Further Airport Express woes - playback problems

[PJ1200]

I have done a search on the net, and can't really find anything concreate. There are a few 'experts' on here, so thought I would tap into their knowledge!!
I have finally sorted out my airport express, and set it up in client mode to be attached to my O2 broadband router, which is downstairs. The light is green and it finds the network ok, and plays music.
Problem is, after every minute or so the music cuts out for a second or two!?? WHY!?!!?
I'm getting rather annoyed with this now. Surely a product that's MAIN feature is to wirelessly transmit music should do just that!! Mine doesn't!
The AX is set up as a client through my O2 router, and this maybe the problem? I note that although the signal strength is 'Excellent' it is only broadcasting at 11MPS? My old netgear used to be at the full 54MPS. Would this be a problem? I don't want it to be as the thought of trying to set up my netgear to run firstly on O2 broadband and then to set up my AX to run through the netgear fills me with huge amounts of anger!
Please help!!
NB, I do have the 'robustness' selected on the Admin Utility, makes no difference!

 

[John Duncan]

Do you have any other wireless devices on the network that may be 802.11b instead of 802.11g? This will make the router run at 'b' speeds (11 mbps). If not, set the router to only use 'g' instead of mixed 'b' and 'g'. In fact, you might even find that it's set to 'b' anyway - this isn't something you'd notice if you were just using it for internet connection.

 

[PJ1200]

Hmm - no other devices on the network, so will check the O2 router settings tonight... not sure how to, but can't be that difficult. The internet speed is a little on the slow side and has recently dropped a couple of times, so could be the reason - the o2 router is on 'b'!!
Hopefully this is easy to do.... I'll have a search on the net.
Thanks John

 

[chebby]

Play with using different channels on the wireless router until you find one that gives consistent and high rate.

 

[PJ1200]

I'll also try that too. I have a Netgear adapter, which seems to select random channels, but again, I'm sure I'll be able to select one.

 

[John Duncan]

As in the adapter on the PC? Should be configurable, along with the BT Hub - you ought to be able to enter its configuration screen by going to http://bthomehub.home/ in your browser.

 

[PJ1200]

Network adaptor is Netgear, as I do also have a Netgear router that I used to use. I switched to O2 and they sent a separate router. So I have the netgear adapter still and use that with the O2 router. I'll go to the O2 settings to check the wireless is set up on g, rather than b. I'll also check to see if I can manually change the channel.
Will keep you posted...

 

[PJ1200]

Further update...
I attempted to change the wireless protocol last night on my router to just 'g' instead of 'b & g'. This caused massive failure!! The wireless adapter would not connect to the router!?
Ended up on the phone to O2 support, who reset the router.
Long story, but they got it back up and running, and commented that our connection was dropping about 600 times a day!!! This explains why our internet connection recently has been very temperamental.
They've done a fix there end and it's meant we've had to use the phone point under the stairs (the master point) which is massively inconvenient, but I'm sure we'll work around it.
I was hoping that this maybe the reason why the AX keeps dropping? It's a client for the router and if the router is dropping connection would this have an effect on playback??

 

[chebby]

Can you get Virgin Media cable in your area?

We have had cable for 17 months now and we have only experienced one 3 hour outage (Virgin name server got overloaded) in that entire period.

 

[John Duncan]

Can't comment on whether the router dropping its connection is causing the network problems, but certainly seems plausible. My bigger concern would be the fact that your wireless adapter won't work with 'g' only - are you sure it's a) a 'g' adapter (I think you said it was) and b) is configured to work with 'g'?

 

[PJ1200]

Can't get Virgin in my area - otherwise I'd snap it up!
The adapter is, I'm almost certain, a 'g' adapter. The router was obviously ok when I changed the settings, as it came up on the 'wireless network', but the adapter just couldn't connect to it... so maybe that was why it didn't work???
I don't know. The router has been sorted (I imagine back to both 'b' and 'g' setup, and I will try the AX again, hoping that the dropping of the connection had interferred with the playback.

 

[PJ1200]

This is starting to really get my back up!
Wireless router is definitely a 'g' router. I updated the latest firmware on it at the weekend, but still no joy.
The internet is working fine, and is apparently obtaining full 8MB speed, which is good.
However, AX is still dropping on playback every minute. I have even updated to the latest iTunes (8.0.2 I think), but still has not fixed it. I've been on the Apple website and posted a thread to see if anyone has any ideas over there. A quick search suggests people think iTunes 8 could be to blame, although there is not solid proof of this.
Spoke to O2 again at the weekend. The guy there was most helpful. Because the internet is working perfectly they are quite within their rights to tell me to sort it out myself (as it's an Apple product). He spent all morning with me looking into it, and has promised to call me this week to update me if he's come up with anything else.
In stark contrast, I rang Apple who were about as helpful as chocolate teapot! Even tried to sell me a brand new AX on the basis my current one was old!!
Apple really get on my nerves at the moment!
All I want to do is listen to music on my hifi without any gaps! That's what the AX is supposed to do (primarily) and it FAILS completely!
NB I've also played with the buffer settings in iTunes preferences - changed to 'Large' from 'Medium'. No joy.

 

[John Duncan]

There's a list of things to try here.....

 

[John Duncan]

Furthermore, yes the router is 'g', but is the adapter? 8 meg internet tells you nothing, since a 'b' wireless network would be 11 (though obviously this should still cover music streaming).

 

[PJ1200]

John - firstly, thanks for taking the time to help. Much appreciated.
I've actually seen that web page you've posted (saw it on Sat morning)! It hasn't been able to shed any light on mine.
The Netgear adapter is definitely 'g'. http://www.netgear.co.uk/wireless_networkadaptor_wg111.php
Agree with the 11mbs issue. Although I get confused with Mega bits per second and Mega bites!? Can wireless routers/adapters stream 8 mega bites? Sorry if that all seems stupid!
I can't believe this is such a hassle!?
My next idea is to have the AX as a base station, and manually disconnect from my O2 router and connect to the AX when I want to play music, but that is hardly ideal is it!?

 

[John Duncan]

Networks are described in terms of bits, storage in bytes (generalising) so an 8 meg internet connection is 8 megabits per second, an 8 meg file is generally 8 megabytes (ie 8 times bigger).

Most wired networks run at 100 megabits per second (though gigabit ethernet is becoming more common) and are therefore twice the speed of your average 'g' network (though 'g+' runs faster, and 'n' faster still), but music streaming is usually no more than 1411kbps = 1.4 megabits per ssecond, so your network should have no problem.

And no, you shouldn't have to do any connecting or disconneting, the damned thing should just work, agreed. What's the spec of PC running iTunes?

 

[John Duncan]

One last thing - does it all work if you put your netgear router back?

 

[PJ1200]

Thanks for the tech info above John! Seems a little confusing, but think I get it! So having a 11Mbs or a 54Mbs connection shouldn't make any difference at all, to either the internet or the AX!
The PC is not that old. It's running XP, and has 1MB of RAM. Not totally sure of the CPU speed, but certainly no slouch (only a year or so old).
I do note that playing music downstairs and watching the 'progress bar' upstairs on the computer shows that when the music cuts out it does stutter slightly on the progress bar. That suggests to me an iTunes problem!?
I would roll back iTune to version 7 but need 8 for my iPhone!! (which incidently has a mind of it's own when connecting to iTunes!)
Don't really want to use the old Netgear router yet... last resort.
Cheers for your help John.

 

[John Duncan]

OK, not the PC then. Are you able to connect either or both of the devices (PC and AX) to the home hub via wire to see if the problem goes away? This will then rule in or out issues with the wireless connection (such as one or other device being on the edge of reception area, interference from TVs and suchlike close to the router).

 

[John Duncan]

Read this also. Are you using WEP or WPA encryption btw?

 

[professorhat]

Just to clarify, there are 8 bits in 1 byte. So an 8 Mbps (Megabits per second) connection means it can stream 1 MB (Megabyte) of information every second (and this is theoretical limits as well - in practise, it's likely to be less). I think in general, the industry tries to keep it so a capital B means byte, whereas a lower case b means bit but unfortunately, this rule isn't followed universally.

 

[PJ1200]

So a wireless connection of 11mbs can only stream upto 1.375 Megabytes? So if my b/band is 8MB, then I'm missing out on rather a lot?
Under the same premise, a 54mbs connection could stream 6.75MB, meaning a much better access time??

 

[John Duncan]

No, your broadband connection is 8Mb.

 

[PJ1200]

John - I'm using the standard O2 WEP secuirty - which is 10 characters long. The O2 box suggests it is a 64bit encryption.
I've read the thread, and must admit I don't understand all of it? Do you think that the AX could somehow be doing a security check to the router every minute, which in turn slows the transfer speed - resulting in the dropout??
I am close to loosing the will to live.
The AX is a great bit of kit when it works. Would I recommend one?
NOT ON YOUR LIFE!

 

[professorhat]

PJ1200:So a wireless connection of 11mbs can only stream upto 1.375 Megabytes? So if my b/band is 8MB, then I'm missing out on rather a lot?
Under the same premise, a 54mbs connection could stream 6.75MB, meaning a much better access time??
Yup, as John says, your broadband will be 8 Mbps not 8 MB/s - no ISP would advertise in MB/s as the Mbps figure will always sound much more impressive i.e. would you go for a 8 MB/s connection, or a 64 Mbps connection? They're both the same but which ISP would you choose?!
Also, it's fairly unlikely you're actually getting 8 Mbps anyway. Generally, the best people actually get is 2 - 4 Mbps unless they live pretty much on top of their exchange. And I wouldn't rely on what those speed testing internet sites tell you - they're also generally pretty unreliable.