Airport Extreme Base Station as bridge for Westell DSL router

I have searched the forums & internet and for the life of me cannot get my network to work properly! I hope you can help.
Here is the situation (I rent so chances are we will not be moving hardware anywhere):
- Westell (Verizon) DSL wireless router downstairs connected to the internet, 1 iMac via ethernet, and 2 ibooks via Airport cards
- One lonely Powermac G4 upstairs that does not have a wireless card
- One extra Airport Extreme Base Station with firmware version 5.7 installed & connected via ethernet/LAN to the G4
I figured the "easy" thing to do would be to use the AEBS as a wireless bridge to get the G4 online. The network utility has occasionally thought that the G4 was connected to the internet, but the internet didn't work at all when it said that!
I have been configuring the AEBS using my wireless ibook (G3). I "unchecked" distribute IP addresses, and "checked" connect to network via WDS. I used the Westell's MAC address as the main WDS source. Under the "WDS" tab, I said to configure the AEBS as a remote station and the Westell router as the main station, and to allow wireless users to connect.
I have tried using the same Network name for each. WEP/WAP is NOT set up on either modem, so passwords aren't a problem. They are both set to channel 6. I am configuring the TCP/IP settings manually.
When the network names are the same, the internet either stops working, or the computers can't find the AEBS.
I don't understand why the AEBS seems unable to see the DSL network.

Hi,
Well, what I have been able to do is this:
I have a Westell Wireless DSL router, just like the one mentioned here, and just like the one mentioned in the article I made reference to, the one started by Mr. Müller.
As was mentioned in the Mr. Müller article, there are some possibilities that will work. They were submitted by a guy named Duane, from Texas. He gives three alternate possibilities, which he entitled "Solution #1, Solution #2, and Solution #3. He says all three of these alternatives will work, and in reading them over I came to the following conclusions: First, he really knows his stuff, and second, his proposed solutions would probably work.
Based on his comments I decided to take a risk yesterday - I put my older Mac Base Station in a drawer and invested in a new Airport Extreme.
Anyway, I digress...
What I've done is follow Solution #3. And it works! I now have a connection from my laptop to the Airport Extreme base station and the internet. I am typing this message using that connection. All I had to do was disable the wireless connection of the DSL router (using their software, of course), and connect the Airport Extreme, via the LAN Ethernet connector, to the Westel DSL router.
Now, all that remains for me is to extend the range of the base station, using an Airport Express. I haven't had any success with that yet, but I see no reason why I shouldn't get it to work eventually. If you can help me out with that, though, I'd sure appreciate it.
Best regards,
Patrick
Macintosh G5, Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Similar Messages

Airport Extreme Base station cannot connect to Westell C90-36R516-01 DSL modem

Hi,
I just purchased a new Airport Extreme Base station for my 15" Macbook Pro. I set everything up this morning per the docs (all cables are connected properly) but the Airport Extreme is flashing an amber LED, which means it cannot establish communication to the network/Internet.
I'm using an old Westell C90-36R516-01 DSL modem that has been working fine up until now. I've tried switching out the Ethernet cables and different powering on/off combos but nothing appears to work. When I connect the Ethernet cable directly into my laptop, I have to power down the DSL modem, power it back on, and then do several refreshes before I finally get an Internet connection.
I read a previous post about unplugging the modem overnight and then plugging it in the next morning to wipe out the MAC address setting. I will be trying that tonight, but I was wondering if there was anything else I could try in the meantime? Or, is it simply a matter of having to get a newer modem from Verizon because this one is 7-8 years old?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

Hi Max,
Let's start from the beginning,
The ethernet from the modem should be wired to the Wan port of the Airport...
On page 28 of the users manual it says if the light flashes amber you should unplug the power of the modem, wait a few seconds and power up the modem.
I presume you installed the Airport utility from the disk that came with the Airport?
For more information about the reason the light flashes
Open AirPort Utility, select your base station, and then choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu. ClickBase Station Status to display information about the flashing light
Here is a link to the Manual CLICK HERE
I was hoping to find out more about the Airport utility to see what's it's capable of doing...

AirPort Extreme base station as bridge - is WPA allowed?

Hello,
I have an AirPort Extreme base station that is connected to the Internet via an older Linksys wired router. The Linksys is connected to a cable modem and acts as a router (so it's the DHCP host), while the AirPort acts as a bridge between wireless computers and the Linksys (so "Distribute IP addresses" is unchecked).
When using WEP or no security, everything works great. However, when using WPA, my laptop constantly cycles as it tries to get an IP address without any real success. I've tried all combinations of open/closed networks, different wireless channels, and wireless security types, but WPA just won't work. It's definitely supported by the wireless card and I've entered the password correctly, but no dice.
Does anyone know if WPA is supposed to work in this configuration? I noticed that another post recommended connecting cable modem -> AirPort -> wired router, but other posts recommend cable modem -> wired router -> AirPort. Not sure if it matters or not.
Thanks for any advice!

Hi Felix, thanks for your reply.
I have a Linksys wireless card (which I cannot find right now) and an Airnet AWN154 wireless card. When the Linksys didn't work, I purchased the Airnet, which also didn't work. This is on several Windows laptops.
To answer your other question, I don't think I've ever successfully gotten WPA to work with these cards, but of course I only have my own base station to test against. My fiance's laptop (with built-in wireless) worked briefly, but was very slow and every couple minutes the connection would drop.
The reason I originally asked if WPA is possible in this configuration is because I ran across some articles indicating that WPA might not work across bridged networks, although that was for different hardware than my Airport Extreme base station.
Jeff

Airport Extreme Base Station and Apple Mail

I have recently connected my Airport Extreme Base Station behind my uverse 2 wire router and configured it to handle all the routing in my home. This setup was easy and the router and wifi seems to be working flawlessly. However, I am having problems with Mail. I am using .mac and .me accounts on Mail in Snow Leopard and since I started using the Airport router my accounts won't receive. I can send using the .me smtp server no problem, but I cannot receive using the .me/.mac imap server. I have tried opening the imap mail ports in the airport utility but have had no luck. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have the same problem whether I am using wifi or Ethernet. Is this a porting type problem or a DNS type problem?

I have recently connected my Airport Extreme Base Station behind my uverse 2 wire router and configured it to handle all the routing in my home.
Normally, when you have a router "behind" another router, the second device...your AirPort Extreme....would be configured in "bridge mode". The AirPort Extreme would not be handling the routing functions in this type of setup, the Uverse router would continue to provide that service. Here I assume that you have not reconfigured or changed the Uverse router.
Check your settings for the AirPort Extreme as follows:
AirPort Utility - Manual Setup
Click the Internet icon
Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)
Update to save any changes
Then perform a complete power cycle on the entire network. Power everything down, order is not important.
Start the Uverse router first and let it run a few moments
Then start the AirPort Extreme the same way
Then start each device the same way until everything is powered back up

Should I get a Airport Extreme Base Station?

My linksys is giving me problems. But with the compatibility problems I've been reading about with the AEBS, should I get it? I currently have a 2 macbooks, one with tiger, one with leopard, a windows xp pc, and 1 macbook pro running leopard. This christmas I'll be adding another Macbook and an iMac running leopard. Thanks.

Hello Pozzi. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
But with the compatibility problems I've been reading about with the AEBS, should I get it?
I'm not quite sure which "compatibility problems" you are referring to. None of your Macs or the PC, running WinXP, should have any problems connecting with the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn). For maximum security, using WPA2, just be sure that your PC's version of XP is at least at SP2 or greater and that it has WPA2-compliant wireless capability.

Lacie firewire / Airport Extreme Base Station

Hi
Is there a way to connect my Lacie Firewire External Hard Drive to the Airport Extreme Base Station ?
Waiting for your comments,
Sincerely
JR
JR
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Thanks for your response Duanne
But actually I'm interested in not having mi hard drive connected to my iBook.
Since it's only me using the AEBS and moving around the house I taught I could get an a adapter for this issue.
I will keep looking for possible solution
thanks again
JR
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Connecting our Xbox360 to our existing Apple Airport Extreme Base Station.

We have an existing Apple Airport Extreme Base Station at home (connected to a Motorola brand Cable-DSL Modem). This wireless network works magnificently for our PowerBook and iBook... and even for the PC laptops a couple of our "friends" have brought over (and they have to work outside on the porch, since we don't let them in the house with those things).
We broke down and purchased the Xbox360 along with the Xbox360 Wireless Adapter, but I can't get it to connect to our network wirelessly. It connected automatically though, when I used the ethernet cable from the Xbox360 to the Airport Extreme Base Station's output port.
Our wireless network is hidden, and we'd really like to keep it that way for security reasons. Does anyone know if this is possible? Or do we have to sacrifice our network security just to be able to connect wirelessly... so we can get the latest version of that damm Bejeweled game... okay, and play games online... and get HD Movie Trailers that look amazing... I actually am excited about that part.
1.67GHz, 17", G4 PowerBook (03/2005) Mac OS X (10.4.6) 2GB RAM (maxed), using Airport Extreme Base Station with a Motorola Cable DSL Modem

Thanks for the info iFelix. And wow, speedy too. You
must be a fast typer. (I'm just a Hunt-&-Peck kind of
guy.)
No not too fast I can cut and paste from my file of usual responses.
I'm not really "that" worried about security. We just
have a couple of those "nosey-neighbor" types living
close by, and they both work in I.T. I sound a little
paranoid, I know. But you'd understand if you met
these guys.
Use WPA and they won't be able to access your network even though they can see it.
So I should reset the Base Station to WPA?
Yes
Is that
the factory setting?
No
A guy I work with said I need to
reset the Base Station to "Factory Settings" to get
the Xbox360 to connect wirelessly. Is this true?
Yes, but then you would have no security!!!
And for the password, I shouln't use any real word(s)?
Applications > Utilities > Airport Admin Utility
Scan and Select your Airport
On the Airport Tab
Change Wireless Security
Use WPA Personal
Use a password like this:
4fghj8eybs9nf78swnu
Remember to write it down.
I would also change the Wireless Network Name as well, but this is not needed.
Click OK
Click Update
You will now be thrown off the wireless network.
Wait at least five minutes.
The from the Airport icon in the menu bar, select your network, you will be asked for your password, enter the password, check keep in Keychain (so your Mac will remember it).
That's it.
Don't worry about using anything else, WPA is pretty much uncrackable unless you use a dictionary word for a password such as "table".
iFelix

About Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station?

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If Someone did not like the way I Made this Thread i'm Very Sorry I Did it in the wrong way, I'm Sorry & I Won't do it if it was the wrong way i did it? & i'm sorry I Made the Mistake & I Just thought i would get Help on the Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station I Needed help with & I'm Sorry what i did if You did not like it, I Have not been on here often & I Only come here if I Need help with something so maybe you could let this thread slide but if not? then it's ok & i'm still Sorry I Made it & I Did not mean to make it in a bad way if thats what you thought? so have a Very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year & Happy Holiday's from your Online Friend & Costumer Byron.
Peace.

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I Hope you had a Happy New Year ok take care from Byron.

Connecting PC to VIN airport extreme base station

I've got a VIN airport extreme base station connected to a Netgear modem router and I'm trying to connect my PC wirelessly to the internet. I can see the Airport wireless network connection and the password is verified. The left hand light on the Airport xtarts to flash when I click to connect but after 30 seconds or so of trying Windows is "unable to connect to the Airport"??? (Another Mac seems to connect fine but the two PCs in the house don't!)

I do not know anything about the 2701hg-b but here is the AT&T link. http://store.att.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.asp?ProductId=1000-401047-000&Catego ryId=catMRG AT&T says it is a DSL Gateway with WI-FI capabilities. This is how my house is setup. Cox internet - Arris cable/modem (TM502G) - AEBS (1st gen) - 17" Macbook Pro and 17" Powerbook. Now my sister moved in with me with an eMachines T3414 desktop PC and the AT&T 2701HG-B DSL Gateway. This is a an old & crappy PC and she knows it but given her circumstances this is what she has to use. I can not get her computer to even see my network or anyone else's in the neighborhood (at any given time I can see up to 7 networks on my 2 laptops.) When she had her house and I was visiting I never had any problems connecting to her network. I do not have a lot of networking experience especially on the PC side and could use some help.

Define static IP for both LAN and W-LAN devices with an Airport Extreme Base Station

Hey guys,
I have a lot of different devices connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station (5th Gen) either wirelessly or via ethernet cable. Since I control some of them via VNC and currently have to find the corresponding IP-addresses through trial-and-error, I'd like to define static IP-addresses for the computers in question. My network consists of a cable modem connected to a TP-Link WR1043ND router in the basement, from which an ethernet cable leads to the WAN-port of the aforementioned Airport Extreme Base Station on the 2nd floor. Two of the devices I want to remote-access are wired to a D-Link DES-1005D switch, which in turn is connected to the 1st ethernet port of the Airport Base Station. The remaining 3 remote clients are connected over 802.11n. All computers run Windows.
My problem now is that even though I was able to define static IP-addresses employing the "DHCP only" router mode, this didn't seem to work for the two computers connected via ethernet. Not only did I lose any internet connectivity with those, I even lost the ability to remote-connect to them using the VNC-viewer.
The question now is: how do I specify static IP-addresses for my ethernet devices correctly?
I hope you can help me.

My network consists of a cable modem connected to a TP-Link WR1043ND router in the basement, from which an ethernet cable leads to the WAN-port of the aforementioned Airport Extreme Base Station on the 2nd floor.
If you read the information in the other post, my answer would be the same here.
The Router Mode of DHCP Only is rarely used, and would only really be appropriate if your ISP was providing you with a fixed bank of multiple fixed or static IP addresses to use. This does not appear to be the case in your post.
If this were the case, the first IP address would be used as a Static IP address for your connection, and other devices on your network would receive the other fixed IP addresses.
99%+ of the time, you would use the Router Mode setting of DHCP and NAT on a network when you want the AirPort to perform as the main router for the network.
But......your post also indicates that you have another router upstream on your network from the AirPort Extreme. You would not want to run two routers in series on a network. That explains the problems that you are having.
The AirPort Extreme needs to be configured in Bridge Mode. It cannot be the "main" router on your network when you already have another router on the network. That is a fundamental networking rule.

Multipmultiple Airport Extreme Base Stations: WDS Or "Extend Wireless Network" To Have Wired -- Wireless Bridge?

Hello there!
I've been looking for this info, but have as yet been unable to find it. Here's my scenario:
I have two Airport Extreme Base Stations (both are dual band) and 3 airport expresses. The main internet connection in my house is in one room, where I have an AEBS as the main wireless router. In another room, I have a bunch of ethernet-only devices. I'd like to use the 2nd AEBS in this room, plug the ethernet devices into it and have the 2nd AEBS act as a wired <--> wireless bridge (connected to the same wireless network as the 1st AEBS). I've attempted this via "extend a wireless network," but the ethernet devices don't get past the AEBS they're plugged into. Should I instead be implementing WDS?
I mention the airport expresses as I'd like to have airtunes & wireless signal in other areas, but would like to keep the set-up as simple as possible (i.e., not config the AXes for WDS unless it's required).
Thanks in advance for any help!

Unlike the 802.11n AirPort Express Base Station (AXn), the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) cannot be configured as a wireless Ethernet bridge.
However, there are at least two ways to configure it to provide wired clients access:
Connect the second AEBSn back to the first by Ethernet; reconfigure the second AEBSn as a bridge and disable its wireless radios, or
Reconfigure both AEBSns into an extended wireless network. For 802.11n AirPorts, this would be called a dynamic WDS. The AEBSn, connected to the Internet would be the "main" base station and it would only require that you enable the "Allow this network to be extended" option in the AirPort Utility. The extending AEBSn would need to be configured with the option, Wireless Mode = Extend a wireless network, enabled.
In both configurations, the second AEBSn's Ethernet ports would be enabled for wired clients.

How do I open the same ports on an Airport Extreme Base Station for multiple computers at the same time?

As the title suggests...
I have a mix of five Mac and PC's at home using an Airport Extreme Base Station as the router.   I need many ports opened on the AEBS for all of the computers- not just one computer. (for example: three people want to play TF2 on Steam at the same time; each machine needs the correct ports open on the router).   Port forwarding only allows me to forward a given port to a single IP, yet I need that port open for five differnt IP's, all at the same time.
How do I do that on an AEBS?
In the same way, I have a small office of four iMacs using an old airport with the same exact issue.   I would like to be able to connect to all of them remotely with Apple Remote Desktop, but the port forwarding on the airport only allows a port to forward to a single IP.   I want to be able to tunnel into the office network and log onto any machine behind the Airport extreme... not just a single IP.    I currently have it set up where I can tunnel into the office from my house, I can find the one machine that the port forwarding has been assigned to, I can log on and everything is just fine... with one machine.    How do I open the firewall for the other machines?
TL,DR version: How do you open ports on an Airport Extreme Base Station instead of forwarding ports?   Forwarding ports doesn't work for multiple IP's.

You can open a single or multiple ports to a single device or different ports to different devices, but you cannot open the same port to multiple devices via the AirPort Utility for the Apple routers.

I have a Cisco wireless router. Can I buy an Airport Express plug in booster for a distant part of my house or do I need an Airport Extreme base station instead to make the Airport Express plug in booster work?

Can I buy an Airport Express plug-in wifi signal booster to connect to a Cisco wireless router, or do I have to buy an Airport Extreme base station to make the Airport Express plug-in work?

You would need either an AirPort Extreme or an AirPort Express connected to the Cisco router, with a permanent Ethernet cable connection.
Configure the Extreme or Express that is connected to the Cisco router to "create a wireless network".
Then, you could add an AirPort Express to "extend a wireless network" to provide more wireless coverage for the network that the Extreme or Express would be creating.
Remember that the Express can only "extend" the quality of signal that it receives, so it must be located where it can receive a strong signal from the "main" AirPort.
If you don't need the Cisco wireless signal, you could turn it off.....or use that network for guests or something similar.
The bottom line here......you always need two Apple routers if you want to extend the network wirelessly.

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station and have recently upgraded to Mountain Lion. Now airport utility won't work with my base station so I bought a Time Capsule. For the life of me I can't make the substitution work and only see a blinking amber light.

I have an Airport Extreme Base Station and have recently upgraded to Mountain Lion. Now airport utility won't work with my base station so I bought a Time Capsule. For the life of me I can't make the substitution work and only see a blinking amber light. Can anyone who has made this change offer some advice?

apikoros wrote:
The Utility transferred all of the AE's settings, so I still have to change the password, which leaves me with only 2 other questions, I think:
1) I assume it's just a matter of using the Utility, entering a stronger password and checking for it to be remembered in Keychain Access. But do I have to change the password for each individual unit-- the TC, the Extreme and both Expresses-- or will changing it just for the TC alone work for the entire network?
Resetting the password you will need to do for each device... the utility cannot even see those old units.
So you will have to do it for each one.. think it through.. because as you change passwords the others will lose connection.. so start from the express which are wireless extending .. change those first.. and go back up the chain.. as each one changes it will drop off the network.. until you reach extreme and change that. Then you might need to reboot the whole network to get everything talking again. If something goes wrong.. just pluck that one out of the mix and plug in ethernet.. reset and redo the setup. That is my preferred method anyway.. do everything in isolation one by one. By ethernet and then nothing goes wrong.
2) Who's the treasonous SOB who spilled the beans to you about the ICBM in my back yard?!?
N.Korean hackers.
[Edit] Whoops-- one more question: I want to partition the TC's disk, but Disk Utility doesn't see it. What do I need to do?
You cannot partition a network disk. And apple provided no tools for it in the TC itself. You can pull the disk out and partition it but that voids your warranty. (although done with care who is to know).
Look at Q3 here.
http://pondini.org/TM/Time_Capsule.html
Mixing TM and data on the TC is worth planning carefully. They don't necessarily sit happily together.

Airport Extreme Base Station - Need to extend network for extra distance

The literature on this topic is sparse. I have an Airport Extreme base station. I will like to "extend the signal" so that it is stronger in part of house. I would like to buy a product that will do this. Questions:
I think this is called "bridging".
1. Can I do this with the Airport Express as a 2nd unit??
2. Does the Airport Extreme work with other WDS 2nd units like Netgear?
3. Is there a darned manual to tell you how to configure the settings on BOTH stations?
Thanks.

How new is your Extreme? I ask because if your Extreme supports 802.11n, the setup process will be greatly simplified.

Airport Extreme Base Station as bridge for Westell DSL router

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