ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC

Q: Airport Express slows every few hours and needs reset.

Hi everyone.  I'm having an issue with an Airport Express, in which the speed slows to a crawl every 3-4 hours, until I reset the device.

 

The speed I get normally (via speedtest) is about 20Mbps download, 4Mbps upload.  However, every 3-4 hours, the speed will permanently drop to about 3 Mbps or lower for download, and stay about the same for upload. 

 

The ISP here is Verizon Fios.  The system is actually my Uncle's, and he currently has the airport hooked up to the fios router via Lan.  The airport is only used for WiFi.

 

 

So far:

- I tried changing the channel from automatic to various channels such as 5 or 7

- I cannot change the radio mode, it's set to N and B/G but my uncle does have some devices that are not N compatible and he insists he needs the B/G speeds

- I have tried simply resetting the entire system, multiple times, including the airport express and router

- I updated the airport express to the latest firmware version this morning (Jan 24, 2013 for future reference...version 7.6.4) and updated the airport utility as well

 

So now I'm stumped, any advice is much appreciated, thank you!

 

Minor edit: The device also seems to sometimes just completely disconnect all connected devices until restart as well.  This occurs far less frequently though.

Windows 7

Posted on Jan 24, 2014 6:23 PM

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Q: Airport Express slows every few hours and needs reset.

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  • by ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC,

    ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC Jan 24, 2014 8:18 PM in response to ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC
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    Jan 24, 2014 8:18 PM in response to ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC

    Update: so I noticed the DCHP lease on the airport is set to 4 hours.  The signal also seems to die around 4 hours between resets...is this a coincidence or is this possibly relevant?

  • by ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC,

    ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC Jan 25, 2014 6:50 AM in response to ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC
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    Jan 25, 2014 6:50 AM in response to ThatGuyWhoAlwaysFixesYourPC

    Update 2: I just attempted something entirely different and so far it seems to be working.

     

    First, I kept the channel as manual to 7.  This seemed to really increase the length of time between the router going down.

     

    Second, the big change, I took the verizon fios router and set it up as the main network, instead of the airport.  Then I took the airport and set it up as a network extender through ethernet, instead of having it as its own wireless network.  So far...so good!  I'll update again if this seems to fix it permanently, I'll have to give it a few hours.