Forums | MacLife

Are you sure your microwave causes drop-outs? For a while I had huge problems with drop-outs and I was absolutely convinced the microwave and wireless phone were causing problems, but an evening spent doing controlled trials with a friend proved me completely wrong. I'm curious what you have done for troubleshooting.

My problems happened in a big apartment with thick concrete walls, using a base station and two airtunes units. Walking around with my laptop and MacStumbler running, I was able to figure out where the signal was getting through and where it was being blocked, and I positioned the airport units accordingly. Much to my surprise, I learned that moving a unit as little as 10-20 cm could have a huge effect on signal strength and network reliability.

It took a bit of work, but all drop-out problems were eliminated.

The AirPort Express gets its signal through the router.  The G4 tower is connected by ethernet cable to the router, correct?

As beaverfever said, a few centimeters can make a big difference.

Try moving the router around. Get it away from the G4 tower and any other electronics, if possible.  And position the antennae to point at an angle toward or away from each other.

Is the AirPort Express plugged directly into a wall socket?  Put on the long cord and move the Express around.

Be sure to test with interference robustness off and on.

When dealing with radio frequency (RF) problems you have to test, test, test.

I may have solved my airtunes dropouts problem.  I connected my Airport Express to my wireless router by ethernet and then I shut off its wireless.  That works for me because my wireless router is already over by my stereo.

Seems like that may have solved the problem.  If so - SWEET!

TheMouthOfSauron wrote:

You got a long cord with your Airport Express?!

I can't speak for Dunkin', but I did not. However, I did get one with my laptop, and they are available separately too. I found using a long cord or extension cord to get the airex away from the wall to be vital in my prior problem scenario.

A:  Nope - I didn't solve it.  The microwave went on, and my airtunes flaked out.

B:  the point of Airport Express for me is just to wirelessly get music from my Mac to my stereo.  The router just happens to be near the stereo (it's actually hidden behind it) since that's where cable is.

Try changing the channel on the wireless router and AirPort Express.

I just solved an interference problem involving an AirPort Base Station, a microwave oven and a Audio Video transmitter/receiver.  All use the 2.4 GHz band. 

The AirPort was causing static on the TV (through the A/V trans/ceiver).  And using the microwave made the static worse, much worse.

Solution was to change the channel on the AirPort Base Station from 1 to 11.  Use AirPort Admin Utility in your Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.  Now there is no interference.