# My opinion.  Airport Express sucks



## Wrxified (Jan 10, 2005)

I can't believe I've wasted two days of my life and countless hours trying to figure this out.  First of all I'm pretty sure after talking with Apple today they could give a rats behind how much I've spent on their gear in the past year.  And from the sound of it could care less if I ever consider another Apple product.  Scott from Apple with his inability to listen let alone even read the script they pop up on his screen to answer each one of my questions was useless.  

Now that I've vented.  I'll explain.  Although I'm not really looking to answer the riddle at this point because the AE is already back in the box and in the bag.  I bought this Saturday.  I have 20 gigs I want to simply share with home stereo.  Simple.  Siemens Speedstream Wireless DSL gateway modem.  Powerbook 15" G4.  All the goodies.  I hooked this up without issue on Saturday.  Within minutes I was streaming music to the stereo.  Life's good.  Nope.  Sunday around noon the music starts cutting out.  Barely noticeable at first.  Every 1/2 hour or so.  Then every few minutes until I wouldn't even start again.  I don't have a 2.4 ghz phone.  It's 900 but nonetheless it's on the other side of the house away from my AE.  So I monkey for hours last night with no luck.  Basically just quit working.  Thought it was a defective unit.  Dissapointing but no biggie.  Should've known when I went for the exchange and notice CompUSA had like 10 of these bad boys discounted $10 each for being an open item that I was buying a product that apparently is in a beta test mode on the public consumer currently.   So I get home and the same junk all over again.  I've moved my AE so far away from any type of interference you could think of.  I've tried Interference Robustness on the card setting.  What happens is the unit configures properly.  I get my green light.  As soon as I hit play in itunes I get about a 5 second stream of music then it cuts out.  Take a minute or so to reconnect.  Then all over again.  It's gotta be some setting that I have on my notebook or network that Apple or I can't figure out.  I can sit there and stare at the green light on the Airport Express for the next 24 hours.  Then try to play and it goes to a blinking yellow.  What a joke.

1 1/2 hours with Apple and they can't even figure out there own problems let alone mine. Sorry to whine.  I hate whining but I'm tired of trying to figure this out.  I'm going to bed.

What a waste.


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## quiksan (Jan 11, 2005)

not that I've had the issues you describe, but I'd agree that it's not the primo product it is sold as.

I've had issues on occasion trying to set different things up, having the speakers not show up in iTunes, etc.

It always comes back to working w/o too much trouble, but being an Apple product, I don't expect that trouble at all.  so yeah, not the best of their products, but still pretty cool IMO, when it's working as it should...


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## Randman (Jan 11, 2005)

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. It works wonderfully with AirPort. I've also used it on the road in a couple of hotels and it worked fine there as well. 
  If I were you, I'd trash all the plists and reconfigure the entire thing.


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## Arden (Jan 11, 2005)

Wow, that's quite a story.  You want to buy the Roku Soundbridge I won from a MacAddict caption contest?  I'll sell it to you for $175.  You can use it wired or wirelessly; unfortunately, it can't play Fairplay AAC's.


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## Decado (Jan 11, 2005)

mine works good.
it did not always do that, but i blame that on my old router. now i connect my broadband (24 megabit/s) straight into the airport express and receive about 20 mb/s wirelessly to my computer.
before, i had the broadband connected to an old router that sended signals both to the airport and to my powerbook. The music was then always skipping and my broadband connection was down to 4 mb/s (!).

i agree that the setup of the thing is not always obvious, but it beats the internetbrowser GUI of most other routers (you know the ones where you have to enter the hardwares ipaddress in safari to get access to setups without explanations).


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## symphonix (Jan 11, 2005)

Mine has never cut out when playing music, ever. I'd say you may have a defective unit, which should definitely be covered by warranty. Incidentally, how many bars of signal were you getting? If it is unusually low, then it could be that the internal Antenna had come disconnected. If its OK, then it is more likely to be the Airport Express' firmware (did you update it?) or a fault within the unit itself.

Have you reset the Airport Express at all? Does the light do anything when the problem occurs (I have seen cases where the plug was actually *just barely* falling out of the wall, causing the power to fail momentarily). Does iTunes go back to its "Connecting to ..." display when it happens?

Another possibility is that the fault is not on the AE unit, but on the wireless card in your PowerBook (a distinct possibility), or in the iTunes software (not so likely). 

Whatever the case, a simple process of elimination should tell your Apple techie which component is failing, and then its just a simple warranty replacement.

As for my AE, I swear by it. Its never given me any trouble at all.


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## crypee d (Jan 16, 2005)

things quit working and i had to reconfigure.  after getting it all back on the home stereo it now has drop outs and the yellow light flashes even when it is working properly.  it used to be green all the time.  any ideas?


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## ichadsey (Jan 26, 2005)

i have to agree with Wrxified here. Airport express causes way too much stress than it's worth. What a pain. To what he explains, mine does EXACTLY the same. Green Light... green light... green light... turn on itunes, wham! yellow light. Sometimes i feel like these machines are just messing with me. i have come way too close to tossing it out the window.


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## Randman (Jan 27, 2005)

If you toss it, aim it my way cuz I've never had a problem with mine.


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## diablojota (Jan 27, 2005)

Definitely try deleting some p-lists, update permissions, etc... Perhaps run an update for the AE. If not, take it to your local apple store. There has to be a logical explanation. Make sure your OS is up to date and the airport card is as well.
Something is not optimized.


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## Jeffo (Jan 27, 2005)

Mine has been working great too, but i actually dont use it as a base station, just to relay music through while joining my graphite base station network.  i set up an extention cord and a audio line to the top of each of the stereos in the house so i can plug it in where ever i want.  I have never had a problem with it on my network.  i am sure that you could get some help on here if you do want to try to troubleshoot it.


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## michaelsanford (Jan 27, 2005)

symphonix said:
			
		

> Mine has never cut out when playing music, ever. I'd say you may have a defective unit


 
 Agreed.

 I'm not saying APEX is perfect, but I've never experienced anything like that before...umm aside from another very similar thread in this forum.


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## aicul (Mar 31, 2005)

I bought my unit for the very same use. And had the very same problems. I returned the unit to apple for a full refund.

The fact is the unit does not provide accurate diagnostics as to whats up. The blinking lights are a joke and the airport tools on the mac do not feed-back sufficient info to help any poor soul resolve a problem.

Hope you guys that are happy with your units don't encounter these problems because the really make you scream.


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## chornbe (Mar 31, 2005)

While I haven't been a serious mac owner until recently, I've always been *around* Macs (I've been in the computer biz since '90) and it seems there's a phrase that's always used... "trash your preferences and reconfigure"

Could it really be *that* simple (and unstable) for 15+ years??  ?


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## Viro (Mar 31, 2005)

It's either that, or fix permissions . I'm quite surprised that this is an issue on OS X that you don't find on other Unixes.


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## fergus_n (Mar 31, 2005)

symphonix said:
			
		

> Mine has never cut out when playing music, ever. I'd say you may have a defective unit, which should definitely be covered by warranty.
> 
> [ . . .]
> Another possibility is that the fault is not on the AE unit, but on the wireless card in your PowerBook (a distinct possibility), or in the iTunes software (not so likely).
> ...




I too have to agree with symphonix.  I have been using AX with a 15 PB since they became available.  I have never had the music cut out ever  and the geographic set up of everything is challenging

The AX sits right next to my TV; above my surround sound unit, DVD player, and VCR.  Its connected to a cable modem that sits on the other side of the TV and, via optical cable, the surround sound unit.

I have on PB on the network and my floor mates (next apt over) have two windows lap tops.  The AX is set up with NAT and has specific ports forwarded to each of the machines so that each of us can reach our computers from work/school.

Every single room of my apt (5 including the kitchen) is covered and the outside porch.  The same goes for my neighbors and they have a couple full bookshelves between on the wall that is behind the unit.

Ill also mention that there are 4 other visible networks in the immediate area.

Given how well my setup has performed Id have go agree that, assuming you havent done something really strange, you have a piece of defective hardware in the mix.


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## The Ghost (Apr 3, 2005)

Wrxified said:
			
		

> 1 1/2 hours with Apple and they can't even figure out there own problems let alone mine



My experience with Apple Support on our AX was not great. I had an easily solved problem, but Support sent me on a complete wild goose chase in setting my AX up to join an existing network and to stream tunes to our bedroom sound system. In the process, Support also convinced me that I could not use WPA (which used to be the case, but no more). After ignoring everything Support told me, I got the AX up and running--joining our existing network and with WPA.

Regardless, I have had problems keeping our AX connected to our Linksys (WRT54GS) network. Nevertheless, things have been better since I updated all software connected with AirPort. When things so south now, I never know precisely how I fix things, but, for what its worth, I have to fiddle faddle a great deal with both the AirPort Admin Utility and the AirPort Setup Assistant. I always can get our AX back somewhat quickly so I still enjoy it enough to keep using it.


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## Wrxified (Sep 16, 2005)

Nothing like bringing my old thread back to life.  Well I did everything everyone recommended.  I always keep up on updates, do the fixes, permissions etc.  Nothing worked.  I actually exchanged for a new item.  No luck with the second.  

Second time around I actually spent another 1.5 hours on the line with apple.  After that was up they actually had me convinced that with the wireless connection close to my power source for the entertainment system (4 feet) along with my DirecTV signal through the coax (shielded top end RG6) I was getting too much interference with my wireless AX signal.  I tossed in the towel for a final return.

So yesterday I caved on the Roku Soundbridge.  Immediate connection.  Flawless results.  I love this thing.  Works perfect and only a little bit more.  It sounds and works seamlessly.  Love it!!!!


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## thendis (Sep 17, 2005)

Wrxified said:
			
		

> So yesterday I caved on the Roku Soundbridge.  Immediate connection.  Flawless results.  I love this thing.  Works perfect and only a little bit more.  It sounds and works seamlessly.  Love it!!!!



I love happy endings 

::wipes tear away from eye::


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## aicul (Sep 19, 2005)

Wrxified said:
			
		

> I can't believe I've wasted two days of my life and countless hours trying to figure this out.  First of all I'm pretty sure after talking with Apple today they could give a rats behind how much I've spent on their gear in the past year.  And from the sound of it could care less if I ever consider another Apple product.  Scott from Apple with his inability to listen let alone even read the script they pop up on his screen to answer each one of my questions was useless.



Sometimes Apple forgets that customers buy products and keep the company alive. I've lived this also. Absolutely unacceptable.


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## xuratoth (Sep 19, 2005)

Yep, apple "support". On my recommendation, my sister recently bought a Mac Mini with Tiger, upgrading from an ageing Wintel box. Unfortunately, her USB-ADSL modem no longer worked (I know it works on Panther, as I have the same one). Calls Apple, taking over 1 hour in all, ended up with the call centre guy telling her that the modem was incompatible with OS X, that she would have to buy a router, and that basically it was her fault for being a newb (ok, not quite those words, but quite an aggressive chap).

I then get a panicked phone call on my answerphone. I call her, and it turns out that a second call to apple fixed the solution. Before knowing the details, I asked her whether she had the most recent drivers. Her response "I wish I'd called you before speaking to that first *£%£^£&^ Apple guy". Apparently, on the second call, the lady was very helpful and also suggested drivers. So I downloaded the updated drivers, sent her the CD, and she's now online.

The result: one fairly p*ssed off punter who probably would not recommend Macs to fairly non-computer-literate friends.


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