Q: AC Wireless Read/Write Speeds Slow (and Different)
Hello All,
I just purchased a new Mac Mini and unfortunately it is too far from my media server to run an ethernet cable (I just moved) so I'm using an Airport Extreme (new model with AC protocol). But the read speeds seem to be slow as I cannot stream some high bandwidth movies off the server. I've tested the transfer speeds and it appears that I am getting the following:
READ: 24 MB/s (or 192 Mb/s)
WRITE: 8 MB/s (or 64 Mb/s)
Can anyone explain to me why these speeds are not the same? And shouldn't they be much faster? I'm getting a full signal and I've attached the technical details if that helps explain anything. I would love to know what speeds you guys are getting with your Airport Extreme.
Thanks!
Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)
Posted on Mar 30, 2016 10:08 PM
If the signal has been compromised as such, why does it show a full signal in the icon?
Unfortunately, the icon is not very reliable, not much else I can say about that. I don't use it myself and rely on the numbers in the pop-up window.
That said, would the purchase of another Extreme AC router set to bridge mode help the situation, if I placed it between the two points?
Potentially, yes ... but, I would strongly recommend either taking the Mac mini out of the credenza or use a wired connection for it instead. Also, understand, that although you will, most likely, improve the signal strength by extending the network with another base station, your extended network will take an overall bandwidth "hit." Meaning, you may still not get the data rate you are looking for this way to be worth the cost. However, unless you try it, you won't actually know. Besides Apple does offer a return policy if it doesn't work out.
How about if I placed it into the credenza next to the mini with an ethernet cable? Would the same degradation be a problem or would the extremes communicate to each other better than the extreme/mini?
Yes, the extending Extreme would "see" the same poor signal that your Mac mini sees. No gain in doing this. Your thought to place one in-between would be a better one. Going with this option, the placement of that Extreme will be critical. Please check out this AirPort User tip for more details.
You may also find that simply making slight placement changes for either the mini or the Extreme or both may solve the problem without having to get another base station.
Posted on Apr 2, 2016 5:34 PM
