Airport Problem

J

jrwhite

Registered
Hello everyone ... A cry for help from Weymouth, Dorset, England.

The Airport on my iMac G5 keeps dropping out. I’m using a Time Capsule (1TB) as my router and have set up a closed wireless network with WPA2 security. The TC is downstairs connected to the BT Broadband router/modem by ethernet, whilst the iMac is upstairs but a matter of only ten feet away (taking a straight line through walls and floors).The Airport icon on the menu bar shows full strength reception for an indeterminate time and then for no apparent reason, the number of “lit” bars on the icon drops to three or two, or even one on occasion.

Turning Airport off and then back on again results in either (a) a return to full strength reception once more, but as above for an indeterminate amount of time, or (b) a lengthy Airport scan ending in a request to join another network, at which point I have to go through the tedious entering of the network name, huge password, and so on; once again, when the network is restored I don’t know how long it will be before the entire cycle repeats itself.

The only way I know this is because a web page will suddenly freeze half way through loading. Here in the UK we are “blessed” with an ancient copper wire based phone system, and since I live several miles from the nearest exchange my so called broadband speed rarely tops 4 MBps and is generally about half that. Nevertheless, it is still just about fast enough to notice when it hangs up!

I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the BT router/modem or the TC, or the phone connection to the house; I spent about two hours on the phone with a very helpful man at BT help centre to discover this. Besides, I have recently got an iPhone 4, and the wi-fi reception an it is constant and unwavering.

When this problem first made itself apparent I was using the BT Router as the network source, and the TC was upstairs used merely as a back-up device, connected directly to the iMac by ethernet; I decided to use the TC’s router capabilities instead, and it worked for a time, but here we are again.

Is it possible that the Airport card in the iMac is faulty?
 
I am not sure why you decide to move the modem and TC to another floor of the house, but wireless gets goofy when it has to go through pipes. That means water, gas, or even conduit that your electrical wires are in. You could also have a steel beam running in your floor which can hinder your wireless connection.

Have you tried putting a computer close to the TC and try to connect to the internet?
If you have a second computer with wireless capabilities, you can use that to test the connections. If you get full connection without a drop, then it could be the airport card in your iMac.
The first thing is to check your airport card to make sure the antenna is set correctly and not kinked and the card is seated properly.

Have you updated Airport? Have you tried using Airport Utility 5.4.1 to extend your range?
 
Cheryl

Many thanks for your rapid reply.

The modem is connected to the phone socket, which is downstairs. The TC went with it because the only ethernet lead I have is too short for it to stay upstairs! Besides which the entire idea of getting wi-fi in the first place was to avoid the necessity of running ugly wires all round skirting boards etc.!

My recently acquired iPhone 4 shows full strength wi-fi reception, and finds websites/receives emails at apparently normal speed whilst I am sat here at the computer - at the same time as the Airport icon shows a drop and Firefox (and Safari) crawl like sleepy slugs. However, a friend has a new Macbook Pro which he has promised to bring round here sometime so that we can do another check. I am also going to ... er .... borrow (!) a long ethernet lead from work tomorrow, so that I can further compare connection methods.

On top of all that another friend is going to lend me a set of power-line adapters to try. Dunno if you have these over the pond, but they plug into the mains electrical system and use that as a network

My Airport Utility is at version 5.1.1.

Once again - a thousand thanks, Cheryl. I will let you know how I get on.

Jim
 
You can't use your iPhone to measure the strength of the WiFi for your computer as the iPhone uses the cell phone connection, not the TC.

On the other hand, you can pair the iPhone to your computer and use the iPhone as your internet connection, but that may cause more charges on your iPhone bill. That also defeats the purpose of your TC.

Keep us posted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top