Limited to 2 devices on wifi at a time—why?

P

piratemacfan

Registered
I can connect only two devices (maximum) to my wifi and/or internet simultaneously via my home network. This limit first started happening two months ago, in August. Connecting a third device requires restarting the modem & router, but one of the other two devices is removed from the network.

Operating System: Mac OS 10.7.1
Internet Service Provider: Time-Warner.
Cable Modem: Motorola SB5101 SURFboard cable modem (not wireless).
Wireless Router: Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station Model A1034 (2003).
Devices:
(1) iMac 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w 3Gb memory (August 2007);
(2) MacBook 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w 2Gb memory (June 2007);
(3) iPod Touch 3rd generation (September 2009);
(4) iPod Touch 4th generation (September 2010);
(5) Canon MX882 wireless printer (just purchased October 2011).

It seems like the problem started around the time (perhaps not exactly) I upgraded both computers to Mac OS 10.7 Lion. (Before that, all four devices worked on internet simultaneously.)

Possible solutions? AirPort Base Station too old? Mac OS 10.7.1 quirky with old Base Station?
 
Problem solved by my 10 year old son. (I've owned Macintosh computers since 1987, and should have known to do this; it's something I've made sure of in the past.):

Cable from SURFboard modem to AirPort Base Station was plugged into the LAN port rather than the WAN port.

For over two months I'd been struggling with the problem, trying to figure it out. Yesterday, change the plug and voila!

Word to wise: don't assume the obvious: check it out [again]!
 
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