# If I buy the new Airport Express will my internet speed by faster?



## motoyen (Aug 15, 2001)

I have the Shaw High-Speed Xtreme-I service at my house and recently I plugged in my Airport Express because I had to log into my iPhone. I noticed that if I use Wifi on my Mac it is much slower than ethernet, actually my iPhone loads pages faster using the same connection. 

I ran one of those speed tests and the results are:

Airport Express:

Download: 14903kb/s
Upload: 978kb/s

Ethernet:

Download: 29587kb/s
Upload: 979kb/s

So as you can see connecting via airport is much slower than ethernet. If I were to buy the new Airport Express will that increase my download speeds?

I'm using a refurbished Aluminum 2.0GHz iMac with 2GB RAM running 10.5.4.


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## spiffychristian (Mar 17, 2008)

i had the old airport express, and it worked excellent until about 6 months ago, then i went out and bought the new one and it functioned just as crappy (very slow, bad connection, small range) then i shelled out the extra hundred bucks and got airport extreme, and i get 4 bars on both imacs, and on my iphone and it's blazing fast with a great range.

so basically, with my experience, airport express isn't that great. some poeple will tell you otherwise, some will tell you the same.


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## motoyen (Aug 15, 2001)

The problem is I travel a lot so the size of the Airport Express is convenient. I'm surprised there is such a huge difference in speed between airport and ethernet.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

I have never had an issue with the Airport Express. I get the same exact connection with my Airport Express as I do with my Airport Extreme. That's one of the reasons I've decided to create 2 different N and G networks that are linked via ethernet.

Have you tried changing the channel on the AE in order to eliminate interference? That would be my first guess in speed loss. The other thing you might want to check is to see if your transmitter power is set to 100%.

Make sure the AE is clear from obstructions. That's about it, you should be working fine after that.

PS: Try channel 6, it seems to be very clear around here.


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## fozy (Jul 18, 2006)

If it's an older Airport it may be running the older wireless frequencies (a, b, g). The n frequency is much faster than the previous frequency (g). There's some stats here: IEEE 802.11 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. However, ethernet throughput is _always_ faster than wireless. If you look here: Bit rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia you'll notice that LAN bit rates have been 1+ Gbit/s since 1999, but the new n wireless just breaks 500 Mbit/s - and that's probably in ideal situations for the wireless. Just the nature of wireless.


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## gadgetguy (Sep 27, 2007)

Actually I would agree (with whoever that was  ) that Airport Express isn't all that great. I have a friend who has one and his office is one story down and 10 feet over from the base. His MBP barely gets a signal. Even the iMac on the other side of the wall gets 3/4 most of the time.

If I were you, I'd grab the 500 GB Time Capsule, it's only $129 more than the Airport Extreme and mine has performed phenomenally. High recommended.

To answer your question, IMO, yes.


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## motoyen (Aug 15, 2001)

I've thought about buying the 1TB Time Capsule but some of the reviews on Apple aren't that great. My Express is quite old, I'll pick up the new one and see if that improves the speed.


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

gadgetguy said:


> Actually I would agree (with whoever that was  ) that Airport Express isn't all that great. I have a friend who has one and his office is one story down and 10 feet over from the base. His MBP barely gets a signal. Even the iMac on the other side of the wall gets 3/4 most of the time.


I just have to say that if reception is that bad with the Airport Express at your friends place.. he doesn't have it set up correctly. The Express (either model) is a great little device that has excellent range if it's set up properly.

I've used mine to extend my wireless network, print wirelessly and take advantage of streaming my music via Airtunes. Never an issue.

More recently, I have it connected via ethernet to my Airport Extreme to bridge the network and create a G network for my G devices while the Extreme broadcasts N only for my AppleTV and Macbook. My range is great for both networks. I get full signal on both networks from anywhere in my home.

As I mentioned earlier.. your friend might want to try changing the channel on the Express and making sure it's not obstructed by needless things.


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## Rampant AV (Aug 2, 2005)

Vexel said:


> I just have to say that if reception is that bad with the Airport Express at your friends place.. he doesn't have it set up correctly. The Express (either model) is a great little device that has excellent range if it's set up properly.
> 
> I've used mine to extend my wireless network, print wirelessly and take advantage of streaming my music via Airtunes. Never an issue.
> 
> ...


I agree. My original AE works great and it is inside a cabinet with my TV. I can go outside and walk across the street and still get 3 bars. So if yours is not working then something is wrong with your set-up or service?


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## Z06jerry (Mar 16, 2005)

spiffychristian said:


> so basically, with my experience, airport express isn't that great. some poeple will tell you otherwise, some will tell you the same.


I would be one of those people that will tell you otherwise.  

I own both & I find the range of the Express N to be equal to the Extreme N. All three devices (Time Capsule, Express & Extreme have exactly the same radio output power of 20dBm) I have compared them to Lynksys WRT54G & D-link DI-624 & found the Airports have better range in my location. 

You can view the specs here...

Apple - Support - Technical Specifications

If you don't need the extra ethernet ports, than the Express N is the way to go especially for portability & iTunes connectivity. IMO it's the best wireless router out there.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

I'm a fan of the Airport Express. Configuring other routers is annoying.

I have found that a change in the software stumps a lot of users though, as "bridge" mode must be enabled if you have the Airport Express (or Time Capsule, which I also use without issue) plugged into another router.


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## richb (Feb 6, 2004)

I switched my Airport Extreme basestation to use a different channel. I think the default was 6. It definitely improved the wireless range.

I used iStumbler to detect surrounding wireless networks. This displays a lot of info about the network including what channel is being used aswell encryption methods.


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## iPhoneInCanada (Jan 3, 2008)

I'm looking into picking up an Airport Express since I really love the wireless printer sharing. Plus my current D-Link setup is dropping signals all over the place plus it won't let me access some URLs. 

How is 802.11n vs 802.11g? I'll be using the AE with my new MacBook. Is the speed difference worth it?


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