TX Rate and Wi-Fi performan

Question

TX Rate and Wi-Fi performan

Can anyone help me understand what TX Rate indicates and how it affects Wi-Fi performance?

I have a new 17" laptop with Mac OS X 10.5.5 installed. It replaces an older 17" that also had 10.5.5. New laptop was set up by copying the files from the old laptop. My home wireless setup uses an Airport Extreme and with my old laptop never had a problem with Wi-Fi performance. The new laptop is next to useless on Wi-Fi. Safari pages stall. Sync hangs and never completes. Other applications that use the internet will stall out and quit. The Wi-Fi performance changes within seconds from fast and smooth to just plain stopped.

I've see a number of other postings about Wi-Fi problems and tried the recommended fixes. Still having the problems. Also tried reinstalling the combo 5.5 update. No luck. To help diagnose the problem I down loaded AP Grapher and monitored the Wi-Fi connection. I see signal strength of 50% with noise levels ranging from 9-12%. Both the signal strength and noise levels are consistent and do not change when I'm having Wi-Fi problems. I see no conflicts with other routers using the same channel. Other Wi-Fi devices (iPhone for example) have no problems and do not experience a problem when the laptop is having problems.

The only thing that does happen when I see stalls and dropouts on the laptop is AP Grapher shows the TX Rate drops to 1. As long as the rate is down at 1 or 2 I have problems. As soon as the TX Rate climbs again, everything returns to normal. Problem is the rate will not remain high.

I have gone for several hours with TX Rate high and Wi-Fi good. Then within a second the rate will fall to one and the Wi-Fi stops. No other indication of a problems--signal strength and noise levels unchanged.

Any idea on what TX Rate is telling me and how I can fix this problem?

MacBookPro 17, Mac OS X (10.5.1), Mac OS X 10.5.5

Posted on Oct 1, 2008 5:50 AM

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Answer 1

Dogcow-Moof

Level 8

36,867 points

Oct 1, 2008 8:14 AM in response to Chet Rindfuss

When there is noise or interference that generates Wi-Fi reception errors, the transmit rate is dropped in an attempt to compensate and retain some type of connection, with the assumption that some connection is better than none.

So the question is what is driving your rate down, and since the "noise" level seems to be holding constant I suspect some nearby interference of some type, from perhaps a cordless phone or other nearby Wi-Fi device.

It could also be an issue of some type with your new laptop - errors at the factory do happen.

If you can, try your connection at your local Apple Store and see if you experience the same issues. If so, it may be a hardware problem they'll need to correct.

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Answer 2

stoavio

Level 1

4 points

Oct 2, 2008 4:22 PM in response to Chet Rindfuss

This was the first thing I noticed when I unboxed and powered up my brand new MacBook Pro. I had a previous generation MacBook Pro and it never dropped the signal or experienced a waning signal.

My new MBP does the exact same thing you described. Intermittently, it will drop down to one bar in the Airport status icon in the menu bar and when I view the signal strength with AP Grapher, the TX Rate really takes a dive.

I've owned several Powerbooks and 1 MBP previous to this. This is definitely a disappointment that I'm surprised Apple has overlooked for this long.

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Answer 3

stoavio

Level 1

4 points

Oct 2, 2008 9:22 PM in response to Chet Rindfuss

I'm using a WRT54G wireless router and I've found that upgrading the firmware to the most current version seems to help with this issue. I've had a solid signal now for a good 45 minutes, which is uncommon, and while this could be a coincidence I figured I'd pass it along just incase it might help someone.

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Answer 4

Dec 26, 2008 8:09 AM in response to Chet Rindfuss

I have the exact same problem. I bought my Macbook Pro about six months ago and it's been happening ever since.

I've tried all the solutions I can find on internet forums. I've trashed my airport preferences files. I've set my airport to ask before joining new networks. I've made sure I'd updated to 10.5.6. I've installed AP grapher to watch my TX rate continually tank for seemingly no reason.

My macbook pro has this problem WHEREVER I go. It is no single router and not a matter of interference. I've had this problem in Madagascar and I've had it in Midland, TX.

It's driving me nuts. I don't have much confidence in Apple to fix this (since it seems to have been a problem for years and they haven't addressed it at this point) so I'm going to buy an Express card wireless receiver and see if that will restore some of my sanity.

Best of luck to all of you.

Cheers,

Roger

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