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7racer · May 17, 2004, 09:27 AM

I know that bars don't mean much, but I thought that the titanium case was a major limitation to airport reception.

I purchased two Airport Extreme Base Stations and set it up as a Wireless Distribution Service to increase range.

With my Titanium, I get 4 bars almost everywhere in the house.

However, with my new 17" I get only "3 bars". I can even put the computers right next to each other and get more bars on the Titanium versus the Aluminum.

Any suggestions or similar experiences?

iREZ · May 17, 2004, 11:16 AM

Have you installed the latest airport updates, can't remember which one was which but one sort screwed things over and the last update fixed it and increased my airport signal dramatically.

Keiretsu · May 17, 2004, 01:08 PM

Originally posted by 7racer:
I know that bars don't mean much, but I thought that the titanium case was a major limitation to airport reception.

I purchased two Airport Extreme Base Stations and set it up as a Wireless Distribution Service to increase range.

With my Titanium, I get 4 bars almost everywhere in the house.

However, with my new 17" I get only "3 bars". I can even put the computers right next to each other and get more bars on the Titanium versus the Aluminum.

Any suggestions or similar experiences?

I see good reception with a Rev A 15" and a Rev C 17".

7racer · May 17, 2004, 05:05 PM

Yup I am updated and everything...

Just seemed strange to me.

amazing · May 17, 2004, 05:53 PM

Originally posted by 7racer:
Yup I am updated and everything...

Just seemed strange to me.

The bars of reception are not very accurate. How about downloading MacStumbler and comparing the reception figures that it generates?

rag on a muffin · May 17, 2004, 07:41 PM

Originally posted by amazing:
The bars of reception are not very accurate. How about downloading MacStumbler and comparing the reception figures that it generates?

macstumblers refresh rate has been majorly sucking recently. kinda off topic, but anyone know why?

PS- and havent been any updates

SEkker · May 17, 2004, 10:49 PM

Seriously, I think it's likely the AlPB has a problem, perhaps with a connection to its internal antenna.

7racer · May 17, 2004, 10:56 PM

Originally posted by SEkker:
Seriously, I think it's likely the AlPB has a problem, perhaps with a connection to its internal antenna.

if that's true...how do i go about proving that to apple?

Link · May 17, 2004, 11:38 PM

Telling them that it gets much worse reception than your titanium powerbook which is KNOWN to have bad reception

7racer · May 20, 2004, 11:30 PM

thanks everyone.....

indeed bars don't mean everything...

Despite my Titanium having 4 bars, the signal was lower on macstumbler than the 3 bars my powerbook was reading.

Thanks everyone for the suggestion.

Now to find out how to optimize my two AEBS set up in a WDS

amazing · May 21, 2004, 04:48 PM

Originally posted by 7racer:
thanks everyone.....

indeed bars don't mean everything...

Despite my Titanium having 4 bars, the signal was lower on macstumbler than the 3 bars my powerbook was reading.

Yep, kudos to you for trying it out!

here's another thing to try: If you know someone with a wireless PC-Card, plop it into the Ti and watch the difference! My Aironet card gave a new lease on life to my Ti-400. Heck, you should even try it in your AlPB just to compare the range to the AE internal card.

Also, you should take a look at throughput by comparing results at free bandwidth speedtest sites. For example, it'll tell you that the further you are from your AEBS, the more dropoff in download speed, etc. So, if you're planning large downloads, you'll want to be right next to the WAP. Everybody knows this happens, but seeing the figures is believing.

You can search Google for speedtest sites near you or try:

http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/