For those of you with an AirPort...

T

themacko

Barking at the moon.
In the last 2 weeks, my AirPort has been acting a bit peculiar. Basically, the signal strength is fluctuating. My place isn't very big at all and the furthest I ever take my book away from the BaseStation is about 60 ft. Basically the next room.

When I get there, my signal strength meter is skipping between the first and second 'rings' and every once in a while it completely looses the signal.

I know that the problem is not my AirPort Card because it works perfectly at my folks place on their Linksys Wireless Router and on the campus network.

Does anyone else seem to think their BaseStation looses power over time? Or maybe I just need to re-situate it in the room, would putting up high be better than on the floor where it is now? I can't really test that out now because of how the room is setup, so thanks for any input.
 
What kind of electronics are there between the Base Station and the iBook when this happens? Anything like a microwave, or something inside the wall? Also, what is the wall made of and how old is the house?
 
It's a townhouse, the complex was built in '96 I believe. Between the BaseStation and me is a microwave, but it's not on or anything when this happens. The only other electronics in the house that are on are a TV, DVD player and CD Player and another computer (not on the wireless network).

The wall is just an interior dry-wall .. nothing load-bearing that would have to be solid. Oh, there's also a refrigerator if that makes any difference.
 
And this only happens when you are in that particular room? Not anywhere else in or out of the house?
 
I've never tried in any other rooms .. i basically only use my iBook in the office (where the BaseStation is) and in the tv room (where I seem to have problems).

Right now, I'm in the tv room an the signal is at 100% When earlier today it was at like 25%

Okay I just carried the 'book upstairs and it still has a full strength signal. I dunno, really weird.
 
Well, it's kind of a weird technology. :)

I have my BaseStation cover my whole flat. Earlier I had some problems when the Station was on the floor. I've put it on head height (which is a bit higher than my PowerBook, of course) and now all's well that could be. Full range in all rooms. I'm thinking about that installation thingie they deliver with the Station, but then again I have to put it to the window in the summer, so I can surf from across the street.
 
you haven't got underfloor heating have you? That is a large element whose inductance could be causing problems.
My airport is on the floor in far corner of my place and I have never had any problems with the signal.

Anything metal could cause problems, though the nice thing about radio waves is that they have long wavelengths and tend to go round anything. For this reason the microwave should be OK.

Does anyone know the wavelength (or frequency) or the airport signal? That will be a good indication of the size of the object that will block the signal.

Electrical storms could also cause interference, though they should not degrade the signal strength, more the quality of the signal.

yay - 100 posts.

R.
 
There are problems with Airports burning out. Possibly yours is on the dege of this, and is consistantly going through a cycle of cooling off/warming up. How long have you had it? The bad ones usually failed after about 1 year of use.
 
Originally posted by roger
you haven't got underfloor heating have you?
Click to expand...
I live in Arizona. I don't have heating, period. :)

I've actually figured it out, I think. The BaseStation before was on the floor in the closet, I was able to put on the top of a shelf and now it's signal seems to be 10x stronger with no 'fading.'

Matrix Agent: It's only about 6 months old.
 
Also the power output of the AIRPORTS are very low,
The base station has no REAL antenna, just the built in antenna, like the Lucent cards.
In our office the Airport basestation has VERY poor range.
The Linksys has almost 3x the range.

I cracked an Airport Basestation and installed an external antenna. That worked very nice! The only problem, $100 for an antenna!?
Apple should at least put a wire antenna inside the airports (like the powerbooks)
 
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