Dropped Packets and Variation on an Extended N network
Hi all,
I have just upgraded from an all airport-based mixed N/G network to a primarily N network, and I am experiencing periods of terrible performance between periods of fine performance. I am wondering if there is a fault in one of the components, as the periods of fine performance indicate the configuration is correct. Here's what I've got:
1. Apple Airport Extreme (original N, 100Mbps ethernet) connected to dsl modem configured for DHCP and NAT. It's set on mixed 802.11n/g on the 2.4Ghz band
2. Apple Airport Express (N) set to extend the extreme network, but with a manual IP address in same range as Extreme (but outside DHCP range). This is serving music and also has an older mac mini connected via ethernet.
3. I also have the older Express (G) connected via short-cable ethernet to the Extreme serving other speakers, at 50% power, and with it's own wireless network but in bridge mode to Extreme.
Most computers are connecting to the Express (N) - though occasionally a new mini located 1foot away from the Express connects to the Extreme routing music unnecessarily over 2 hops!
I have posted the screenshot from the airport utility showing performance at a time of a problem.
http://files.me.com/ian.hobson/hfiot9
Notable here is that 1 mac (my MacBooPro) appears connected to BOTH N devices! At other times, I have seen the data rate between the 2 airports be very asymmetric - high in one direction, but very low in the other despite signal and noise being identical (in this picture the Extreme is sending at 130, but the Express is sending at 58). Sometimes, the data rate is just single figures in one direction. The devices are about 20 feet from each other but through several walls. I am seeing 20% + packet loss when these problems are happening causing severe internet degradation, or file sharing to slow to a crawl. Ping times are also highly variable within the LAN. At other times, file sharing is very fast, and music will play perfectly for hours before becoming intermittent.
Connecting to the weak G network will immediately improve the performance of a computer if experiencing this problem - so it's very much a LAN issue and not a WAN issue.
There are perhaps a couple of other networks nearby, but not too many. I am using WPA2 passwords and closed (MAC address) access.
I believe I've configured everything correctly and have also restarted each of the network components. I have also cleared out from 2 of the computers the old network settings from both network and keychain, before re-entering them. The configuration seems to give good speeds MUCH of the time before becoming poor, so this further indicates a proper configuration.
I'm pulling my hair out now having spent many, many hours this weekend trying to get this 100% reliable! Any ideas?
I have just upgraded from an all airport-based mixed N/G network to a primarily N network, and I am experiencing periods of terrible performance between periods of fine performance. I am wondering if there is a fault in one of the components, as the periods of fine performance indicate the configuration is correct. Here's what I've got:
1. Apple Airport Extreme (original N, 100Mbps ethernet) connected to dsl modem configured for DHCP and NAT. It's set on mixed 802.11n/g on the 2.4Ghz band
2. Apple Airport Express (N) set to extend the extreme network, but with a manual IP address in same range as Extreme (but outside DHCP range). This is serving music and also has an older mac mini connected via ethernet.
3. I also have the older Express (G) connected via short-cable ethernet to the Extreme serving other speakers, at 50% power, and with it's own wireless network but in bridge mode to Extreme.
Most computers are connecting to the Express (N) - though occasionally a new mini located 1foot away from the Express connects to the Extreme routing music unnecessarily over 2 hops!
I have posted the screenshot from the airport utility showing performance at a time of a problem.
http://files.me.com/ian.hobson/hfiot9
Notable here is that 1 mac (my MacBooPro) appears connected to BOTH N devices! At other times, I have seen the data rate between the 2 airports be very asymmetric - high in one direction, but very low in the other despite signal and noise being identical (in this picture the Extreme is sending at 130, but the Express is sending at 58). Sometimes, the data rate is just single figures in one direction. The devices are about 20 feet from each other but through several walls. I am seeing 20% + packet loss when these problems are happening causing severe internet degradation, or file sharing to slow to a crawl. Ping times are also highly variable within the LAN. At other times, file sharing is very fast, and music will play perfectly for hours before becoming intermittent.
Connecting to the weak G network will immediately improve the performance of a computer if experiencing this problem - so it's very much a LAN issue and not a WAN issue.
There are perhaps a couple of other networks nearby, but not too many. I am using WPA2 passwords and closed (MAC address) access.
I believe I've configured everything correctly and have also restarted each of the network components. I have also cleared out from 2 of the computers the old network settings from both network and keychain, before re-entering them. The configuration seems to give good speeds MUCH of the time before becoming poor, so this further indicates a proper configuration.
I'm pulling my hair out now having spent many, many hours this weekend trying to get this 100% reliable! Any ideas?
MBP, MBA, Mac mini (Intel), Mac mini (PPC), Mac OS X (10.5.6)