Can't connect my XP PC to my Airport Extreme Base Station


for those in the UK...

Recently I have noticed on the Apple Discussions Forum and on some blog posts that quite a few people are having problems in connecting their Windows XP PCs and laptops to an Airport network being run by the new 802.11n Airport Extreme wireless router.

Even after looking at my troubleshooting and sometimes even removing all wireless security they still can't connect.

It would appear that the problem lies with the channel which is being used by the Airport Extreme base station.

802.11b/g covers 14 channels, in the US, 802.11 networks can only use channels 1-11. here in the UK (and most of Europe) we can use channels 1-13. In Japan they can use all 14 channels.

Apple Airport base stations and Apple computers sold in the UK can use channels 1-13, those sold in the US can only use channels 1-11.

A lot of non-Apple laptops and wireless adapters sold in the UK are not reconfigured so can only access channels 1-11 despite legally been able to access all 13 channels.

So if a wireless router is set to channel 13, the laptop (with US configuration) won't be able to connect to it. I noticed this many years ago at a conference where there was free wireless, but was only available on channel 13, I could connect with my PowerBook, but colleagues with certain laptops couldn't.

Apple"s Airport default channel on the Airport Extreme base station is usually set to Automatic, what this means is that the base station will decide which is the best channel for the network to operate on. It will see what channels are free and "pick" the channel with the least interference. As other wireless routers default to channel 6 (or channel 1) it makes sense (from a Mac perspective) for the Airport to pick channel 13 as this will result in the least interference and therefore maximum throughput - if there are neighbouring wireless networks. As all Macs can connect on channel 13 and "in theory" all wireless adapters sold in the UK can access channel 13, it does make a weird kind of sense.

So on some occassions (depending on your local environment) the Airport base station sets itself to channel 13 as the ideal channel. As a result some laptops (and some wireless PCI cards) can not access the Airport network.

The solution is to change the channel on the Airport base station from Automatic to a channel between 1 and 11, channel 1 should be fine.

Would it be common sense for Apple to ship their Airport base station with the channel set to something other than automatic, this should avoid the problem. However there is a little bit of me which thinks this could cause problems for others, especially for those people who are setting up their Airport base station in a crowded wireless environment.

Posted: Thu - August 23, 2007 at 09:28 AM         | |

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