Airport Express & Apple TV in Large house with lots of concrete!

Hi there
I have set up an AX & Apple TV network in a large house (not my own mind you) as follows:
1x AX(n) upstairs acting as base station
1x AX(n) downstairs at a Hi Fi audio system (using with Airtunes)
1x AppleTV upstairs in TV Room
1x PC with windoze Vista with Netgear RangeMax NEXT Wireless-N USB-WN111-100ISS
The problem/scenario is this:
1. The house walls are all concrete and has a lot of angles, so the range is very limited due to no line of site connections.
2. Although all devices see each other, it is really at the edge of the range and sometimes when using an iphone as a remote for instance downstairs at the HiFi, one loses the connection to the network.
3. Furthermore the network needs to be expanded to include an AX in the main bedroom that is also upstairs but at the opposite end of the house.
4. The people of the house wants to use their iphones as remotes with Airtunes & Apple TV.
The questions:
1.)Will the range of the network be much larger/stronger if I replace the AX I am currently using as router/base station with an AEBS?
2.)Also, If i want to extend the network to the patio (downstairs outside about 80ft), can I set the AX that is plugged in to the HiFi (for Airtunes) to also extend the network or will this take away the Airtunes functionality?
3.) Will the use of iphones on this network not "downgrade" the network from N to G?
Thanks a lot for the help!

Thanks a lot John
John Galt wrote:
You described what I have in mind, though for bandwidth purposes I envisioned dedicating the "n" network to your wireless computers, Airtunes, and AppleTV, and the "g" network strictly for the iPhone. This assumes both your Expresses are the newer ones capable of 802.11n.
I might also add that this setup will be strictly used for Airtunes and AppleTV. The only computer connected to it will be the PC that the music gets streamed from. So therefore I there is no "real" need for N capabilities on the AEX's as it will only be iphones and airtunes running on it. Also the house is on a farm so the closest interference apart from microwaves and cordless phones are probably 10km away
I will first try this setup with a:
1.N network between the AppleTV and AEBS
2.G network between AEBS and AEX for Airtunes and Iphone remote.
I see where you are coming from with the N network for the AEX & Airtunes, but this will mean I will have to buy not only a new dualband AEBS and new AEX (which I have to buy anyway to extend the network) but also buy an additional 2 or 3 AEX's, which will make it a pretty pricey picnic.
So I will first try my luck with a G network for Airtunes.
Now I just have to sit and wait patiently for the incompetent agents in South Africa to get the new dualband AEBS in... (yes we dont have an "official" Apple presence in SA and yes the "official agents" are useless and yes it will probably take another 8 weeks for it to arrive in SA with the new iMacs, mini's and pro's and yes the agents' service and support will be nonexistent to mediocre.... IF we are lucky..)
Nevertheless, with that rant out of the way, thanks again for the help!

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