CongressDJ

Q: New Airport Time Capsule Dropping Wifi/Internet with 7.7.1

Last week I bought a new Airport 2TB Time Capsule and had everything up and running within minutes. However, less than 24 hours later, the wifi signal started dropping devices all around the house. It started with the AppleTV, and eventually dropped our iPhones and iPad as well. The problem is one I've seen on these forums before (however, not with this new model).

 

I since exchanged it, and the new model is having the identical issues.

 

Basically, the problem is 1 of 3 things:

 

1. You'll look down at your iPhone (or whatever device that is wirelessly connected), and see a full wifi signal. However, you'll have lost access to the Internet. Using the AirPort app won't find the Airport Time Capsule. Sometimes turning off wifi on the iPhone and turning it back on fixes the issue, sometimes the Airport Time Capsule needs to be restarted.

2. The AirPort Time Capsule stops broadcasting SSID at random intervals. Even when standing right next to it, there is no way to join the network.

3. The Internet connection drops in the middle of a browsing session (usually while using an iPhone).

 

On both devices (the original new one, and the replacement exchange), I immediately ran the firmware update. So, I'm thinking this could be a firmware issue.

 

This router replaces a Linksys e3000 that was working flawlessly. It's connected to a Cox Cable Cisco DOCSIS 3.0 modem (modem only, no router). The AirPort Time Capsule runs in WPA2 protected mode. It's running DHCP and NAT, and 2.4 and 5ghz are currently running the same network name (although I've tried separating them to no effect).

 

I am at my wits end. I find it hard to believe that both of these routers are defective. And I also find it hard to believe that I'm doing something wrong in the setup of this simple device, considering I've been working with all kinds of very complicated routers for over a decade without this kind of problem.

 

So I come to you, community, for help!

 

Thank you in advance!

Posted on Jun 30, 2013 7:10 PM

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Q: New Airport Time Capsule Dropping Wifi/Internet with 7.7.1

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  • by Ratan,

    Ratan Ratan Jul 14, 2015 11:49 AM in response to CongressDJ
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 14, 2015 11:49 AM in response to CongressDJ

    I have exactly the same issue. On my part I changed all WiFi devices to fixed IP thinking that I had too many WiFi devices and therefore overlap of IP addresses. It did not fix it. My device is new not sure if it was doing this when it was brand new or started few weeks/months after. I find connecting and disconnecting wifi on mobile devices does help at times. I have one Mac with hardwire (ethernet) connection and No issues there. I think the issue is with WiFi and not router portion of TC.

    I expected better from an apple device.

     

  • by ajnealey,

    ajnealey ajnealey Jan 20, 2016 6:46 PM in response to Ratan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 20, 2016 6:46 PM in response to Ratan

    So I read pretty much this whole thread. Has there been any resolution to this issue?

     

    Thanks,

    AJ

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Jan 20, 2016 7:28 PM in response to ajnealey
    Level 9 (52,825 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 20, 2016 7:28 PM in response to ajnealey

    ajnealey wrote:

     

    So I read pretty much this whole thread. Has there been any resolution to this issue?

     

    Thanks,

    AJ

    Do you have a TC with problems?? Or are you planning on buying one and want to know how reliable it will be??

     

    There is no one size fits all answer.

     

    For lots of people they must work ok.. otherwise the thread would be 90 pages long not 9.

     

    eg Yosemite wireless issues has reached 90 pages.

     

    Re: OSX Yosemite Wifi issues

     

    And that is the other side of it.. where are these problems coming from.. the router or the client??

     

    I am on my third TC.. first was dead inside a week.. the second was a simply low wireless output. not able to seriously account for it. I didn't bother for a while then a cheap one came up second hand and I jumped in again.. thinking I would pull it apart if it was bad.. and behold.. it is excellent.. signal as high as any of the Asus or Netgear top line models I test.

     

    If you buy one.. simply thrash it for the two weeks you get before you cannot return.. If it performs well keep it.. otherwise just return it as unsuitable.

     

    There just seems to be too much variation to give a blanket answer.

     

    It's well past replacement.. and it is seriously outclassed (wireless and router at least) by products from Asus and many other companies. So if you jump in do so with your eyes wide open.

  • by TigerJohn,

    TigerJohn TigerJohn Feb 15, 2016 9:23 AM in response to ajnealey
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Feb 15, 2016 9:23 AM in response to ajnealey

    Yes, get rid of the SB 6121/SB 6141 and replace it with a Zoom 5341J.  That fixed my problems after trying 2 different Time Capsules with both the 6121 and the 6141.  Both SB modems caused the SB->Time Capsule link to freeze up every night, requiring a reboot of one or both.

  • by Chris Byrd,

    Chris Byrd Chris Byrd Feb 20, 2016 2:02 PM in response to toddfromtx
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Feb 20, 2016 2:02 PM in response to toddfromtx

    Awesome post, and exactly the behavior and process I just followed with my Xfinity modem/router combo device.   I moved into my house around the time of this post, and got this Xfinity router.   It is interesting that I didn't have any problems with 2 AppleTV devices, or numerous other phones or tablets.   I only seemed to have an issue with my macbook pro.

     

    The difference seems to be all in the IPv6 implementation.   I initially had the ATC in link-local mode, but otherwise it was setup as discussed above.  The xfinity modem was also acting as a router, I just disabled the wifi and let my ATC handle that function.   In this setup I had my macbook setup to also use link-local only mode for IPv6, and it always connected to the ATC via a wireless network hosted by the ATC. 

     

    Whatever was happening in that exchange must have been horribly bad.   What I noticed is that wifi would always stay connected, but the internet connection would drop out from time to time.  It seemed to always happen during long running conversations, or I noticed it more during things like Pandora streaming.   Sitting hours on end working on grad school projects just made me loose my mind as I saw this issue continue to happen.

     

    I could always, and I mean always, fix the problem by turning off the wifi and then turning it back on, or by switching between 2.4 or 5 GHz networks (I separated them in a desperate attempt to figure out what was happening).   I lived with that until I finally decided to monkey with the IPv6 settings on the ATC, because one day I had had enough of this mess. 

     

    After noticing that the Xfinity router had IPv6 stuff set, I set the IPv6 mode on the ATC to tunnel mode.   When the ATC rebooted I lost access to it, and it wouldn't hard reset.   I had to factory reset it.   After the reset the ATC had the settings shown above, and wouldn't you know it, the thing has been working perfectly.

     

    Here is the hardware version of the Xfinity modem/router.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 4.43.14 PM.png

    Here is the software version of the Xfinity modem/router.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 4.57.46 PM.png

    Here are the basics for my ATC.

    Screen Shot 2016-02-20 at 4.47.00 PM.png

    Once I followed the steps above, it changed my whole life.   Years of dealing this issue, and I think the whole time it was related to my avoidance of the IPv6 stuff.  Ironically I had forced the link-local only mode as a result of another thread related to network drops and how to resolve them.

     

    Hopefully this helps someone else dealing with the issue.

  • by mikeadams,

    mikeadams mikeadams Apr 15, 2016 3:00 AM in response to Chris Byrd
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mac OS X
    Apr 15, 2016 3:00 AM in response to Chris Byrd

    I've found this thread after having a strange wireless problem and after changing pretty much everything, it must either be config of the TC or the way wireless is implemented.

     

    I've had some of those problems listed above where its just strange behaviour around being able to join the network or it drops, but those aren't the biggest issue. What seems to be happening is that the wireless is dropping Citrix Receiver traffic very frequently. My session is dropping sometimes 5/6 times an error due to network timeouts. It doesn't happen if I connect to the TC over Ethernet and when the Citrix drops, everything else is unaffected.

     

    The laptop on Citrix also works fine over wireless when out and about on various networks and we've swapped all the kit in the house including the TC and its still happening.

     

    Does anyone have any advice about what I could try, or should I just cut my losses and replace the TC with a router from a third party? There doesn't seem to be any meaningful logs on the TC to at least give me a hint of what's going on.

     

    Thanks!

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Apr 15, 2016 5:15 AM in response to mikeadams
    Level 9 (52,825 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 15, 2016 5:15 AM in response to mikeadams
    Does anyone have any advice about what I could try, or should I just cut my losses and replace the TC with a router from a third party?

    You can still use the TC in the network for TM backups.. but simply take away its routing which is and has always been problematic..

     

    Just buy a different brand router.

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