Time Capsule/Airport Express Streaming Issues?

My setup is a Time Capsule as my main router and I use an Airport Express to extend the signal.

If you are saying that the AirPort Express connects to the Time Capsule using a wireless connection, I'm not sure if you were aware that there will always be a loss of at least half of the potential speed on the network in this type of setup. Often, that loss is closer to 70%.

In addition, the Express is really a slow performer compared to a Time Capsule. Some users call it a toy router....for good reason.

The surprising result for most users is that the network often runs faster overall when the network is not extended at all with an AirPort Express.

If you have the time to experiment, power off the Express and restart the Time Capsule and check things that way. You may find that the television performance improves when you do this.

It’s a 1,470 sq ft house

Chances are though, that there are walls or other obstructions in the signal path between the Time Capsule and AirPort Express. Some new construction types use wall insulation with a metal foil backing on one or both sides of the insulating material. As you might imagine, not much of a signal is going to make it through the metal with this type of construction. Do you know how the walls are constructed in your home?

Unless the Time Capsule is in a really buried location, it should easily be able to handle a 1,500 space.....unless there are a number of obstructions in the signal path, or the wall construction really absorbs the WiFi signal.

In that case, the best solution by far is to run an Ethernet cable to the remote area where you need more signal. Connect the Ethernet directly to the TV if at all possible, and there will be zero signal loss between the Time Capsule and the TV.

I have an Airport Extreme, not Express

Assuming they are both tower model.. you should be ok streaming.. but the setup is still not ideal.

You need to check the link speed at both ends.. this is easy on the Extreme end.. just hover your mouse pointer over the connection.. and it will show you a speed.

Like this..

See where it says in the summary screen connection: Unknown

hover the mouse over unknown and wait a couple of sec. another popup will come with the actual link speed and signal.

On the TC side you might also be able to find out what the speed is by hovering your mouse over the connection.. under wireless clients, although this kind of setup often does not show up.

The problem still as Bob pointed out as well as myself.. repeater wireless setup will halve the speed.

What I don't understand is that I constantly run speed tests through my Apple TV and it always shows a solid 99-102 mbps. When I take the Airport Extreme off of my network and just use the Time Capsule, signal drops and I usually get about 50-60 mbps at the Apple TV

You might find even if the speed is lower the actual latency is better.. direct to the TC.

And streaming through double hop wireless just spells trouble.

As another question.. is the Airport Extreme sitting in the Apple TV location which is plugged into it by ethernet.

If you currently use the Extreme at a mid point to enhance wireless signal.. you might actually find the TC to AE direct.. and using the clients by ethernet really works.

Powerline Adapters so thank you for pointing those out. I'll need to check into them as I'm not entirely sure I want to pay someone a big chunk of cash to run a dedicated Ethernet line to my TV.

Check the price of a pair of TP-Link Or Netgear AV1200 or AV2000 model power line..

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/rankers/powerline/view

They simply use your power cabling as a medium to run high speed connections with suitable adapters.. these have improved dramatically in the last few years..

In my house in the midst of renovations I needed to cut my ethernet connections so used a pair of TP-Link 1200 from one end of upstairs to the other end downstairs.. on a very large house and got >250Mbps .. it is not gigabit.. but it is pretty darn good.

In addition to all of the other excellent comments provided you so far, I would like to offer some suggestions for you to try.

Suggestion #1

1. Temporarily connect your Apple TV (ATV) to the Extreme using an Ethernet connection between them ... instead of the current wireless connection.
2. Try streaming 4K content now. Any improvement? Remember that Netflix will attempt to stream at the best rate available over the Internet between their servers and the WAN-side connection of your router. In this case the TC. They don't, to the best of my knowledge, take into consideration the bandwidth of your internal network ... which should be many more times faster than the Internet one.

Suggestion #2

1. This one may be a bit more difficult to setup. In this suggestion, I would want you to power-down the Extreme and only have the TC operational. This time, connect the ATV, by Ethernet, to the TC Unfortunately, that would mean you will have to either relocate (temporarily) your HDTV or, hopefully, if you have another one, connect that instead.
2. Again, try streaming 4K content. This, in theory, would be the best possible potential for having the maximum bandwidth on your local network between the TC and the ATV. There should be no loss of streaming quality throughout the 4K streaming process.

A successful result for the first suggestion would imply that it is only the wireless connection between the Extreme and the ATV that is an issue. Failure would indicate the bandwidth between the TC and the Extreme cannot sustain the minimums for 4K streaming.

A successful result for the second suggestion would indicate that there isn't any bandwidth issues between the Netflix servers and the ATV ... as long as the ATV is connected by Ethernet. Failure would indicate that the TC's wireless network is not adequate and would confirm your suspicion that the Apple routers may not work for you for 4K streaming over wireless.

The values look pretty good with the exception of possibly one item.....Channel.

Normally, you would want each AirPort to be operating on a different channel, to reduce the chances of wireless interference and noise.

Unfortunately, Apple provides no means to adjust the channel of the extending AirPort when you are using a wireless connection between AirPorts.

The newer versions of the AirPorts (actually they are 5+ year old designs at this point) will generally use different channels when the signal is being extended wirelessly.

Not sure how old your AirPorts are, and frankly cannot say that using different channels.....even if it were possible.....would solve your issue.

Frankly, I do not trust a network that is extended using WiFi unless it is for simple Internet browsing, checking email and other light duty applications. 4K demands a pristine WiFi signal to work well, and I'm not sure if an extended network using wireless can deliver that kind of performance.

As a test.....Is there any chance that you could connect the AirPort Extreme back to the Time Capsule using a wired Ethernet cable connection?

Sorry, I obviously missed that when I read through the posts. Well then, that would tell me that the issue is either the bandwidth between the Netflix servers to the WAN-side of the TC or through the WAN-LAN interface of the TC itself.

4K requires a minimum of 100+ Mbps of throughput, or roughly 150-200 Mbps of bandwidth ... and that would be for compressed 4K content. Uncompressed (or raw) 4K would be in the 1.5+ TBps (not Tbps) range and definitely NOT what Netfix is streaming.

SmallNetBuilder is an outfit that tests throughput performance of numerous routers, including the 802.11ac versions. The TC or Extreme's rely on a NAT (as do all others) which significantly affects the router's throughput across the WAN-LAN interface, but their test still show that these Apple routers are capable of getting around 300-400 Mbps ... so your test with the ATV connected directly to the TC has me a bit puzzled.

So, either the TC if faulty or the Internet service provided by your ISP is not consistent. To rule out the TC, you could temporarily substitute the Extreme for the TC, connect the ATV to it, and test again. If you get the same results, I really would suspect your ISP's service or the modem that they provided you before I would think both base stations were faulty.

Like you, my friend has a 100 Mbps connection plan with his provider.

The A1521.....(it looks like a white "tower") is the most recent version of the AirPort Extreme....the same product that my friend is using. Might be a good idea to make sure that the firmware is up to date. Latest version is 7.7.9.

The A 1470 Time Capsule was introduced in June 2011 and discontinued in June 2013. Probably fair to say that this product represents 8 year old technology.

So if you have the time and want to experiment, try running the AirPort Extreme as your "main" router and connect an Ethernet cable from the Extreme to the TV. If that works OK, then connect the Ethernet cable to the Apple TV. If that works OK, then try WiFi......(with the Time Capsule powered off).

Don't know if this has anything to do with things, but my friend has an LG brand 4K TV.

Not sure which version of the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme that you have......but for what its worth, 4K works perfectly for a friend who is using the most recent "tower" version of the AirPort Extreme connected to his Apple TV using an Ethernet cable connection.

He did say that WiFi seemed to work as well, but because the AirPort Extreme was near his home theater equipment, he went with the wired connection......which is always a good choice if available.

The most recent versions of the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule were introduced in the summer of 2013. Given that it takes at least a year in product development to bring a product to market, the AirPorts were designed 6+ years ago.

If you have older versions of the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme, then those products would have been designed 8+ years ago......long before 4K was even around. I think 4K hit the market in 2015-2016.

Based on your tests, my opinion would be that if you have older versions of the AirPorts, that they are not going to work well with 4K. If you have the most recent versions, then something.....I don't know what.....is wrong.

The A 1470 Time Capsule was introduced in June 2011 and discontinued in June 2013. Probably fair to say that this product represents 8 year old technology.

The Gen4 is A1409 .. for some strange reason the next gen TC kept 14xx whereas the Extreme went to 15xx so it is easy to forget.

He has two latest model AC airports..

But I think his service on WAN side is having trouble.. not lan..

Trick would be plug that long ethernet cable straight modem to Apple TV or TV.. and eliminate both / all airports.

Thanks for the catch.

Good idea to bypass all the AirPorts as a test. If things work that way, then one or both AirPorts have a problem.

I checked with my friend again on his AirPort Extreme / Apple TV4 / and 4K TV setup, and he reports that performance has been flawless with his Zoom modem, so 4K has been working just fine for him with the AirPort Extreme.

Thanks for the shot from the TV..

I am a bit lost as to why 100mbit is not enough.

The info is very clear.. the actual streaming rate is 16.24Mbps average.

Which will go up and down obviously..

Why an outside connection of 300Mbit is required makes no sense..

The TV is only detecting 48.61Mbps between you and the Netflix server. Most of that limitation should be in your own home.. so I find it incredible the ISP is not giving you the bandwidth required in the connection.

In fact going back to your previous shot from the TV you had a lot more bandwidth.. 64Mbps.. which I think means the ISP is doing some fiddles in between.. proxy servers and the like.. and are only giving you the actual bandwidth if you pay them for the higher rated service.

Good timing.

I just checked again with my friend to confirm that he is still on the 100 Mbps service from his provider.

He also noted that his wife has a home office with 4-5 devices normally connected at all times and that he has a Mac, and an iPad which are in use when he is home.

No issues at all with 4K TV.

Like LaPastenague, I think that there may be an issue with your provider, which you may want to follow up on.