Surasit_
Level 1 (1 points)

Q: What is maximum Wireless Data Rates on Airport Extreme/ Express

I have Airport Extreme Gen 5 and 2 of Airport Express Gen 1 (98) at home. The speed rate of wireless connection is however less than 100mbps most of the time. The WIFI adapter that I'm using is claimed to be up to 450mbps.

Would that be because the Airports could only support up to wireless N 150mbps?

Airport, Windows 7

Posted on May 15, 2012 12:25 PM

by Tesserax,Solvedanswer
Tesserax Tesserax
Level 9 (54,874 points)
Wireless
A:

I have been searching for the spec for Airport Express, but there is nowhere I could find. Even at Apple Stores, the staffs have no idea of the maximum speed of the product

I've not found anything formal documented either for the AirPort Express. The current model is still Draft N. One outfit, SmallNetBuilder, does extensive performance testing of consumer wireless routers. Unfortunately they have not tested the AirPort Express, but have done so for a number of generations of the AirPort Extreme.

 

Since the antennae incorporated with each and between generations are not directly comparible, at bes,t you can draw some conclusions from their testing results. For example, 5th generation AirPort Extreme has posted 81 Mbps on their 2.4 GHz UpDown Throughput test. This is more realistic for 802.11n in the 2.4 GHz band operating with narrow channels (20 MHz-wide). I would expect the 1st generation Express to be lower than that ... so your results are not that far off.

Posted on May 16, 2012 1:08 PM

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Surasit_

Q: What is maximum Wireless Data Rates on Airport Extreme/ Express

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Tesserax,Helpful

    Tesserax Tesserax May 15, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Surasit_
    Level 9 (54,874 points)
    Wireless
    May 15, 2012 1:03 PM in response to Surasit_

    If you have two first generation Express base stations joining your 5th gen Extreme, its 2.4 GHz network would be affected by having to communicate with these devices. This is usually seen as a lower overall bandwidth on that band. However, the 5 GH band should not have been unaffected. Typically you can expect to see around 130 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band and 300+ Mbps on the 5 GHz band in a pure "n" environment with no Wi-Fi interference present.

  • by Surasit_,

    Surasit_ Surasit_ May 16, 2012 12:31 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (1 points)
    May 16, 2012 12:31 PM in response to Tesserax

    Thank you.

    I'm now having 2 of Airport Express connecting to Extreme by CAT5E. As you said the speed would be around 130Mbps, would that mean the Airport Express could only support up to 150 Mbps?

    Now I have NAS at home connecting to Extreme, and it is so slow when I transfer any data through these 2 Express.

    As I could see in the market, there are many Access Points that could support up to 600 Mbps. Would anyone recommend me solution for a better speed rate. I still love to use Airport Utility Application and it seems that only Apple hardware supports this.

  • by Tesserax,Helpful

    Tesserax Tesserax May 16, 2012 12:37 PM in response to Surasit_
    Level 9 (54,874 points)
    Wireless
    May 16, 2012 12:37 PM in response to Surasit_

    I'm now having 2 of Airport Express connecting to Extreme by CAT5E. As you said the speed would be around 130Mbps, would that mean the Airport Express could only support up to 150 Mbps?

    Just to be sure I understand. There are only two generations (currently) of the AirPort Express. The 1st generation is a 802.11g model; the 2nd, 802.11n. If you are using 1st generation base stations, even connected by Ethernet, the maximum bandwidth that these devices can support is 54 Mbps.

     

    Now I have NAS at home connecting to Extreme, and it is so slow when I transfer any data through these 2 Express.

    Is this an actual NAS device? That is, does it have its own operating system and attaches to the Extreme by either wire or wireless and not a USB HDD attached to the Extreme's USB port?

  • by Surasit_,

    Surasit_ Surasit_ May 16, 2012 12:53 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (1 points)
    May 16, 2012 12:53 PM in response to Tesserax

    It's the latest Express. I guess the previous model was Wireless G, that could go for 54Mbps.

    Clients at home could connect for more than 54Mbps, but less than 100 Mbps most of the time.

     

    It's an actual NAS with Gigabit port connecting directly to Extreme. I have tried to connected my Mac or PC with Extreme using CAT5E, and the transfer rate is very high (up to 80MB/S). This speed rate of tranfer is 1,000Mbps.

     

    By connecting to Airport Express, I don't expect to have the same transfer rate as Gigabit, but the rate that is lower than 100 Mbps is too low for Wireless N.

     

    I have been searching for the spec for Airport Express, but there is nowhere I could find. Even at Apple Stores, the staffs have no idea of the maximum speed of the product

  • by Tesserax,Solvedanswer

    Tesserax Tesserax May 16, 2012 1:08 PM in response to Surasit_
    Level 9 (54,874 points)
    Wireless
    May 16, 2012 1:08 PM in response to Surasit_

    I have been searching for the spec for Airport Express, but there is nowhere I could find. Even at Apple Stores, the staffs have no idea of the maximum speed of the product

    I've not found anything formal documented either for the AirPort Express. The current model is still Draft N. One outfit, SmallNetBuilder, does extensive performance testing of consumer wireless routers. Unfortunately they have not tested the AirPort Express, but have done so for a number of generations of the AirPort Extreme.

     

    Since the antennae incorporated with each and between generations are not directly comparible, at bes,t you can draw some conclusions from their testing results. For example, 5th generation AirPort Extreme has posted 81 Mbps on their 2.4 GHz UpDown Throughput test. This is more realistic for 802.11n in the 2.4 GHz band operating with narrow channels (20 MHz-wide). I would expect the 1st generation Express to be lower than that ... so your results are not that far off.

  • by Surasit_,

    Surasit_ Surasit_ May 21, 2012 1:33 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (1 points)
    May 21, 2012 1:33 AM in response to Tesserax

    Thank you.

    I bought the Express knowing its wireless N, but didn't know the performance would be this low for Wireless N, since I have completely different experience of wireless N in other brands.

    I still live Airport Utilities though.

  • by HACKINT0SH,

    HACKINT0SH HACKINT0SH May 21, 2012 1:55 AM in response to Surasit_
    Level 5 (5,774 points)
    iLife
    May 21, 2012 1:55 AM in response to Surasit_

    There are only two generations (currently) of the AirPort Express. The 1st generation is a 802.11g model; the 2nd, 802.11n.

    Well this is rathing confusing, since Apple routinely calls the 802.11N express, as a FIRST GENERATION.

  • by Surasit_,

    Surasit_ Surasit_ May 21, 2012 2:14 AM in response to HACKINT0SH
    Level 1 (1 points)
    May 21, 2012 2:14 AM in response to HACKINT0SH

    I think so.

  • by HACKINT0SH,

    HACKINT0SH HACKINT0SH May 21, 2012 3:02 AM in response to Surasit_
    Level 5 (5,774 points)
    iLife
    May 21, 2012 3:02 AM in response to Surasit_

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4635