Airport Express and Belkin F5D7633-4

Question

I have got a Belkin F5D7633-4 adsl wi-fi router and would like to place an airport express in another part of the house to extend the range of the network and internet connection to my powerbook in certain parts of the house as currently the belkin wi-fi range is limited in our house. Would I be able to do this or will I have to replace my newly purchased belkin router for airport base?

Answer 1

I got the Belkin F5D7230-4 you mentioned and try
since christmas eve to connect my Airport Express via
WDS to it.
I tried all different encryption methods without
success. The only possibility up to now was a
complete open WLAN with no encryption at all. Then AX
connects (not as WDS client) creating a new WLAN and
internet access and iTunes works nicely. That can't
be the solution?!
Got a hint for me?
iStefan
One of the problems with WEP is that the actual standard relies on a 10 character HEX key for 40bit WEP and a 26 character HEX key for 128bit WEP.
In order to make things easier for people, vendors use certain algorithms to convert simple alphanumeric passwords (or passphrases) into HEX keys, thus enabling people to use simple memorable WEP password rather than lengthy HEX keys.
The problem is that different vendors use different algorithms to generate the HEX key and therefore a ASCII password on an AEBS will be hashed differently on a Netgear client and vice versa.
One thing is a 13 character 128 bit WEP password will be hashed by all vendors in the same way (if you use 40bit WEP then a 5 character password is required).
Having said that, this will only work if they use an algorithm, some don't and in these cases you must use the HEX key regardless of the length of the plain text password.
AirPort: Joining an encrypted wireless network
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106424
Choosing a password for networks that use Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108058