Airport Extreme Maximum speed

Question

Level 2

161 points

Airport Extreme Maximum speed

I was wondering if the Airport Extreme has a maximum speed? I have the n version dual band.
I just got a QWest DSL yesterday and they try a speedtest and was accessing the web at 35 to 38MB (I'm paying for 40MB/s, so on the technician laptop the speed was impressive.
I hook they modem to my AE and wirelessly on my new iMac I get max 25MB.
Is there anything I could do to improve the speed regarding setting in my AE.
I can provide info but not sure what needed.
Thanks for any input
Thierry

Actually an update: I tried from QWest site: http://seattle.speedtest.qwest.net/ and I get 38MB. I try from the speedtest site: http://www.speedtest.net/ and I get 25MB. Both test are run from the same company: Ookla. Very strange
Thierry

Message was edited by: ThierryR

MacBookPro (early 2006 and late 2010), IMac 2010, Ipod Touch 2G, Airport Extreme, Mac OS X (10.6.6), Apple TV, Snow Leopard, ILife 09, IWork 09

Posted on Jan 22, 2011 1:31 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

159,104 points

Jan 22, 2011 1:43 PM in response to ThierryR

Welcome to the discussions, ThierryR!

I just got a QWest DSL yesterday and they try a speedtest and was accessing the web at 35 to 38MB (I'm paying for 40MB/s,

Most service providers specify the rate in Mbps, not MB, so I think you meant to use Mbps here.

I was wondering if the Airport Extreme has a maximum speed?

That would be 1000 Mbps for an ethernet connection
300 Mbps for a wireless connection on the 5 GHz band
130 Mbps for a wireless connecton on the 2.4 GHz band

As you can tell, your Internet connection is the major "choke" point on your network.

I hook they modem to my AE and wirelessly on my new iMac I get max 25MB.

25 Mbps is very good, about 4-5 times the average that most users are getting. There is always going to be some loss in the routing process and performance of the firewall in the AirPort Extreme. You may be able to bet a bit higher speed if the computer is closer to the AirPort Extreme and/or you minimize any obstructions in the signal path.

Reply

Answer 2

ThierryR Author

Level 2

161 points

Jan 22, 2011 1:58 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Bob,
Thanks for the hints, you are right I meant Mbps not MB.

Also, my IMac is about 30 feet from the AE with 2 walls to cross. What is strange is that my Bootcamp Windows XP tells me that I'm connected at 300Mbps. May be it's a different matter.

Also I'm not complaining about the 25Mbps, it's twice that Comcast was providing me the day prior to the install. I was just wondering why.

Also if you reed my PS it is even more strange that the numbers are different.
How well 25Mbps is good. Not sure if it's right but it's good for me.
Thanks
Thierry

Reply