Why is my Airport Extreme only doing half the speed it should be?

[Apple!Fre@k]

Quick question: straight from the modem, I'm getting 62Mbps on the Speakeasy speed test. I hook my Airport Extreme (802.11/n version) up to the modem, connect via wireless to my 27" iMac a mere 6 feet away and the speed tops out at 25Mbps. What would cause the Airport Extreme to output such poor performance? Isn't it capable of speeds upward of 100Mbps?

One possible cause is that the modem is plugged into the CAT5 hub (the apartment is wired for CAT5) and then the Airport Extreme is plugged into the CAT5 outlet in my home office (but it's all CAT5 wired cable so I doubt there would be any problem there -- I just haven't checked the speed at the outlet in the room). I would just run a wired line, but it would cut across the entry to the room and I don't feel like stringing a CAT5 30 feet around the entire room and hiding it under the baseboard.

Any ideas why I'm getting less than half the performance I should be out of the Airport Extreme?

 

[belvdr]

Do you have any 802.11g clients attached?

 

[spinnerlys]

The AEBS should deliver speeds of up to 7MB/s, which is only 56Mbit/s, even though it is rated higher. Click on the AirPort icon on the Menu Bar while holding down the OPTION/ALT key and look for the Transmit Rate and see, what it says there.

Cat5 cables are capable of transmitting up to 11MB/s (88Mbit/s), maybe you can do a test run via cable.

Btw, are any objects in the way of the AEBS and your iMac?

 

[belvdr]

The AEBS should deliver speeds of up to 7MB/s, which is only 56Mbit/s, even though it is rated higher.

It can do much more than that. I routinely push mine higher over 802.11n.

Click on the AirPort icon on the Menu Bar while holding down the OPTION/ALT key and look for the Transmit Rate and see, what it says there.

Ah, yes, forgot about that trick.

Cat5 cables are capable of transmitting up to 11MB/s (88Mbit/s), maybe you can do a test run via cable.

Some CAT5 are capable of much more (i.e. gigabit).

 

[spinnerlys]

It can do much more than that. I routinely push mine higher over 802.11n.

My Transmit Rate normally is 270 (270Mbit/s), right now it is 216, thus I should get higher speeds like 20MB/s, but I don't.
I have an external USB 2.0 HDD connected to the AEBS and never get more than 7MB/s during transfers, my internet is "only" 1.7MB/s anyway, thus no pushing there.

How and where do you get what speeds with your AEBS?

Some CAT5 are capable of much more (i.e. gigabit).

Aren't those cables called CAT5e?

In addendum to my earlier post about CAT5 cables and to avoid confusion, many routers only have 10/100 Mbit Ethernet ports anyway, sufficient for almost any internet connection.

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

The transfer rate jumps between 216 and 243. What does that mean? On the Speakeasy test, if I try San Francisco (I'm based just 45 minutes south in Silicon Valley), I got 45Mbps on one run. Yet, when I tried Atlanta, GA, I only got 7Mbps. What gives with that?

 

[Apple!Fre@k]

I heard one suggestion is to turn off IPV6 to make the AEBS run quicker. What is that? Is that a good idea? Based upon my San Francisco/Atlanta split test though, is this more a problem with my ISP (Comcast) than my AEBS?

 

[belvdr]

My Transmit Rate normally is 270 (270Mbit/s), right now it is 216, thus I should get higher speeds like 20MB/s, but I don't.
I have an external USB 2.0 HDD connected to the AEBS and never get more than 7MB/s during transfers, my internet is "only" 1.7MB/s anyway, thus no pushing there.

How and where do you get what speeds with your AEBS?

Local traffic to my LaCie USB drive on my AEBS. It goes way beyond 7MB/s.

Aren't those cables called CAT5e?

In addendum to my earlier post about CAT5 cables and to avoid confusion, many routers only have 10/100 Mbit Ethernet ports anyway, sufficient for almost any internet connection.

These days, CAT 5e is certified for gigabit, but I have seen older cables labeled as CAT 5 that can handle gigabit too.

OP, trust the highest reading you get. You're only testing bandwidth of your connection, so if you get 25Mb in one test and 7Mb in another, you know your connection can handle at least 25Mb.

 

[spinnerlys]

Local traffic to my LaCie USB drive on my AEBS. It goes way beyond 7MB/s.

...

Have you any special setup settings?

My settings:

And what exact speeds do you get? I read somewhere, that the AEBS cuts the speed of USB HDDs connected to it at 10/11MB/s even when using Gigabit Ethernet.