Apple Airport Extreme 3% Packet Loss
I’m posting this quick note to bring light to a common thread I’m seeing with Apple’s Airport Extreme base stations. My ThinkPad T400 11b/g Wireless LAN Mini PCI Express Adapter III has a consistent 3% packet loss while communicating using 802.11G wireless.
I’ve tested from other devices in my house (iPhone, HP laptop with 802.11a/b/g/n, and a MacBook with 802.11n) and have not seen any packet loss. It goes without saying I have full strength signal with a LoS connection to the base station. I’ve checked and scanned the other wifi users in my neighborhood and modified my channel settings to occupy the least occupied frequencies.
This problem is consistent with this base station and I think it boils down to the specific way WPA (1 & 2) are handled between my wireless card and drivers and the Airport base station’s software.
Others on the Apple forum have described the root cause could be local interference… but I’m not going to give up and run Ethernet to everything.
I have no answer or fix yet, but if you have feedback or suggestions please add to the conversation on Apple’s forums here, or make a comment on this blog post.
-update 9-6-2011
I’ve given up on Apple supporting this issue. I’ve replaced the Airport with a Linksys E4300 access point. Not a problem to be had.
Apple’s Safari Push Backlash
Windows users who installed and use iTunes are familiar with the Apple Software Update. This is a great utility to ensure everyone stays up to date with the latest bug fixes and security updates.
This week Apple has decided this would be a great way to push down their web browser to Windows users, regardless if you’ve installed previous versions. Most folks will just click next and let it do its magic.
I disagree with this method of marketing. A software update utility is for (you guessed it) updating software. If they wanted to use this installer for pushing down new software – they should have called it something else.
This is a questionable tactic to trick me into installing something I don’t want. Why, Apple, would you risk negating the trust you’ve earned with Windows users just to get your browser on their desktops?
Regardless of how I feel about Safari as a browser, this makes me worried about what else is Apple going to push on me? Due to the fact that I’m unable to remove Safari from the list of download "updates", I plan on blocking the update app at the firewall.
Many people say that Microsoft already does this – look at IE7 and Silverlight getting pushed out through the update service.
Beatles coming to iTunes
It’s not often I spew Apple rumormill there are much better sites to get it from, but I’ve been thinking about this latest release that people have been posting about from Apple with a closing sentence that read:
And the beat goes on
That was also the closing sentence in the Beatles’ last press release. I think this is a good indication that we’ll see iTunes carrying Beatles songs now.
Oh and NBC just kicked to the curb for trying to muscle Apple into increasing the DRM controls on the iPod… not just for attempting to raise the price of TV shows to $5 an episode. Puhhhleeez. Five bucks for something I get free off the air (or torrents)?
Update: Okay, missed this one… that’s what I get for spooling up the rumormill.
