More on AirPort Extreme Base Station/Express/AirTunes dropouts

Users (including some individuals here at MacFixIt) continue to experience fairly frequent, seemingly random AirPort connectivity dropouts since upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3.5.

Reader Mark Rougeux writes "I had thought the latest Security update would help, but I am still experiencing completely random dropouts on my Airport connection to my iMac. I have used MacStumbler to verify the signal strength. I have an Airport Extreme Base Station, and connect it to a dual 2 GHz G5 and an older 450 MHz iMac. The G5's reception is perfect. The iMac's is problematic and has been since updating to Mac OS X 10.3.5. I have turned on interference robustness, I have upped the multicast rate and changed the name of my network to one word, with no spaces in the name. Nothing has fixed the problem."

As mentioned by Rougeux, increasing the multicast rate (in tandem with moving the AirPort-enabled Mac closer to a wireless access point) and setting up a separate NAT server were previously mentioned solutions that worked for some readers, but not others.

Turning off other wireless devices Another reader found that turning off other wireless devices in the house -- specifically a wireless TV signal sender -- eliminated dropouts:

"I read your article on the Airtunes drop outs and also Apple's Knowledge Base article. I tried everything that they both suggested but no joy at all. Anyhow the one thing I did not try was to turn off any other wireless devices and what I discovered was that it was one of those TV signal senders. When I turn that off and play music it plays all the time no problems at all. So I suggest that people look at what other devices they have that may be the problem"

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