Extended guest network slow

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Extended guest network slow

Hello everyone,

I have a 4th generation TC that I use as my main router it is conected directly to my ISP modem a Motorola Surfboard SB5100i and it has a wired conecction to my iMac, I also have an Aiport Extreme 802.11ac latest generation that I just bought to extend my network to a far corner of my house were the wireless signal is very pour making it unusable the Airport is conected to the TC via RJ45 and it extends my main wireless network very well I have no issues there.

I decided to create a guest network to keep guests away from the resources inside my main network (adding some extra security), the guest network gets repeated as well by the Aiport and when a client is conected via the TC to the guest network it works perfectly as fast as the main network, however when a client gets conected to the guest network via the Airport extreme the speed they get out of it goes down to around 0.50 Mbps (I have a 9.0 Mbps connection) in other words:

Speed in main network conected to TC: 9.0 Mbps

Speed in main network connected to Airport Extreme: 9.0 Mbps

Speed in guest network connected to TC: 9.0 Mbps

Speed in guest network connected to Airport Extreme: 0.5 Mbps.

I have done everyting from restoring both the TC and the Airport Extreme to changing the wireless security leaving the guest network open, play around with the frecuencies and nothing seems to work no matter what I do I get very slow speed on the extended guest network but excelent speed on the extended main network. TC is runing firmware 7.6.4 and Airport is runing firmware 7.7.1.

I have look for information on the web and on apple support comunities but must of the similar cases i have found are related to slow speed on main and not guest extended networks.

I´ll really apritiate any help that anyone can provide. Thanks in advance.

Posted on Oct 1, 2013 4:35 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

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Oct 2, 2013 9:30 AM in response to Jsalva

I have a 4th generation TC that I use as my main router it is conected directly to my ISP modem a Motorola Surfboard SB5100i and it has a wired conecction to my iMac, I also have an Aiport Extreme 802.11ac latest generation that I just bought to extend my network to a far corner of my house were the wireless signal is very pour making it unusable the Airport is conected to the TC via RJ45 and it extends my main wireless network very well I have no issues there.

The primary issue here, most likely, it the placement of the new 802.11ac AirPort Extreme to extend the older Extreme. If the signal is poor at the location that you place the extending base station, it will "boost" the signal BUT ONLY at the bandwidth at which it receives it.

Please check out the following AirPort User Tip for details on optimal base station placement to achieve the best overall bandwidth for your extended network.

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Answer 2

Jsalva Author

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Oct 2, 2013 9:35 AM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax,

Thanks for your answer but I dont think thats the case here as I said on my original post the new 802.11ac is connected to my TC via network cable its not extending via wifi but via ethernet.

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Answer 3

Tesserax

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148,453 points

Oct 2, 2013 5:03 PM in response to Jsalva

So sorry about that. I reread your post and sure enough you did mention it, I just overlooked it.

I initially didn't have a similar setup so I just configured by 4th generation Extreme & Time Capsule for a Guest Network. I also ran similiar test using not only an Internet Speed Test but also a dedicated data transfer rate program to take the measurements. Unfortunately, I did NOT come up with the same results as you did.

In my case, like yours, my Extreme is extending the TC in a roaming network. My results were pretty consistent with a small dropoff in the transfer rate when a device was connected to the Extreme as I would have expected. The readings were basically the same for both the main and guest networks.

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Answer 4

Oct 2, 2013 5:24 PM in response to Jsalva

I don't have a solution but I posted in a thread with the same problem.. On the extended network, guest was extremely slow.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5393827?answerId=23236496022#23236496022&ac_cid=tw123456#23236496

I have not explored it enough to answer the problem and no body else contributed.. but I think the same thing as Tesserax can happen.. it is perhaps peculiar to a certain setup.. since guest network uses a different vlan and it gets complicated.. with networking.. something else is going on.

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Answer 5

Jsalva Author

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Oct 2, 2013 7:03 PM in response to Tesserax

Tesserx,

Thanks for trying to replicate the issue, I guess that the problem happens with the latest generation AE the 802.11ac, this is a very strange problem, i would expect both the main and guest network to have the issue but it only happens on the guest. I Hnestly dont know what else to do.

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Answer 6

Jsalva Author

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Oct 2, 2013 7:05 PM in response to LaPastenague

LaPastenague,

Thanks for the link, I did some reading but aparently the VLAN issue affects only when the AE is connected to a switch, thats not the case here, the AE is directly conected to the TC via ethernet, i gues I´ll continue reading hope that someone comes across with this issue and have a solution.

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Answer 7

Oct 2, 2013 7:09 PM in response to Jsalva

You do still have vlan issues.. it is just connected to the TC you can no longer see them..

But the guest network must use a different vlan, otherwise it would not be assigned a different IP range..

It is possible the main AE has deliberate set the guest vlan over ethernet to low priority.. for example.. but since there is no detailed setup controls on an AE we can never know.

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Answer 8

Jsalva Author

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Oct 3, 2013 6:14 PM in response to LaPastenague

What I don't understand is why I have clan issues for a function that according to Apple should be working with no problems, I have no special configuration it's a simple Ethernet connection between the TC and the AE.

If the AE has deliberate throttle the guest network there should be an option to do or undo this but apparently there is none.

Any other ideas of what can I do?

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Answer 9

Jsalva Author

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Oct 7, 2013 6:39 AM in response to Jsalva

Any suggestion or solution for this issue? I really need help with this.

Thanks

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Answer 10

Oct 31, 2014 6:55 PM in response to Jsalva

Jsalva - Did you ever find a solution to your problem?

One year later, I'm hitting issues simular to those you reported above. See my posts in this thread:

Problems Using Roaming Guest Network on AC Airports

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Answer 11

Jsalva Author

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Nov 4, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Paolo Fiorini

I was not able to fix, at the end i patch it like this: i took the 4th generation TC and used it as my extended router and used the AE AC as my main router, this increased my guest network speed on the extended network which was my main problem to about 6 Mbps, however everything connected to my AE AC runs at full speed both main and guest network and the same for the extended main network the problem its only on my guest extended network.

anyways i manage to increase to speed to 6 Mbps as said before and i let it like that, have you being able to solve the issue?

Thanks

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Answer 12

Nov 15, 2014 11:53 PM in response to Jsalva

Nope, no solution yet.

After reading your post, I've tried myself to swap the roles of the Time Capsule and Airport Extreme, i.e. to configure the Airport Extreme as router, and the Time Capsule as bridge... but no advantage of any sort for me. The situation remains identical, which is somehow reasonable considering that the two units are supposed to be identical (except for the internal hard-drive).

At this point the best option I've found is to disable the guest network in the Time Capsule, i.e. the current configuration is as follows:

Airport Extreme as router, with both main and guest network enabled;
Time Capsule as bridge (roaming configuration, Ethernet cable to the Airport Extreme).

In this way performances of both networks are good on both channels (2.4 and 5 GHz), but of course the guest is not extended, and coverage is only as far as the Airport Extreme can reach.

I really hope Apple will come out with a fix for this.

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Answer 13

May 27, 2015 10:30 PM in response to Paolo Fiorini

I have the same issue exactly, my guest network from an ethernet connected TC gen4 is about 2mbs on a 10mbs connection that is 10mbs on 5ghz and 2.4ghz networks everywhere in the house, only Guest is slow, drives me nuts as I have home office and my staff are all using the crappy 2mbs, just posted this to receive news if anyone ever finds a soloution.

Thing is I moved house and I never used to have this problem (at least I dont think I did), I re did the network in the new house and suddenly slow guest internet, pain in the ***

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