Q: Airport Extreme slow wi-fi and ethernet connection

Edit runs out fairly quickly. 5min then it is set in concrete forevermore.

I guess my solution is bypass the problem.. use another gigabit switch. Plug the TC into the network for use as wireless AP and storage.

You didn't give me a model of the TC.

How old is it.. ?? Sorry if I have missed it in the clutter.

What firmware?

There are issues as the TC age. Poor ethernet ports often points to internal power supply problems. Gen3 and Gen4 whilst not having the severe power supply problem of Gen1 and Gen2 actually have board problems with the 1.8v power line. This immediately effects gigabit.

I can reproduce your layout without having issues. So it might just come down to hardware problems.

Aha, good to know (edit timeout).

Yeah, might as well do that – get another gigabit switch.  You think connecting the TC to that would get rid of the speed problem? I guess it would for my Mac Pro to the MacBook Pro, but I'd still prefer transfer speed to the TC to be as good as possible since another MacBook Pro (not connected via Ethernet) is using the TC as Time Machine backup. Maybe just give it a go and see...

The TC is Gen 4 (mentioned in my first post).

Firmware is the latest avaliable from Apple (whatever the number is 7.6.7? Not at home to check at the moment).

I think it's from around when Gen 4 was released, so mid 2011 something?

I didn't know the Apple routers got hardware problems with age. My impression has always been that even if not always the fastest or most feature rich, they at least are very stable and reliable.

Anyway, thanks for your help and tips!

I think it's from around when Gen 4 was released, so mid 2011 something?

Sorry I did miss the TC gen.

There is a fix for this problem if it is internal.

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/new-issue-wi…

I discovered the issue in Gen4 although it was more a Gen3 problem. The early Gen4 are the same boards.. so you can expect the same problems to crop up.

I didn't know the Apple routers got hardware problems with age.

TC much worse than Airport Extreme. It is more complicated and has much greater heat load throughout its life. But was built with a power supply that was barely sufficient to cope. The Extreme without internal power supply and without internal hard disk simply runs a lot cooler.. and for electronics cooler is still better. External power supplies can easily be replaced.. and the power brick for the Extreme was very well made. The internal supplies in the TC are much poorer design due to the space requirements. This did all change on the AC models which have identical internal supplies. (and both have more than their fair share of power issues as a result).

For older AE I would rate them as 5 years.

For the TC 3 years if you are lucky. (you have managed 5 years.. and that is well over industry average and even TC average).

Sorry I did miss the TC gen.

No probs – there was a lot of text.

There is a fix for this problem if it is internal.

 

https://sites.google.com/site/lapastenague/a-deconstruction-of-routers-and-modem s/apple-time-capsule-repair/new-issue-wi…

All of those steps there? Thanks for the info, but I don't really have the time to do that currently even though I do think it would have been an interesting project. Way to much family business with kids etc. at the moment, so I think I will just try to work around the problem like you suggested, adding another switch in the mix. Hopefully I can get okay speeds over wifi to the TC when it comes to Time Machine backups. But I guess wifi over an 802.11n won't be much faster than 10 MB/s anyway?

Finally I want to add that I did achieve around 70 MB/s over Ethernet in my previous flat when the TimeCapsule was the only switch involved. So it seems to be in this new network environment the issue is triggered for some reason.

Thanks so much for your assistance and info! Sad to hear about the power supplies in some of the Apple base stations – hope future models will be improved.

Okay, just wanted to add that I just now tried moving the TimeCapsule so it sits between the switch of my main router and the MacBook Pro (i.e. omitting the gigabit switch) and the Mac Pro is connected directly to the switch of my main router. Speed? About 70 MB/s.

Why oh why does it go fast when connected this way and not the other? Is it some compatibility thing with the small 5 port gigabit switch I have? Maybe it's because there are two switches involved? Hmm… maybe I should try and move the gigabit switch to where the TC was before and see what happens. Should trigger the issue again I guess.

Okay, that's just weird. Now I have basically moved the TimeCapsule to where the gigabit switch were before and vice versa and I'm still getting about 70 MB/s now. Maybe a power cycle of the Time Capsule was all that I needed to do to fix my problem?

It can indicate a poor network cable.. to get gigabit cables need to be perfect.. and a slight flaw can cause issues.. also negotiate speed with gigabit without having a fixed speed can go wrong.

Whatever it was it's gone now when I have put things back to the exact same place as they were when I had the problem. So maybe there were some negotiation problems about the Ethernet speed to use that got fixed when I power cycled the TimeCapsule – now everything is good and I get at least 70 MB/s transfer speed in my tests.

So all my trouble seems to have been solved by the classic ”turning it off and then on again”.