Apple Airport Express can't keep up?

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Just switched internet providers today, in addition to getting higher up/down speeds. I use my own modem and router; modem is a trusty Arris SB6141, router is the cute little Airport Express. Previously, I had a 25mb download plan, but usually got around 27-29mb down, over wifi or ethernet, didn't matter. Today I switched to a 100mb download plan. Over ethernet I got about 94 during the late afternoon, which isn't bad. But over wifi, even in the same room as the router, I can't get above 48mb down. The tech doing the 'install' says that he has seen this many times with Airport Expresses struggling to get over 50mb, regardless of service plan or wifi signal strength. He said they just aren't that capable as routers (which makes sense, since the thing is SUPER tiny). Does this make sense, or has anyone else seen this with an Airport Express? Google is only partially helpful here, since most complaints come from people using theirs as a bridge... mine is being used as a router.
 
I hope you get it to work properly. One of the worst purchases I have made was Airport Extreme -- the [censored] router ever produced.
 
IIRC, Airport Express is an N router which is an older technology, that is why it will not keep up.
You may want to get Newest Airport Extreme or Time Capsule if you want to stay with Apple technology with newer AC router.

If you don't have to stay with Apple, get Asus RT-AC68 Refurb or its brother TM-AC1900 router (can be flashed to become RT-AC68) which is going for about $50-$60 at Amazon when on sale.

Or any other equivalent.
 
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I had a similar experience with a older model (2009) AirPort Extreme Base station. I couldn’t get it to work with my new Xfinity connection also with the Arris box that was recommended. I bought the latest Apple base station and all is good. I’m not that tech savvy but I think as previously mentioned the older tech could not handle what was thrown at it.
 
Have the latest airport extreme, seen over 300mb at times, never a bottleneck anywhere.

Have 15-20 connection running concurrently - no problems at all.



UD
 
Originally Posted By: JMJNet
IIRC, Airport Express is an N router which is an older technology, that is why it will not keep up.
You may want to get Newest Airport Extreme or Time Capsule if you want to stay with Apple technology with newer AC router.

If you don't have to stay with Apple, get Asus RT-AC68 Refurb or its brother TM-AC1900 router (can be flashed to become RT-AC68) which is going for about $50-$60 at Amazon when on sale.

Or any other equivalent.


802.11n is capable of more than 48Mbit. My guess is his might be old enough to be 802.11g, which would be the previous generation.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: JMJNet
IIRC, Airport Express is an N router which is an older technology, that is why it will not keep up.
You may want to get Newest Airport Extreme or Time Capsule if you want to stay with Apple technology with newer AC router.

If you don't have to stay with Apple, get Asus RT-AC68 Refurb or its brother TM-AC1900 router (can be flashed to become RT-AC68) which is going for about $50-$60 at Amazon when on sale.

Or any other equivalent.


802.11n is capable of more than 48Mbit. My guess is his might be old enough to be 802.11g, which would be the previous generation.


My Express is the second generation 'N' unit. However, it is not a gigabit device; the WAN and LAN ports are only 10/100. In theory this is fine, but with normal losses I'll never see that amount from this device. Some more careful Googling reveals that this is actually a common issue with the Express. A number of people complain about only getting ~30-80 mbps down speeds, when they actually have a much higher down rate when connected to LAN. I ordered this router to hopefully remedy this issue:

TP-Link Archer C1200 Router

I know it's ONLY an AC1200 router, but it's a huge upgrade from the N450 Airport Express, and it should also solve my bad signaling issue in the far side of the house. Looking at a few reviews, this should easily support 100mbps down speeds even on the 2.4GHz band. We'll see... can't beat the price though.
 
Quick question, what device are you testing the WiFi speed with? That's an important component too.

802.11n supported MIMO, but your Express may not have, and heck, what you are testing it with may not have either.

To benefit from AC, your device will also need to support that.

The 30-80Mbit range you cited is quite broad (as I'm sure you noted). 80 is definitely within the upper realm and what I would expect as being the practical limit for it, given its specifications and factoring in overhead.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Quick question, what device are you testing the WiFi speed with? That's an important component too.

802.11n supported MIMO, but your Express may not have, and heck, what you are testing it with may not have either.

To benefit from AC, your device will also need to support that.

The 30-80Mbit range you cited is quite broad (as I'm sure you noted). 80 is definitely within the upper realm and what I would expect as being the practical limit for it, given its specifications and factoring in overhead.


Overkill, WiFi speeds have been measured from my iPhone 6 and also my laptop, both of which support AC WiFi.
 
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Quick question, what device are you testing the WiFi speed with? That's an important component too.

802.11n supported MIMO, but your Express may not have, and heck, what you are testing it with may not have either.

To benefit from AC, your device will also need to support that.

The 30-80Mbit range you cited is quite broad (as I'm sure you noted). 80 is definitely within the upper realm and what I would expect as being the practical limit for it, given its specifications and factoring in overhead.


Overkill, WiFi speeds have been measured from my iPhone 6 and also my laptop, both of which support AC WiFi.


What's your laptop show for link speed on the WiFi? Just curious.
 
So all is well now... the Airport Express was the issue. Installed the new Tp-Link C1200 router that I linked a few posts back (router has great 5GHz range compared to the Airport Express too!) My WiFi down speeds on 5GHz are now around 120-130, and on 2.4GHZ around 70-80 at least. I haven't tried a hardwired LAN speed test yet. Although the only PC I have is a laptop that does not have a gigbit ethernet port anyway.
 
Great to hear
thumbsup2.gif
 
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