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Flippuccino Author

Level 1

0 points

New Airport Extreme (6th Gen) Dropping Connection from Time to Time.

Problem:

6th Generation Airport Extreme drops connection intermittently at random times.

Set Up:

6th Generation Airport Extreme (main router - no hard drive/not a time capsule) located center of house on the main floor. 2 Range extenders each approximately 30+ feet away from main router. First range extender (Airport Express - newest generation) located on the third floor parallel to main. Second range extender (Airport Express - new generation) is located at the end of the kitchen (main floor).

Main Router is connected straight from a Motorolla Surfboard modem on a foyer table at the center of the house.

Range extenders connected to Main Router wirelessly and at wall outlett height.

Previous Setup:

Same setup as above but, with the 5th Generation Airport Extreme instead of the 6th Generation.

Firmware:

All current versions.

Devices:

1 SONY VAIO VGN-FW490J
HP Notebook G60
Several WEMO outlets
1 iPad Mini
1 iPad 2
1 iPhone 5
1 Motorolla RAZR MAXX
Macbook Pro
iMac (wired from main router on foyer table)

Note: All of these routers/range extenders/modem/computers are plugged into surge protected outlets.

-----

Notes:

With the new Airport Extreme my family and I have been experiencing intermettent connection drops. The amber light on the main router turns on and within a few minutes turns green and connection resumes again. This has been happening for a few days now ever since I purchased the new router. This has not happened before with the 5th generation router, which I donated to our church.

I have not exchanged the product yet. I will be initiating a Complete Power Recycle after some suggested solutions in a bit. I have contacted my Internet Service Provider (Comcast) for a line check and found no problems.

Has anyone found any solutions to resolve the intermittent connection drops? Is reverting to the previous firmware going to solve this?

I would like some insights before trying to do all this. Thank you all for your time.

P.s.

I've done a detailed post since posts like these is frequently asked questions on set-up, devices, connections, etc:

Posted on Jun 27, 2013 6:45 PM

92 replies

Flippuccino Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 21, 2013 1:00 AM in response to raduncan

Glad it all worked out. I'm still loving my Asus router. Hasn't caused any problems especially during two power outage in the past month. I hope the 6th gen router will be resolved though.

Tin Omen

Level 1

11 points

Oct 21, 2013 1:37 PM in response to raduncan

For what it is worth, I put my AE in bridge mode all my problems went away. This basically means that I am only using the AE as an access point and not a router. DHCP is served from my ISP router now instead.

PPT

Level 1

17 points

Oct 22, 2013 7:44 AM in response to raduncan

This is dissapointing. I am going to take mine back to the apple store if there isn't a firmware update in the next couple of days.

This thing is the most unstable device I have ever used. When it is working, I am getting 60-70 Mbps down on my Comcast connection. When it gets flaky, which is at best daily, the speeds are crawling or there is no connection at all.

Any new tips from support? I have tried everything on this forum except unplugging my two AppleTVs.

rhomaion

Level 1

19 points

Oct 22, 2013 8:28 AM in response to PPT

Do yourself a favor when you return your AirPort Extreme, buy this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=85560 57&CatId=7412

This is the fastest most stable consumer router I've used to date.

Flippuccino Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 24, 2013 10:42 AM in response to rhomaion

Which one are you referring to?

Im on my iPad and the link is bringing me to the mobile homepage of the site.

rhomaion

Level 1

19 points

Oct 24, 2013 9:20 PM in response to Flippuccino

It was a link to the Netgear R7000. FYI, I was just using tigerdirect's site as a source since they seem to have the most accurate information listed but most sites stock it so you should be able to find it anywhere.

PPT

Level 1

17 points

Oct 25, 2013 1:11 PM in response to PPT

Well, Apple did update their Apple TV software yesterday to 6.0.1, so hopefully that helps. I updated both of my Apple TVs today. One is currently connected via wi-fi and the other over ethernet.

I also swapped out my AE at the Apple store, and just set up the new one. I will report back as to what happens. Fingers crossed! I really don't want to go Asus or Netgear, but that will be the next step if this doesn't work.

KevinD

Level 1

5 points

Oct 30, 2013 7:03 PM in response to PPT

I am having the same problems as everyone here. Started 2 weeks ago & has steadily gotten worse. I bought my new Extreme from Amazon exactly 31 days ago. I am one day too late to return this router to them. (My fault, I know). I can't return it to Apple since I did not buy it there. Should I take it to the Genius Bar? I mean really- what can they do? The product isn't defective. It is poorly designed.

Tin Omen

Level 1

11 points

Nov 15, 2013 9:00 AM in response to KevinD

Well, I can definitely say that DHCP is *not* the problem now. I have bumped my AE down to only an AP and the problem manifests itself every day now. I will continue to slowly eliminate root causes, but it sure would be nice if Apple went ahead, got off their butts and fixed this issue.

Edit: Honestly, I feel a class action lawsuit coming on.

PPT

Level 1

17 points

Nov 15, 2013 10:09 AM in response to Tin Omen

I forgot to post back. I replaced my Airport and the new one works fine. No issues with the new device.

iZHP

Level 1

0 points

Nov 16, 2013 11:25 AM in response to Tin Omen

New 6th Gen Airport Extremes cannot pass BPDU packets, as well as spanning-tree network protocol. Why would they take that functionality away with a newer, updated version? You should be adding features, not taking them away. FIX THIS APPLE! LET'S GO!

Nov 21, 2013 5:56 PM in response to iZHP

Apple has fixed the BPDU issue:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1708?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US

iZHP

Level 1

0 points

Nov 21, 2013 5:59 PM in response to Lawrence Stefani

Yup! Firmware 7.7.2 released today. Update via Airport Utility.

Nov 22, 2013 12:15 AM in response to Flippuccino

Would have been great if SNMP was still present on the 6th gen AE, this way I could have monitored if the 7.7.2 is really working.

For now let's hope connections will not be dropping and my AirPlay is getting stable again (specially for my kids 😉).

arsen32

Level 1

39 points

Nov 25, 2013 9:59 PM in response to TechInput

My drops increased to the point of not being able to use wifi with the update now I am back on 7.7.1 and It still drops a couple times a day. Some days 6 or 7. When you work from home that's nowhere close to acceptable. What is happening with apple hardware?

New Airport Extreme (6th Gen) Dropping Connection from Time to Time.