I have been able to run bit torrents as well as stream movies on netflix however recently in the past few weeks- I have had multiple repeated dropouts time outs and generally very slow connections
where I need to restart all the devices
including our netgear (charter provided) Cable modem/wireless router (Netgear CG814WG) sometimes even my iMac and force quitting firefox
--Ian
can you wife, on her macbook inside, still connect and browse the internet inside in the cases where a reboot is needed on your imac?
do you have the same wireless setup[ssid, key, etc] on each(netgear, airport) and one act as dhcp, the other relay? or are both independent wireless hotspots/lans?
this is very interesting to me, as I have an airport also, with an old dsl modem...and i have the same problems, usually(90%) when i am running netflix... i have just dealt with it. what is very puzzling is, i have tried both wireless and wired connection to the airport, with same results. AT&T says the connection is fine, and the modem(how they know i have know clue) is working properly...which leaves only the airport extreme as the problem. I have 3x windows 7 comps[1 wired, 2 wireless], 1 macbook pro, android tab and ipad....its not related to any device...its the connection to the internet that dies....im still connected ot the airport fine(strong signal via wireless), but i have to reboot BOTH the aiport AND the modem to get it working again.
Ok so I think I understand your questions but may be over my head...
so here goes with what I can answer:I think we have different SSID's but I'm not sure- they are separate networks with different MAC addresses- obviously.
So as an example We have different IPV4 addresses mine is 192.168.0.12 and wife's is 192.168.0.10
the router number is th esame on both 192.168.0.1 but my airport uses the 10.0.1.2 and 10.0.1.1 scheme
as far as if my wife's macbook can connect when I restart my computer of Firefox, I believe so, but have not tried that. I do know that I usually just start at the shouce, by restaring (powercycling) the Netgear modem/wireless router, by unplugging it for a few minutes. - well not exactly often I quit the hawking HAWNU2 wireless utility, and restart that - sometimes that fixes my lazy connection issue- which may be I can not connect via safari or firefox to the internet, however I may still be connected uploading bitotrrents via my client Transmission.
sometimes I just change the DHCP lease time from say 5 days to 4 days or vice versa, on the Airport and then update (restart) the Airport
if the two back end of the chain don't work then I go back to restarting the netgear device.
however I think my speeds are issues are really due to leaves on the trees coming in full thus causing reflections and interference at leat that's my hypothesis.
I did talk to a buddy that has a lightning quick fiber optic connection and he mentioned that netflix has issues of needing to reload often - he feels its on their end server or streaming issues or the like.
don't know if that helps you or I answered your questions or not
but there you go
--Ian
ok..i think i got a better picture, and I don't think it matches my setup.
if i follow correctly, you are using your netgear for dhcp, and have the airport in bridge mode.
I use my airport for dhcp(actually my only hotspot)
the ssid is the Name of your wireless hotspot, not the ip.
that being said...i am wondering about part of your setup (and it could just be my ignorance of using aiport as bridge), but you say the iMac in the garage has a 192. ip address, but the airport has a 10.xx. I am wondering if your iMac is connecting to the netgear instead of the Airport. This could be misunderstanding, if your airport DHCP is turned off(in which case the 10.xx is just a leftover /artifact you are seeing in configuration, and not actually being used)
might be something to check on tho...without seeing your airport settings...i can't really say.
one last thought. if you are using your netgear, and its a relic, for DHCP, you might think about using it JUST as a modem, and letting the airport handle all the nat/lan work instead of just being a hotspot.
having 2 different wireless hotspots complicates things. if you are set on using two (for better/more coverage area) one dhcp should be turned off, and the cable connecting them should run from any port NOT labeled WAN into a similar port on the other. Then, set both SSID(wireless name), key, channel, etc exactly the same on both wireless devices(hotspots)
you may already be setup correctly, i don't know..but if not, it would def help.
honestly, unless the leaves are REALLY heavy, it should cause much of a problem. there will be some speed loss, but shouldn't be that great. the airport(mine) can go from one end of my house to the other (through at least 5 walls with NO direct line of site) and still give a 2bar signal on my macbook. i do lose some speed as opposed to sitting in same room, but not that bad. My connection issues (keeping the connection to the outside internet) is my issue. And that, is what i was seeing as 1 aspect of your issue. I do think your connection and speed issues are most likely unrelated, esp since the connection gets fubard, but transmission still running.
just as a follow up, have you tried using uTorrent instead of transmission just to see if that changes it at all? maybe its a client problem? have you ensured all the correct ports are fwd correctly (possibly on both hotspots)?