So my girlfriend has been complaining the internet at her apartment is running slow and is not that stable. Her roommate is in charge of all the tech in the apartment so I never want to get in the way. For the most part everything runs, but not smoothly. Well this past weekend her roommate was gone so I had a look at the home network to see if I could figure out why it's always ran so slow. What I found was pretty amazing.
Cable modem plugs into Apple AirPort Extreme that plugs into Apple AirPort Express. Two Apple AirPort Expresses set up in the apartment to act as repeaters. One is in the living room with the two routers. One is 50 feet away in the kitchen. The 2.4 ghz was running on channel 1. A quick wifi scan showed two adjacent apartments were running on the same channel.
Yes, you heard that right. I texted her roommate to ask why he had two routers plugged into each other and he said "Different frequencies, one runs a lot faster...5ghz (express)". I tried to explain to him yes that is true, but 5ghz is more for transferring files over the home network, which they are not doing. They are just streaming Apple TV and browsing the internet.
Download speed was 3.39 Mbps down, 0.81 Mbps up.
I unplugged everything except the modem and AirPort Extreme. Moved the 2.4 ghz to channel 4 (no one was using this channel), and speeds went to 24.24 Mbps down, 11.57 Mbps up.
The wifi strength was the same, if not better in their apartment just running the AirPort Extreme. When her roommate came home I explained to him what I did and the increase in speed. Their Apple TV streams a ton better too. I tried explaining the way he had it setup was hindering their network speed but he seemed convinced how he had it setup was better. I told him he could put it back how he wanted if he felt his way was better.
Anything I can say or do when I see him this weekend to better explain why having two routers and two repeaters on the same network in an apartment isn't a smart idea?
Cable modem plugs into Apple AirPort Extreme that plugs into Apple AirPort Express. Two Apple AirPort Expresses set up in the apartment to act as repeaters. One is in the living room with the two routers. One is 50 feet away in the kitchen. The 2.4 ghz was running on channel 1. A quick wifi scan showed two adjacent apartments were running on the same channel.
Yes, you heard that right. I texted her roommate to ask why he had two routers plugged into each other and he said "Different frequencies, one runs a lot faster...5ghz (express)". I tried to explain to him yes that is true, but 5ghz is more for transferring files over the home network, which they are not doing. They are just streaming Apple TV and browsing the internet.
Download speed was 3.39 Mbps down, 0.81 Mbps up.
I unplugged everything except the modem and AirPort Extreme. Moved the 2.4 ghz to channel 4 (no one was using this channel), and speeds went to 24.24 Mbps down, 11.57 Mbps up.
The wifi strength was the same, if not better in their apartment just running the AirPort Extreme. When her roommate came home I explained to him what I did and the increase in speed. Their Apple TV streams a ton better too. I tried explaining the way he had it setup was hindering their network speed but he seemed convinced how he had it setup was better. I told him he could put it back how he wanted if he felt his way was better.
Anything I can say or do when I see him this weekend to better explain why having two routers and two repeaters on the same network in an apartment isn't a smart idea?
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