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sqlagent007Flag for United States of America

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WiFi range extension using apple timeCapsule and AirPort Extreme?

I just got gigabit fiber run to my home and I am trying to take advantage for the bandwidth in most areas of my house. I am testing with a mac book pro 15 inch mid 2014. I believe the WiFi adapter in this notebook is 802.11ac. I am using speetTest.net for the speeds reported here.

I have a relatively new appleTime capsule, and a decent Airport extreme. The area of my house that I am trying to get coverage to is probably only 250 feet away from the time capsule, maybe 500 feet.

I have my time capsule as the router and when I am standing directly in front of it, at times I will get 450MBPS up and down. When I move even 30 feet away, this will drastically reduce. Before I "extended" the network with the AirPort Extreme, I was only getting 10mbps down and 95mbps up on the other side of the house.

10 down just does not work for me, as I do a lot of video conference stuff during the day.

The crazy thing is I am getting faster upload than download and before "gigablast" those numbers were normally the opposite. The airport extreme is located in the problem area, and it has an almost direct line of sight to the time capsule. The walls in my house a cheap drywall with wooden 2x4s behind them. There is no cordless phones and we don't even own a microwave.

Here is really what is confusing me, when I am standing next to the airport, that is "extending" the WiFi network, why don't I get at least close to the same results from the linespeed test like when near the "base station"? It would be one thing if I got 450 when right next to the time capsule, then 400 or even 300 when next to the airport, but it is more like 15-20 down and 95 up when I am connected to the "extension" device. How does this normally work when extending an network wirelessly? Do speeds decrease as the access points get further away from the "base station"?

Is it possible to at least get 150mbps up and down all across the house with out having to run hard wire drops everywhere? If so, how do I do it? I am willing to buy all new hardware to solve my problem.
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sqlagent007
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Oh, I called apple support and they told me it was a Cox issue....I was very unimpressed.
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David Johnson, CD
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Thanks experts!! I should have started with stating that all my apple WiFi products are the most current software available.

I do have an "air port" Express that I am not using and did put in the "middle". I guess there was a misconfig on my end because when I looked through the "airPort utility" it showed the devices as both connecting the the "timeCapsule" as a base station. They were both extensions of the timeCapsule, when in reality the airport express should have been in the middle then the airportExtreme should have been an extension of the airPort Express. (see crude drawing attached)
appleConfig.pdf
Am I confused or does the apple airport diagram seem wrong. My thought is that it should show 3 devices in a chain, not 2 devices extending the timeCapsule.
That would make sense, and would make a major difference.  I'm assuming that the Airport Express is in the middle because the coverage range was too short. Remember the rule that I mentioned. But also, remember the wireless signals tend to not be as good as you move away from the original source. So if you want the absolute max speeds you can get, you will definitely need to look at either strong wireless devices OR into the MoCA products.

The drawing is wrong for what you're thinking. But Apple probably made some assumptions. That or their equipment will only extend from the original signal source.
Yes, my next step will be to just run CAT5e to the locations and create access points. We have never really had cable TV, so I have no idea if the coax is working in my house.

I followed your rule and put the aport-express in the middle with a clear line of sight to all devices.

Thanks @masnrock
One thing is that wireless cannot receive and transmit at the same time so depending upon the configuration getting 1/2 of the link speed is normal.  With /AC or even /N that should not be a problem. /G is 54Mbps.. In many situations a /G device will slow everything down to /G speeds.  You have to configure the Air Express in WDS mode (Wireless Distribution System)

Your diagram shows it as being in 2 access points
What you want is router <-> Airport Express <-> Airport Extreme
If you went to a new router (to replace the time capsule) that has beam forming you might have sufficient range
I was trying to avoid having you run cabling, but that is actually the best option of all as long as it's feasible.

You're quite welcome. Just let us know how it all turns out. The wiring option might also allow you to place the Airport in a space where you only need one instead of both. But that's your call.
Thanks experts!!! I am now getting 220 from both fast.com and speedof.me. I feel good and I can live with this.