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What's wrong with my wireless internet?!?!

T

theTechnician

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 15, 2008
47
0
HELP!!!

My wireless network in my house consists of a 500gb Time Capsule with both N and G band. It is one of the older models so it can only run on either N or G, so we have it on G. We also have a airport express (same situation with the N and G, neither are simultaneous dual band capable) on G as a repeater and my wireless internet is beyond unusable. I just ran a speed test on speedtest.net and got 11.46mbps download and 1.46 upload on ethernet with wifi turned off. Then, I unplugged the ethernet and turned on wifi and restarted the speed test. On WiFi, I got 0.30 mbps down (!!!) and 1.46 up. I have a umbp but the problem exists on all the computers in the house. My ISP is AT&T U-Verse. Help is appreciated!!!
Thanks!

the Technician (Andy)
 
Were you in the same room as the router when you did both tests? What were the different speeds on the different computers? What type of wifi cards do they have ?
 
My computer was plugged directly into the router for the ethernet and was sitting next to (about a foot away) the router for the wireless test. All the computers have integrated AirPort cards in them if that's what you were asking.
 
i am a little confused-is the wifi unusable because of the repeater is or is the repeater necessary because using wifi in your home is unstable without it
 
The problem appears to be with your download speed as your upload speed is the same for both ethernet and wireless.

Concentrate on the download speed. Simplify your network... cable to modem to router to wireless laptop.

All computers have the same issue so we will rule them out as being the problem. That leaves the router. It's not your ISP as they just provide the cable feed to the modem. The modem feeds the router and since ethernet speed is fine it's not the modem. The router take the feed coming out of the modem and turns it into ethernet and wireless. So the problem is in the router. Either it's a hardware problem with the router or its with the software or your settings. I would check your configuration settings on the router to see if you have it's speed throttled or if you have a percentage of it split like 80% reserved for your Time Capsule and 20% reserved for wireless.

Just some thoughts... sorry for the ramble.
 
xlii said:
The problem appears to be with your download speed as your upload speed is the same for both ethernet and wireless.

Concentrate on the download speed. Simplify your network... cable to modem to router to wireless laptop.

All computers have the same issue so we will rule them out as being the problem. That leaves the router. It's not your ISP as they just provide the cable feed to the modem. The modem feeds the router and since ethernet speed is fine it's not the modem. The router take the feed coming out of the modem and turns it into ethernet and wireless. So the problem is in the router. Either it's a hardware problem with the router or its with the software or your settings. I would check your configuration settings on the router to see if you have it's speed throttled or if you have a percentage of it split like 80% reserved for your Time Capsule and 20% reserved for wireless.

Just some thoughts... sorry for the ramble.
Click to expand...

I was starting to think that the Time Capsule could be hogging the wifi-maybe put the it on the ethernet?
 
xlii said:
Here is something else that is easy to try to check for packet loss. This is just in case your router is flaky and dropping packets (kind of a stretch but easy to find out). Just read this link and try what they tell you.

http://mactips.info/2009/04/how-to-check-your-internet-connection-with-ping
Click to expand...

Those are the results of pinging google.com over ethernet.

--- google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 35.672/37.254/40.467/1.412 ms

I just ran the same test over wireless 3 times and got 3 different results. The first time I got 0% packet loss. The second time I got 30% packet loss, and the third time I got 10% packet loss.

Wifi Ping Data

PING google.com (209.85.225.103): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=36.403 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=38.299 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=37.327 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=5 ttl=52 time=37.614 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=6 ttl=52 time=37.696 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=8 ttl=52 time=39.996 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=9 ttl=52 time=43.960 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 7 packets received, 30.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 36.403/38.756/43.960/2.355 ms
 
cuestakid said:
I was starting to think that the Time Capsule could be hogging the wifi-maybe put the it on the ethernet?
Click to expand...

That's why I suggest he simplify his network just so he can debug this. Remove the repeater, remove time capsule. Just keep the bar minimum network so he can see what is wrong. It could be that remove those two pieces "fixes" the problem. Simplify and isolate the problem will make it easier to figure out. With the data we have right now there is no, "oh, I know what it is answer".
 
UVerse

I don't know if this is the same issue as mine, but I was escalated to Tier 2 support at Uverse, and he had me test my Ethernet connection and it was normal. As soon as I plugged the ethernet into the Airport, my download speed dropped to .03Mbps and Upload stayed the same. The tech then did some tests and determined that there is something going on with the Apple router that is causing some type of double NAT problem and there is nothing they can do about it. Hope that helps!
 
Well, heres the setup I have now. In the basement I have the Modem. The modem goes to a netgear ethernet switch, and the switch goes to a patch panel. Then the ethernet gets sent to cat5e jacks in every room in the house. I have the time capsule plugged into the ethernet wall jack in the office, and have my Macbook and iMac plugged into the time capsule. The time capsule can't be in the basement with the modem permanently because the concrete foundation of the basement just destroys the wireless signal. The airport express is on the main floor to extend the range of the network because it doesn't quite reach the whole house without it.

Knowing that, how would i go about simplifying my network?
 
sccrrich said:
I don't know if this is the same issue as mine, but I was escalated to Tier 2 support at Uverse, and he had me test my Ethernet connection and it was normal. As soon as I plugged the ethernet into the Airport, my download speed dropped to .03Mbps and Upload stayed the same. The tech then did some tests and determined that there is something going on with the Apple router that is causing some type of double NAT problem and there is nothing they can do about it. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

I'll look into it, thanks!
Might be time for me to drop all things networking that have an apple logo on them though, as I haven't had much luck with them...
 
theTechnician said:
Those are the results of pinging google.com over ethernet.

--- google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 10 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 35.672/37.254/40.467/1.412 ms

I just ran the same test over wireless 3 times and got 3 different results. The first time I got 0% packet loss. The second time I got 30% packet loss, and the third time I got 10% packet loss.

Wifi Ping Data

PING google.com (209.85.225.103): 56 data bytes
Request timeout for icmp_seq 0
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=36.403 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=38.299 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=37.327 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 4
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=5 ttl=52 time=37.614 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=6 ttl=52 time=37.696 ms
Request timeout for icmp_seq 7
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=8 ttl=52 time=39.996 ms
64 bytes from 209.85.225.103: icmp_seq=9 ttl=52 time=43.960 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 7 packets received, 30.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 36.403/38.756/43.960/2.355 ms
Click to expand...

Packet loss isn't good. You should have zero % packet loss. That tells me right there that you have a flaky piece of hardware somewhere in your wireless network. What happens in real life... when you have packet loss, the packets get retried and that slows down the speed of your network.

If you can simplify your network to the bare essentials of cable to cable modem to router to wireless laptop. If that fails and you can's spot anything in your router's configuration that would be throttling the signal then I would say the router is bad. But if you can eliminate the time capsule and the repeater from your network and see if that helps or makes no difference you would be well on your way to figuring out what is wrong.
 
theTechnician said:
Well, heres the setup I have now. In the basement I have the Modem. The modem goes to a netgear ethernet switch, and the switch goes to a patch panel. Then the ethernet gets sent to cat5e jacks in every room in the house. I have the time capsule plugged into the ethernet wall jack in the office, and have my Macbook and iMac plugged into the time capsule. The time capsule can't be in the basement with the modem permanently because the concrete foundation of the basement just destroys the wireless signal. The airport express is on the main floor to extend the range of the network because it doesn't quite reach the whole house without it.

Knowing that, how would i go about simplifying my network?
Click to expand...

Maybe put the iMac adn Macbook into wall jacks? Also, do you have a any kind of network jack tester ? There may be some kind of issue with the wiring potentially-its unlikely but it might be a good idea to test them
 
theTechnician said:
Well, heres the setup I have now. In the basement I have the Modem. The modem goes to a netgear ethernet switch, and the switch goes to a patch panel. Then the ethernet gets sent to cat5e jacks in every room in the house. I have the time capsule plugged into the ethernet wall jack in the office, and have my Macbook and iMac plugged into the time capsule. The time capsule can't be in the basement with the modem permanently because the concrete foundation of the basement just destroys the wireless signal. The airport express is on the main floor to extend the range of the network because it doesn't quite reach the whole house without it.

Knowing that, how would i go about simplifying my network?
Click to expand...

I had to go and read up on the time capsule as I've never owned one or looked into it.

(http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/TimeCapsule_SetupGuide.pdf)

It sounds to me like it is either the time capsule or the airport express or their settings. So is the cable modem connected to the ethernet connections through the patch panel to both the time capsule and the airport express? If that is the case try this: Turn off the airport express and see if your wireless improves. If it doesn't turn the airport express back on and turn off the time capsule and see if that improves your wireless speed.

Another thing to try would be to remove both the time capsule and the airport express and go through the setup routines again as if you just purchased them. Doing just one and seeing if your wireless speed improves and then doing the setup on the other one.

As you can see there are no easy answers. Good luck.
 
This has nothing to do with you current wireless speed problem. But when you get that fixed you might want to look into this and see if it can help improve your speedtest speed. I never thought that my 10 year old cable modem was the bottleneck in keeping me from higher speeds but it turned out it was. I have comcast internet and with my 10 year old modem my speedtest download speed was 5.5.Mbps and my upload speed was 1.4 Mbps. When I got a new Docsis 3.0 cable modem my speeds went to 30 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up with no changes to my cable plan. You just need to check that your internet provider supports Docsis 3.0 cable modems in your area. So if you have an old modem like I did. Getting a new one could improve your speed quite a bit.
 
xlii said:
This has nothing to do with you current wireless speed problem. But when you get that fixed you might want to look into this and see if it can help improve your speedtest speed. I never thought that my 10 year old cable modem was the bottleneck in keeping me from higher speeds but it turned out it was. I have comcast internet and with my 10 year old modem my speedtest download speed was 5.5.Mbps and my upload speed was 1.4 Mbps. When I got a new Docsis 3.0 cable modem my speeds went to 30 Mbps down and 6 Mbps up with no changes to my cable plan. You just need to check that your internet provider supports Docsis 3.0 cable modems in your area. So if you have an old modem like I did. Getting a new one could improve your speed quite a bit.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but I when I was upgrading our home network I believe that I read something about how a DOCSIS 3.0 modem could be a free upgrade, depending on your carrier. Again, I very well could be wrong but I thought I read that it is possible so it may be worth investigating
 
cuestakid said:
I could be wrong but I when I was upgrading our home network I believe that I read something about how a DOCSIS 3.0 modem could be a free upgrade, depending on your carrier. Again, I very well could be wrong but I thought I read that it is possible so it may be worth investigating
Click to expand...

It is a free upgrade from Comcast. I decided to buy my own after Comcast raised the rental fee (for any modem you rent from them) to $5 dollars a month.
 
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