CORRY0

Q: Airport Express  slowes down on my extreme

I have a airport extreme downstairs and a Airport express upstairs to extend my network. I get 90 percent coverage with my express but it slows my network right down.When I take it off my network the speeds come back any way to fix this.

Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Apr 3, 2016 1:59 PM

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Q: Airport Express  slowes down on my extreme

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  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 3, 2016 2:07 PM in response to CORRY0
    Level 9 (54,035 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 3, 2016 2:07 PM in response to CORRY0

    What you are experiencing is not unusual. Typically when you extend a wireless network with another base station using a wireless connection between them, you can expect a significant loss in overall bandwidth performance. You can potentially reduce this somewhat by making sure that the extending base station is properly placed to do its job well.

     

    Check out the following AirPort User tip for details. Please post back your results.

  • by CORRY0,

    CORRY0 CORRY0 Apr 3, 2016 4:10 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 3, 2016 4:10 PM in response to Tesserax

    I have 91percent signal the thing is when I reset the express and reinstall it again it works find but later on the signal goes down again the express.With just the extreme I get 55 percent up stairs added the express went to 90 but signal dropped.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 3, 2016 9:23 PM in response to CORRY0
    Level 9 (54,035 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 3, 2016 9:23 PM in response to CORRY0

    I have 91percent signal the thing is when I reset the express and reinstall it again it works find but later on the signal goes down again the express.With just the extreme I get 55 percent up stairs added the express went to 90 but signal dropped.

    Yes, but what are the SNR values? Did you review the link I sent you earlier and make the SNR measurements?

  • by CORRY0,

    CORRY0 CORRY0 Apr 4, 2016 5:47 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 4, 2016 5:47 AM in response to Tesserax

    SNR 60 DB on the 20MHZ and SNR 52 DB for the 40MHZ

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 4, 2016 8:22 AM in response to CORRY0
    Level 9 (54,035 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 4, 2016 8:22 AM in response to CORRY0

    Thank you! I would like for you to make one more SNR measurement. This time power-down the AirPort Express so only the AirPort Extreme is running. Now take your laptop to the location of the Express and take the measurements. I want to be sure that you are getting the SNR of the Extreme at the location of the Express.

  • by CORRY0,

    CORRY0 CORRY0 Apr 4, 2016 6:50 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 4, 2016 6:50 PM in response to Tesserax

    Yes it is the exact same thing

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 5, 2016 8:17 AM in response to CORRY0
    Level 9 (54,035 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 5, 2016 8:17 AM in response to CORRY0

    If you are truly getting these SNR values at the location of the Express (with the Express off) then you are getting phenomenal signal quality at this location and signal quality is NOT the issue. That would only point to the Express itself as being potentially faulty.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 5, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 10 (105,003 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 5, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Tesserax

    In addition to what Tesserax has mentioned, the performance of your network will actually suffer significantly if you install the AirPort Express......since extending a network using wireless will always result in a loss of up to about 50% of the potential speed on your network.  Here, I am assuming that the Express is set up to wirelessly extend the signal from the AirPort Extreme.

     

    So, you will likely do better by not using the AirPort Express at all.....unless you need it for some other function on your network.

     

    If you still want to use the AirPort Express.....and you want to prevent the speed loss from occurring on your network......then you will need to connect the AirPort Express to the AirPort Extreme using a wired Ethernet cable connection.  Even then, the speed potential of the AirPort Express is quite limited compared to an AirPort Extreme, so if you want to maximize the performance of your network, you will need to replace the AirPort Express with an AirPort Extreme.

  • by CORRY0,

    CORRY0 CORRY0 Apr 11, 2016 7:25 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 11, 2016 7:25 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Are you saying I can have 2 airport extremes connecting to each other? I get 34download sometimes with just the airport extreme.Upstairs where my express is it is o most unusable and  have have to reboot  my network. With just the extreme upstairs I get around 46 to 50 percent signal quality.The express used to work I have reset my entire network and it is the same thing.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 11, 2016 7:50 AM in response to CORRY0
    Level 10 (105,003 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 11, 2016 7:50 AM in response to CORRY0
    Are you saying I can have 2 airport extremes connecting to each other?

    Yes, you can....but....if these devices connect wirelessly to each other, you are still going to pay the penalty for extending a network using a wireless connection. This is usually a loss of about half of the maximum potential speed on the network.

     

    You can avoid this speed loss by connecting the AirPorts together using a permanent Ethernet cable connection.

     

    Here is what Apple has to say about "extending" in their support document:

     

    In the case of a wirelessly extended network, throughput may be reduced to less than 60 percent of that of a single device. The general rule is to keep the Wi-Fi network as simple as possible. You can accomplish this by using the minimum number of Wi-Fi base stations required to service the physical network area and by using Ethernet wherever possible.

     

    Extending the range of your Wi-Fi network by connecting Wi-Fi base stations together using Ethernet is always the best option, and will provide the best throughput.