking out of them.
 
swamph3 said:
Sometimes I wonder if the range problem with the TC and the AEX is in the design. Sure it looks great, but everybody else in the world that makes these things have external antennas sticking out of them.
Click to expand...

I thought that too...but if you look at the new line of Linksys routers, which are replacing the current blue generation:

8639958_rb.jpg


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8639958&type=product&id=1194054018654

No antennas at all. Looks like all the new Linksys models are going with this new design.



-Kevin
 
houses, rooms, all differ

Ikyo said:
I tried moving the laptop around in the house and it seems to be an issue with one room. I am still trying to work that out.
Click to expand...
One thing that people never think about is that every house (and sometimes every room), can react differently to radio waves. My hundred year old pile of wood and plaster is virtually radio-transparent, but not all houses are.

Brick versus wood walls makes a difference, but more importantly there are a lot of places downtown nowadays that are made of concrete and steel. A lot of residential houses in the suburbs also use those idiotic metal studs in the walls. :eek:

In other words, if you live in a newer house or condo you could have your Time Machine situated in the equivalent of a Faraday cage.
 
swamph3 said:
I wonder if that Linksys model ends up with a reduction in range versus the older models with two antenna and that spatula thing in the middle.
Click to expand...
I'm currently in the basement connected to that Linksys model, while at the same time I can't even see my TC which is siting right next to the Linksys. I'm no more than 6 feet below and 30 feet away, 5 bars on Linksys, TC not even visible. TC is on 5GHz, I guess if I want to use it in my house I'll have to switch it to 2.4 :(
 
digik9 said:
I'm currently in the basement connected to that Linksys model, while at the same time I can't even see my TC which is siting right next to the Linksys. I'm no more than 6 feet below and 30 feet away, 5 bars on Linksys, TC not even visible. TC is on 5GHz, I guess if I want to use it in my house I'll have to switch it to 2.4 :(
Click to expand...

I have noticed the range of the TC when using 5GHz only to be less than a 2.5GHz Linksys. I attribute this to the 5GHz vs. 2.4GHz however, not the Linksys vs. the TC.

-Kevin
 
Range Problems in n

This is weird.... I'm set for an n only, 5ghz, and not getting any signal on my MacBook Pro... in the same room where my Apple TV is getting full bars on the same network.

I do have two wireless networks going.... an AEBS transmitting a b/g signal, that gets full bars around the house. The two are right next to each other, could the AEBS be interfering with the Time Capsule signal?

Just today I rewired my setup... was going through a linksys router into the airports... and in THAT setup, I was getting much better range from the Time Capsule. Weird...

I'm torn between returning the time capsule, or buying an n airport express to extend the network.

Any thoughts / help is appreciated.
 
TC wireless range

grimslade said:
Thanks. I've got it on 5Ghz only. Reception still stinks. No one else thinks so? Maybe it's just me...
Click to expand...

I live in a condo and the wireless range from the TC (using 5GHz) is much more limited than my Telus DSL / wireless router 2.4 GHz.
 
lole said:
I live in a condo and the wireless range from the TC (using 5GHz) is much more limited than my Telus DSL / wireless router 2.4 GHz.
Click to expand...

I've found the range is fine on 2.4Ghz mode. Just frustrating that I can't use 5GHz in my building, since i thought that was supposed to be a more interference-free band.
 
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