Airport Extremes set up in wired roaming network- Why are AE connections only "fair"?

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Airport Extremes set up in wired roaming network- Why are AE connections only "fair"?

Hi. I have 3 Airport Extremes set up throughout the house in a Roaming Network configuration that I learned reading here last year (all wired via ethernet, "creating new network", same name, etc). All seems fine, although wifi seems spotty in places. I just recently looked at the airport utility and I noticed that the 2 that are not my "main" AE, when I click on those AEs in the utility, under the network name it says connection is "Fair". I'm not talking about the connected wireless clients which are listed elsewhere, this appears to be talking about the AE itself. Why is it only "fair" if they are connected via ethernet? And is this something that will affect wireless performance of devices connected to those 2 AEs? Thanks in advance.

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Jun 6, 2013 7:13 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

140,942 points

Jun 6, 2013 7:49 AM in response to mitchw41

It shouldn't. That definitely qualifies as weird. Are the lines shown in AirPort Utility solid, not dashed?

Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing?

To take a screenshot hold ⌘ Shift 4 to create a selection crosshair. Click and hold while you drag the crosshair over the area you wish to capture and then release the mouse or trackpad. You will hear a "camera shutter" sound. This will deposit a screenshot on your Desktop.

If you can't find it on your Desktop look in your Documents or Downloads folder.

When you post your response, click the "camera" icon above the text field:

This will display a dialog box which enables you to choose the screenshot file (remember it's on your Desktop) and click the Insert Image button.

⌘ Shift 4 and then pressing the space bar captures the frontmost window.

⌘ Shift 3 captures the entire screen.

Drag the screenshot to the Trash after you post your reply.

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Answer 2

mitchw41 Author

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Jun 6, 2013 9:25 AM in response to John Galt

Thanks for the response, John. I'm not home on the network now, but I'm almost positive the connecting lines are solid. I will post a screenshot of the airport utility view when I get home later.

The ethernet cabling does pass through 2 switches to get from the main AE to the 2 others, perhaps that has something to do with it?

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Answer 3

John Galt

Level 10

140,942 points

Jun 6, 2013 9:53 AM in response to mitchw41

Maybe. Apple does not quantify the meaning of "fair" so it is difficult to say.

Temporarily bypassing the switches for the purposes of troubleshooting may be instructive. Connect the Express directly to the router and do not change any network settings - there is no need to. After testing, reconnect them as they were. The switches should have no observable effect on performance.

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