# Giving up on Airport Extreme Base Station — other router recommendations?



## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

I am convinced that my new Airport Extreme Base Station w/gigabit ethernet is a piece of garbage as a router. I am thinking of relegating it as a wireless server and getting a dedicated router that does not do wireless. Anyone have recommendations?

I have to say, I have lost a bit of faith in Apple because of this product. I don't think I've had so much trouble with one of their products, and judging from their support forum on the Airport Extreme Base Station, they have been ignoring issues outstanding since August that have practically rendered this product useless.


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## An Old Soul (Apr 24, 2006)

I Have had the router since it came out, and have enjoyed near-flawless wireless and routing with it.

Do you mind telling me a bit about your situation, maybe I can assist. I'm pretty well versed in this arena.


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## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

I have one of these routers. I must say my experience is different. This is the best router I've ever owned. What's the problem with your router?? what doesn't it do properly??


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## wcg (Oct 13, 2007)

I have one too and it's worked well, better than a previous DLink and Linksys router. The only problem I have which seems to be common with many wireless routers is heavy BitTorrent traffic seems to cause them to fail over time. I suspect this is due to memory leaks of some sort - BitTorrent requires many connections and bandwidth. 

You can try an old wired router. I used a Linksys BEFSR41v2 which ran flawlessly with BitTorrent. I have used this router with my previous wireless router setup as an access point. You might be able to do this with the Airport Extreme - use an older wired router for heavy traffic and the airport extreme setup as a access point. 

Another thing I have resorted to is to use a timer for the plug for the router. You set it to go on-off-on again sometime overnight. This resets the router for 24 hours. It's lousy that you have to resort to this but it's a cheap solution.

I've yet to find a completely rock solid router than can handle wireless, connect seamlessly with everything in the house and handle high throughput BitTorrent.


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## retrocactus (Jun 17, 2003)

WCG: it must be your configuration then because I got my AEBS because my previous Linksys would regularly choke on BT traffic....my usage has gone up since getting the AEBS and haven't had to reset it for months....only time I ever need to reboot it is due to a access change - which is annoying but tolerable.


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## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

I initially had problems when I got my AEBS at first with torrents. The AEBS would disconnect after it reached a certain download speed. I change one setting in the router, and never had a problem with torrents again. My max download speed on torrents are around 400kbps, and it does this with no issues now.

The setting I changed was under the following tabs. Advanced>IPv6 and then you have 3 options to choose from. "tunnel", "node", or "link-local only". I forgot what the default setting is, but I switched it to "link-local only" and it seemed to solve all my problems. I have no clue what this does, but it seemed to work for me. No need to reset my router anymore.


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## wcg (Oct 13, 2007)

I just set that setting - thanks, i'll see how things work out. Are there any other settings I should be looking out for?

Do you guys use BitTorrent over wireless? I've been using Transmission over wireless and thought perhaps that was the culprit. I've also used uTorrent on my PC using a wired connection. It seems both eventually cause problems.

One thing I did discover with Airport Utility is that if you install it on Windows it installs IPv6. For whatever mysterious reason, this screwed up my work laptop - I was having problems reaching certains servers at work. Once uninstalled, everything works.

It seems to me that AEB uses IPv6 for the Airport Utility?


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## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

Yeah I use both transmission and wireless.


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## Veej (Feb 16, 2006)

I've been using a Linksys wired to my PC downstairs and with my Mac upstairs picking it up wirelessly and use bittorents on both systems with-out any flaws for over 2 years with-out any problems, only thing sometimes is the PC has lag even though it wired to the router (router is downstairs) that I think its cause it a PC, but the Mac never has problems and my iphone always picks it up when I enter my house and never drops it...plus I bought the router as a referbished unit.

Sometimes when the heavy bittorent traffic slows my Mac connection down I just connect to my neighbors router- actually I think my iMac just automatically connects to it


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## tacsniper (Aug 27, 2007)

I got m AEBS a few days ago and I set it up within 20 minutes w/o headache an is working very nicely for me!


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## phobic (May 18, 2005)

I've had problems with them too - it seems in certain situations they simply don't work. The biggest problem is that ISPs won't support routers other than their own and Apple can't offer support outside the operation of the device itself.

As for a recommendation, I'm using a Netopia right now - telnet only, no web interface. Good security and 100% reliable so far. I have a Dlink 2100AP wireless access point plugged in, also been great so far. If I were to use a web GUI router it'd probably be linksys or netgear.


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## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

I'm basically having the same problem as these people. Yes, things have improved since I set the IPV6 link-local only. Before that I was unplugging/replugging the AEBS almost every 4 hours. Just today, it went unresponsive on me again, despite all the right settings, and for the 5th time in 3 weeks, I have had to do a factory reset just to get it going again.


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## tacsniper (Aug 27, 2007)

a) have you gone through all the updates?
b) did you install the CD before plugging the AEBS
c) have you try using cable internet through AEBS to see if its a deffective unit?
d) have you try exchanging another AEBS?
e) maybe you should just use a different brand router if AEBS doesn't work for you


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## Shrek_Toronto (May 30, 2007)

sometime people complain one product is a piece of crap simply because they didn't read the instruction and don't know how to set it up!


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

I have a new Airport Extreme set up in a WDS with an Airport Express as a WDS Relay. 2 Macs wireless and 1 Mac wired as well as 4 Windows machines and an iPod Touch. It's a mix of Wireless N, G and B. 

A set of speakers and a printer connected to the Airport Express, visible from all machines.

Host my own website (see sig) from the wired Mac. Use Bit Torrent, FTP, Remote Management and quite a few other services all forwarded on the Airport Extreme. 

Very few issues with any of this.. and my connection has dropped out maybe twice in 3 weeks.. only because of crappy interference.


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## Deep Blue (Sep 16, 2005)

I have to say that my Airport Extreme and Express function pristinely...although I do recall having configuration problems at the beginning which Vexel kindly helped me overcome. :clap: 

It must be a settings issue.


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

Shrek_Toronto said:


> sometime people complain one product is a piece of crap simply because they didn't read the instruction and don't know how to set it up!


Doesn't seem helpful or even very polite.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

Shrek_Toronto said:


> sometime people complain one product is a piece of crap simply because they didn't read the instruction and don't know how to set it up!


FYI, my brother is an electronic engineer (he owns 2 Macs) and he is aghast at how Apple overlooked a few basic things in the AEBS. Within a simplistic set up it may work quite well for you but if you throw it some curves it does not even have the capability of resetting itself. Basically Apple botched up on the IPV6 implementation, which, Mr. Shrek_Toronto, is not even mentioned in the instructions. That solution was left to support forumers to figure out by themselves.


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## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

tacsniper said:


> a) have you gone through all the updates?
> b) did you install the CD before plugging the AEBS
> c) have you try using cable internet through AEBS to see if its a deffective unit?
> d) have you try exchanging another AEBS?
> e) maybe you should just use a different brand router if AEBS doesn't work for you


a) the problems just got worse with the latest firmware update - note some people are trying to go back to an older update (7.1)
b) I had to use the CD because I had no prior airport software on my computer. I also tried setting it up from a MacBook Pro.
c) I have cable internet, and it works fine when plugged directly to a computer so it is not Rogers.
d) this is in fact the second unit I have tried.
e) that is what I am thinking of doing.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Could you post a little more information about your setup? What machines you're using and what routers? How are the machines connected?

I decided to fiddle with my Airport last night, and decided to make the AEBS provide the Macbook and AppleTV with Wireless N @ 5Ghz. Then, took the Airport Express and plugged it directly through ethernet and made it bridge the network so that the other wireless clients could get on through Wireless G 2.4 Ghz.

Everything seems fine and dandy. But, I'd like to know more about your setup and maybe try configuring my network that way so that I can test it out.

Thanks!


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## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

Basically I have an Extreme high-speed cable modem from Rogers hooked up to the AEBS, then a D-Link ethernet hub that distributes to 6 outlets throughout the house. Two of these outlets are hooked up to 4-port hubs, one being in a basement home office, the other in an attic music studio. All in all in the household there are 5 Macs and 3 PCs, but not all on at the same time. 

It would be hard to replicate the situation as it may well have to do with DHCP license scheme within my local area ISP. The problem with the AEBS is how it responds to it and its inability to reset itself when there is an anomaly. 

Before I set the IPV6 to "link-local", the AESB would completely drop off – disappear from the Airport Utility's list and cease all wireless and wired routing – yet when you look at it the light's still green and the modem still OK. Unplugging/replugging gets things back for a bit.

Setting the IPV6 to "link-local", has largely solved that problem. However, after a brief power outage the other day, the AEBS froze on me again. No amount of unplugging/replugging could reset it, and although I could reach it through Airport Utility and reset it, it just would not communicate with the modem. I even phoned Rogers and they said they could not ping the router, but when I directly plugged my iBook they could reach that. That's when I did another factory reset, when I was sure it was the AEBS's fault, and got things going again.


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## Waynergy (Jan 6, 2007)

The newest firmware (Ver 7.2.1) is seriously flawed. With it, Airport Disk is very unreliable. Apple support knew this for months and their suggestion is to downgrade to previous versions of firmware.


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## zlinger (Aug 28, 2007)

iMuck said:


> Basically I have an Extreme high-speed cable modem from Rogers


There's your problem right there. Rogers.:lmao:


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## tacsniper (Aug 27, 2007)

iMuck said:


> c) I have cable internet, and it works fine when plugged directly to a computer so it is not Rogers.


I am sorry, thats not what I meant. What I mean is hook ur Rogers modem to AEBS, then use a cable connect to your AEBS to a computer and see if u still get internet by using cable and not wifi.


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## iMuck (Oct 15, 2007)

tacsniper said:


> I am sorry, thats not what I meant. What I mean is hook ur Rogers modem to AEBS, then use a cable connect to your AEBS to a computer and see if u still get internet by using cable and not wifi.


I have computers that are wired and wireless as described above. Basically, when the AEBS fails it ceases to provide internet to both.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Well.. I've experienced the dropping out that you're mentioning. Completely goes dead.. but, doesn't tell you that there's a problem.

After a few hours of fiddling with settings.. what I did was:

go to OpenDNS | Providing A Safer And Faster Internet and get some good DNS addresses to try on the Airport.

I noticed that the router was grabbing an IP from my ISP.. it just wasn't grabbing the DNS servers.. so, I tried that out. I've been running problem free for a couple of hours now.

Maybe worth a shot.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

Okay.. so, I woke up this morning and found the internet wasn't being distributed to wireless clients.. but, it was working for wired clients.

There's definitely an issue here. I see what you're talking about now. Even switching IPv6 to local only didn't help.

I've decided to move back to the WDS network that I was using before, as there wasn't a problem there. So far so good.

Hopefully Apple is on top of this one.. cause, it's sure no use having a Wireless N router that doesn't work well when using it to distribute Wireless N routing.

Now, I haven't tried Wireless N only.. because there's a few computers here that need wireless B/G, which the Express was handling in Bridge Mode. I'm not sure what results people would have if all of their machines are using Wireless N.


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