Wi-Fi SLOOOOOOOW!!!???

It's almost laughable how many times Apple products are mentioned in your post. Don't take it too personally, but it makes you sound like a desperate fashionista: "I wore my Gucci shoes with my Fendi bag and Burberry dress!"

In any case, sounds like the AirPort Extreme (EXTREME!!!!!!! - Lmao) is doing a pretty bad job NATing. Maybe some funny firewall rules got put together that's causing it to do more work than it has to. Happy holidays!

 

Hmm, weird. I use Apple's Airport Extreme base station and it works fine for me on both Apple and non Apple hardware, both for good old standard IPv4 and new IPv6 connectivity.

My VDSL modem is connected to WAN port on Airport Extreme port while everything else is connected to Airport Extreme via WLAN.

What you might check, start up the AirportUtility, go Manual Setup, select Internet tab, then in Internet Connection settings check your settings for Ethernet WAN Port. I have it on Auto, you can try cycling between various 100 Mbps settings.

You might also try reflashing the base station with latest firmware from Apple and rechecking the settings.

Like with any other hardware product in the world there is a chance that you got a lemon. But like I said, for me Airport Extreme works fine.

Ogo

 

If he hadn't told us what hardware he was using, someone like you would assume he is running Windows and tell him to check his registry or something equally as unhelpful.

I don't have a easy solution for you Daniel, but you might try the Apple forums to see if others are reporting the same issue with the Apple Airport Extreme. I have an older version of the Airport Extreme with 802.11g and I'm getting about 7.1Mbps on my laptop. (It's a MacbookPro, for those of you who get off on the mention of Apple products). :madgrin:

 

AirPort Extreme uses a Broadcom chipset. By default the ACK settings are probably pretty high. Apple products generally have poor wireless performance. They are form over function and it shows. Airports do not allow you to change any of these settings, so you are stuck with it. How close is the router to the PC? If it is too close, it wont work well.

And wifi is not too slow. I have a 100mbps/22mbps Comcast connection running through a DD-WRT'ed E3000 at 300mbps. I get about 50mbps to 60mbps download speeds consistantly, burst of more over a very congested network. Your 38mbps down speed is burst mode from Comcast. You need to download a 100Mb or more file to truly get your speed ratings, and of course from a server that can handle your speed.

You just need good hardware. You keep buying "high end" stuff that is NOT high end but looks good.

Im not sure you can even change your channel with an airport, but I would try that. Channel 6 is common and if your neighbours are all on 6 as well, then it wont be great. Channel 11 and 2 are usually the next most congested channels. Humans like 1 above or below max settings (in the US) for some reason. With good hardware, you can unlock channels 13 through 16 which are designed for outside of the USDM and only the true elite geeks use it so they are almost all free. I can guarantee you cant get them with the kiddie hardware you are using now...

 

I'm not a big fan of Apple for networking, especially wireless networking. Any garden variety WiFi system should be able to easily run at the speed of your cable modem. I assume it's a configuration problem, but I don't know enough about your equipment to provide specific help.

Tom

 

I owned a Belkin WiFi router prior to the Apple one and had nothing but problems with it. The advantage of the Apple router is that it is extremely simple to setup especially if you are using a Mac.

If you just bought the Apple router recently, I would suggest bringing the router (and computer) to an Apple Genius Bar and let them determine if you have a hardware problem. I did actually have a bad Apple router that they tested and replaced once they determined it was defective. It is the only Apple hardware that I ever bought that had a problem, and the replacement has been working now for several years without any issues.

 

They all use the same basic chipsets. Just like Apple uses the same (EXACT) components as you would find in an ordinary and much much cheaper PC.

As for the reviews, again no offense, but generally mac owners are not the brightest technologically. They just do not know what is out there, or how things work. Take the iPhone as an example. I have been using touchscreen smartphones for over 8 years. People that think the iphone is cool generally just dont know any better. So when the reviews are all positive, what are they basing it against? Have they ever used a good product to base it off of, or are they just basing it off of a previous generation of a crappy product?

Hardware suggestions for me would be something compatible with DDWRT. If you actually have a 30+mbps connection, then you may want to look into a 802.11n network. It is the future, so why not upgrade now? For $100 you can get an awesome Linksys/Cisco router. Unfortunately, their quality has been degrading for years and their firmware is impossible. But the good news is that they run a basic linux distro that can be flashed to custom firmware (DD-WRT is the best) and it opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. You can change which of the 4 internal antennas in my router should be the 2.4Ghz TX, which for RX, and same for the 5Ghz band. You can set each of the wireless channel's output power in milliwatts. You can set the ACK timing to anything (or disable/auto completely). It has a built in bandwidth monitor. If you are on Comcast, then you have a 250Gb/month limit total up and down. I use terrabytes a month so I have a business account. But if you are on a personal account, and go over your limit, they shut off your service and call you. If you do it again within 6 months they cancel your account completely and ban you from ever having their internet again. If you are streaming Netflix and other HD video streams all the time, then you might approach this limit.

 

Well I am an IT guy and I buy Apple hardware for my home use.

Maybe because I already grow too much gray hair during my working hours and I want to enjoy my free time using stuff which simply works. :rockon:

Currently connected clients:


Signal conditions (up to two steel reinforced concrete walls between clients and base stations):


IPv6 out of the Apple box:


IPv6 connectivity tests, ping6 & traceroute6 to ipv6.google.com :


Ogo

 

I think a lot of Mac owners know exactly what is out there because they have used Windows and they don't want those headaches when using their computer at home.

 

In my opinion, your cable modem should connect a router. Just a router... Not your wap.

In my house I have a Comcast cable mode connected to a Linksys RVS4000 router (which is a low end small business product) that has (4) 1 Gig ethernet connections. Into that I have a Netgear ProSeries 16 Port unmanaged 1 gig switch. All my device connect through the switch in some way or another. I have a three servers running in a virtual environment to manage our internal network. We also have two desktops that have wired connections and two portables that access the network through a consumer grade Belkin wireless router that is configured strictly as a WAP device.

It isn't so much the actual brand of equipment that is important...

What is critical is that your equipment is configured properly, with security adequate for your needs, and that basic functions like DNS, DHCP, and your internal IP address scheme are properly set up, along with the proper firmware and driver upgrades, and that your network settings are hard set to avoid the dreaded "auto" settings.

Consumer grade hardware is "cheap" not only in terms of price but also in terms of quality and support. I have no preference of brand based on quality at a consumer level but I do have a preference based on my own knowledge and experience with the interface each company uses to manage the equipment.

I suspect you have configuration issues (since my own experience is that 90% of the time the problem is configuration rather than actual hardware).

Perhaps there is someone in your area qualified to assist with an accurate diagnosis?

Oh yea... I have no issues streaming Netflix to either wireless laptop or to our blueray which connects to our AVR. Streaming even works fine when I have three remote support sessions open and my wife is accessing the mail server remotely.

 

I have been told repeatedly not to use WEP.

For what it's worth:
Router Performance Comparison Charts - WAN to LAN Throughput - SmallNetBuilder

 

WPA2 is stronger encryption than WEP, so you should use that.

Wi-Fi Protected Access - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

pay comcast to come in and set it up. they charge a few bucks, but they guarantee it and it saves a fortune in headaches. (other than putting up with the comcast guy.)