themaclife

Q: Airport extreme keeps losing wi fi connection for devices

I have an Airport Extreme router and for the past week, I've been having problems where devices throughout the house will lose internet connectivity. It is very random when it originally started happening.  Now, I end up rebooting the router each time to resolve it almost daily.

 

My setup:

Internet Carrier Router (wifi disabled) -> Apple Extreme plugged directly to Internet Carrier Router (wifi enabled)

 

At first, I thought it was my internet carrier. After trouble shooting with them, everything seem to be working fine on their end. I have a phone line through voyage that plugs directly to the internet carrier's router (I have 4 available dedicated IPs) and it works fine when my devices stop working.

 

Anyone have any ideas on how to resolve this? I spent a lot of money on this router in hopes to have a better wi fi experience for all my apple devices, 4 iPads, 2 iPhones, 3 Apple TVs, and 2 Macbook Pros. Unfortunately, I'm out of warranty for support. Hopefull

Airport Extreme 802.11ac

Posted on Jan 24, 2016 6:49 PM

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Q: Airport extreme keeps losing wi fi connection for devices

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  • by norm123,

    norm123 norm123 Jan 26, 2016 6:41 AM in response to themaclife
    Community Specialists
    Jan 26, 2016 6:41 AM in response to themaclife

    Hello themaclife,

    I understand that you are having issues with the internet using your Airport Exterme. Let's see if we can get this sorted out. 

    Typically most issues can be resolved by simply restarting your Airport Extreme. If this is something that is becoming more frequent, then you may need to set it back up again. Take a look at the article below to walk you through how to restart and reconfigure your Airport Extreme. Remember to use the recommended settings and look out for any interference that may cause issues similar to what you experience. 

    Resetting an AirPort base station FAQ
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201945


    Recommended settings for Wi-Fi routers and access points
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202068


    Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: Potential sources of wireless interference
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201542


    Now you mentioned that the warranty has expired on your Airport Extreme as well as having 2 Mac's and 3 Apple TV's. If any of those devices have AppleCare and was purchased within 2 years of each other, then either of those devices can extend the warranty to your Airport Extreme. 

    Service Answer Center - AirPort
    https://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=servicefaq&geo=United_States&product=Air Port


    Take care

  • by Donnyak,

    Donnyak Donnyak Jan 26, 2016 7:56 AM in response to themaclife
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 26, 2016 7:56 AM in response to themaclife

    I started having identical problems last night. I brought home a new (to me) 2012 macbook air to replace my 2010 MBA. I had the other macbook air on the network uploading some files to iCloud. As soon as I booted the new MBA up the whole network crashed. (Devices were still connecting to the Airport Extreme ac router, green light, but no internets).

     

    Restarting the router helped only briefly before the problem returned. When I was logging in with the new MBA  I'd seen an error that there were two Macbook Airs on the network and that it was changing the name of one of them.

     

    I read somewheres that large upload traffic and lots of devices sometimes overwhelms the airport extreme (huh? not very extreme), so I went around turning off the wireless on iPad, apple tv, and the old MBA. That, plus rebooting the router and the modem, seemed to do the trick for a time, until it didn't anymore.


    I've been reading around about DiscoveryD and problems with Bonjour. Will try that angle when I get home.

     

    I see here that maybe I need to reset (rather than just reboot) my router now that there's a new kid on the block--the new MBA.

     

    Any other ideas???