Is this an Apple base station problem?

[dakota]

Intermittently, I get a message that I am not connected to the internet, and I can see that the first of the three lights on the base station is not lit.  It says Airport is connected, but there are no networks.  Occasionally, if I unplug it, and plug it in again, everything comes back.  Sometimes, it just reappears by itself.  I am not sure whether this is an Airport problem, or a Cablevision problem. How do I check this out? Thanks, in advance.

[chriskleeman]

Hi Dakota,

Which model Airport? Snow? Extreme? Express? Which firmware are you running in it?

Probably an Airport problem from my experience. But we gotta know which one you have, because they all have different sets of of possible problems and/or solutions.

  CK

[dakota]

Airport Extreme. Wireless card firmware version  Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.38.27).

[krissel]

This is a commonly reported problem with various reasons ranging from interference from household appliances to neighboring networks. Moving the location can help.

Sometimes just changing the channel solves the problem. Sometimes a reboot of the Airport and resetting the data is needed but that is a pain.

You could give these apps a try. The first one looks rather interesting and I'm going to try it out myself.

QUOTE

Using AirGrab WiFi Radar you can determine most popular WiFi channels and select optimal channel for your WiFi network.

Signal level and Noise level helps to diagnose common wireless network problems and optimally position your base station and or computer to achieve the best possible signal strength.

http://www.airgrab.com/AirGrab_WiFi_Radar/

Also:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/25661/airmoose