Airport Express Internet over PPPoE issues

Question

Level 3

710 points

Airport Express Internet over PPPoE issues

Hi there everybody,

I am a longtime Apple user and have had several Apple Airport and Time Capsule units.

Setting up a simple local network should be a no-brainer for me however, this latest Airport Express 3rd generation (model type A1392) is driving me nuts.

No matter how hard I try to get a stable connection over my aDSL modem, after a few minutes the line drops, amber light starts flashing and Airport Utility kicks in showing there is no external IP and no PPPeO connection.

Setting up my old AAX 1st gen works like a charm and so does my 2nd gen. Time Capsule.

As the problem was only related to the AAX unit, I went to the Apple Store and got a replacement new AAX which now shows the exact same behaviour.

At first it works, after a minute or two it slows down to a crowl and eventually it drops the Internet connection and starts flashing the amber light.

Could this be modem-related? Sounds awkward as the same modem works perfectly fine with all other units but I really don't know what else to thinker to get the **** thing to work properly.

Thanks in advance for any given suggestion

(connected to the Internet over my cell-phone now, just crazy)

/P

Posted on Mar 22, 2014 9:07 AM

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Answer 1

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,162 points

Mar 22, 2014 9:23 AM in response to Gran Maestro

If you are lucky enough to still be using a 5.x version of AirPort Utility.......

Open up the application, select the AirPort Express and click Manual Setup

Click the Internet icon

Change the setting for Connect Using from PPPoE to Ethernet

Click the Ethernet WAN port selection box and change that setting to 100 Mbps Full Duplex. If your Internet connection speed is 10 Mbps or less, you could also select the 10 Mbps Full Duplex setting

Click the Connect Using selection box again and change back to PPPoE

Click Update to save the settings

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Answer 2

AMI111

Level 1

0 points

Mar 22, 2014 9:34 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Sorry for ask about something not related to this topic.

You said one time that "A "Weekend" on Apple's calendar is Saturday and Sunday." , is there any way to change this setup on Mac calendar (last version) ?!

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Answer 3

Gran Maestro Author

Level 3

710 points

Mar 22, 2014 9:45 AM in response to Bob Timmons

Hi Bob, thanks for your reply, a nice try but unfortunately not much has changed.

I am on Mavericks hence, I use Apple Airport Utility launcher and can still run AAU 5.6.1

I tried as suggested with a combination of settings: 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, single and full duplex.

At the moment I have a connection, albeit slow (in the range of ~1 MBit) instead of 5-6 Mbps which I should normally get. This usually leads to dropping the connection which it infact did again while I was typing this message.

(back on cell-phone connection)

It's crazy I know, any other idea?

/P

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Answer 4

Bob Timmons

Level 10

185,162 points

Mar 22, 2014 9:55 AM in response to Gran Maestro

I no longer use PPPoE to connect, but when I did, the manual WAN Port settings worked very well, resulting in stable connections for months at a time.

Sorry that this did not work for you.

The only thing left to try is rolling back the firmware on the AirPort Express.....if possible....but with a new unit, you may not be able to do this.

For what it is worth, I use firmware 7.6.1 on the AirPort Express that I have here.

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Answer 5

Gran Maestro Author

Level 3

710 points

Mar 31, 2014 12:03 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Sorry for the delay in answering Bob, I just wanted to let you know that replacing my 14 years-old aDSL modem did the trick.

As the issue was exactly identical on two separate albeit new units, I had to rule out the AAX and check something else in my troubleshooting process. I got a cheap aDSL modem on ebay which I setup tonight and found immediately that not only is the connection rock-solid now (x-ossing fingers on that one) but also the download speeds are consistently better.

Strangely, the old AAX as well as the Time Capsule were working decently even with my old setup.

Who knows why but I am back to business as usual now, thank you for the given attention.

/Pieter

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