Apple Airport Extreme Base Station Firmware Update Improved Speeds

[Pgoodwin1]

I did the 7.6.1 update about a week ago and everything in the house that I've tested (2 Macs, 2 iPads, 1 Dell laptop, 2 iPhones) improved. All wireless bands a, b, g and n improved. I'm getting much more consistent results, and a much improved range. I'm using it in Bridge mode connected to a 10/100 wired router. I'm getting pretty much my ISP (RoadRunner Cincinnati) max speeds even at over 40 feet thru 2 walls and kitchen cabinets on the iPad and nearly that on the iPhone on WiFi. I'm getting the same speeds now on the iPad that I get on the iMac on wired Ethernet through the 10/100 router and Time Warner provided Motorola cable modem. Too bad the modem maxes out at about 8-9 Mbps down and 0.9 up. One note on the update. At first the iPhone speeds were only about 1/2 of their prior averages on Wifi. I looked on the Apple Support Airport forum and a lot of people had the phone slow down issue. the fix was to change the AEBS 2.4 GHz channel from automatic (was on ch 6) to a different fixed channel (I chose 10). That fixed the phone. People surmised that the firmware update changed the gain of the unit and that interference from neighbor's wifi on ch 6 was bleeding more of their signals into the unit and worsening the noise figure. I did note using the Airport Utility that the signal to noise ratio was better, and that 3 more of the the neighbor's networks showed up on the list of networks showing. Even the older Dell laptop 802.11a is running faster. And the the 2006 MacBook Pro with 802.11g is running as fast as the "n" devices-which shows me that Time Warner and their equipment are the bottleneck, not my gear - confirmed with a direct wired connection to the cable modem. They want more money per month to get faster service. I wonder if they would even have to change any of their equipment other than the cable modem.

[mudmanc4]

If you have a DOCSIS 2.0 modem ( and i should remember because you have said it here before ), then chances are just a modem swap should do it. If you upgrade.

On another note, you could work it a little , and grab there highest package for a month to test it out, and if your not satisfied , then just call them up and switch back. In that case however , you would have at your disposal , a DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Which would clear up any issues you might have with the modem. If any.

[Pgoodwin1]

Thanks for the suggestion TMNSV. I may try that.

[Pgoodwin1]

Mudman.. You think they'd let me keep the modem? I'd probably like the faster service and be disappointed when I dropped it for this serve. I'm limited to 1 Mbps upload and they "guarantee" 10 Mbps download times on the plan I'm on now. I rarely get over 9 down and 0.9 up as measured by TMN. Of course it's all green and 3 times as high on download with their speed test tool. Strange though that their upload speed measures about the same on their tool as the on on this site.

[mudmanc4]

I have my thoughts as to why the upload is close or the same.

I do think they would leave you with the modem. Once they toss a modem your way , the chances of them coming out and replacing it with an older model in my opinion are slim to none.

I think you mentioned how long you've had the service , or the modem, I don't recall though. All modems should really be the latest hardware and firmware ( updated by the ISP ) anyway.