Extend Network via Extreme or Express?

Hi everybody!
I use an Airport Extreme Base Station (2010) for my network and everything works fine so far. Now I want to extend my network, however. Since a roaming network is not an option I want to buy either an Express or another Extreme Base Station to extend my network. I know some of the differences between the two but I'm not quite sure which one's better for that purpose.
Any help on that issue would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the discussions, cubedApple!
It sounds like you have a dual band AirPort Extreme, so if you make active use of this feature and you want to "extend" both bands, you'll need another AirPort Extreme for this purpose.
The AirPort Express is a single band device, so it will only extend one band of your dual band AirPort Extreme. Depending on your planned use for devices in the area that needs more wireless coverage, you may need either the dual bands, or...a single band may be just fine.
In either case, the "extending" device must be placed in a location where it can receive a good signal to be able to extend it. If you have a laptop, you can do some pre-testing my taking it the area where you plan to install the new device to make sure that you get a good signal in that area.
In general, a good location for the "extending" device is a point that is about half way between your existing AirPort Extreme and the area that needs more wireless coverage.

Similar Messages

Setting up an extended network from extreme with express

Hi,
Let me just explain what I am trying to do and I would love any help or suggestions.
I have the modem going into the airport extreme. The extreme is about 30 feet away, hard wired and hanging upside down in my hallway (should it be on the wall or upside down on ceiling?) From the airport extreme I have a cable going to a 8 port hub which I have my PS3, XBOX 360, Roku, Apple TV, 3D DVD and two 3D Tv's hooked up so there all hardwired. Another cable is coming from the airport extreme and I want to take that further into the house down the hallway and wire that into an aiport express which would then boost my signal. Is my thought process wrong there? I know I can do all that with my airport extreme, and then putting my airport express within range of the extreme I can wirelessly extend the network but I was thinkning I could have a wifi network from the extreme and then have the airport express hardwired to boost the network instead of it boosting it wirlessly. If I am not making sense let me know. I had the airport express extending the network wirelessly but it was not helping at all. Both are brand new, the extreme and the express. The wireless clients are all new also, new macbook, macbook pro, 2009 iMac, 3 iPhone 4's and 2 iPad 2's so I am pretty sure there all wireless N devices so it should not slow down my network right? I have no techincal background, just learning this from reading forums etc so I am trying to give all information that I can think of thats useful. Please ask any question and I will answer, I just hope I can figure something out. I live in a 1400 square foot apartment so it surprises me that the extreme (new dual band etc) doesnt give me internet everywhere let alone with also having an airport express extending the network. In the back two bedrooms and bathroom which are down the hallway and about 25 feet from the extreme have signal that is so bad that sometimes I cant even read simple RSS feeds let alone download app updates etc on my devices. I have setup the airport extreme to have both 2.4ghz and 5ghz networks and I see them both on all devices except for my iPhone. I have changed the channels for both frequencies by using Tumblr I believe it was and seeing what channels all the networks around me are. My present internet speeds aer 18mbs down and 2 mb up when I am sitting next to the aiport extreme and in direct line of sight. This also holds true on my iMac and laptops in the same room. The laptops in the backrooms get internet and I can do more with them than my iOS devices but even on there I have a hard time streaming etc. I am trying to get internet back there for my sons room, I have a wifi camera that I want to setup in there and so he can use an iPad there (he is 20 months which is why I want the camera) and for my room I have another Roku and Apple TV that barely get signal and are constantly buffering.
I am about to wall mount the exstreme with an airmount and am looking to permanently set everything up so please any suggestions, or hints, or things I need to be aware of please do tell. I would hate to mount everything and run the cables etc and miss something obvious. I appreciate your guys help and thanks for taking the time to read this.
basically
modem = airport extreme, that = (8 port hub)+(wired to aiport express) the express would then put out a wifi network to go along with the aiport extreme.

The extreme is about 30 feet away, hard wired and hanging upside down in my hallway (should it be on the wall or upside down on ceiling?
The ceiling will normally provide the best coverage in a typical room. The whole idea here is to limit obstructions between the AirPort Extreme and devices receving the wireless signal. Wall mounting can work well, again with the idea being to provide a clear signal path to devices.
Another cable is coming from the airport extreme and I want to take that further into the house down the hallway and wire that into an aiport express which would then boost my signal.
This type of configuration will provide the best bandwidth for the wireless network, and also allow you to locate the AirPort Express where it work most effectively. You want to configure what is known as a "roaming" network. The AiirPort Express will be configured using the same wireless network name, security setting and password as the AirPort Extreme. It is mandatory that the AirPort Express be configured in Bridge Mode when you do this.
Apple's instructions for this are in this link:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260

HT4259 how to configure extended network via ethernet

how to configure an extended network via ethernet

I assume that the Express is new, so that it still has the factory default settings.
Connect an Ethernet cable from one of the LAN <-> ports on the AirPort Extreme to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Express
Power up the Extreme and Express if they are not already powered up
Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utiltities > AirPort Utility
Click on the tab in the upper left hand corner of the window that reads Other AirPort Base Stations (1)
Click on the AirPort Express xxxxxx
Wait a minute or two while AirPort Utility analyzes the network and then announces that the Express will be configured to extend your network
Enter a name for the AirPort Express and click Next
Wait 2-3 minutes while AirPort Utility configures the Express and the Express restarts
When you see the message that setup is complete, click Done
That's it.

Extending network via airport extreme N non dual band and airport expresses

I have experimented with this a lot because I have 3 expresses and an extreme, one express is wired to my extreme in bridged G mode so my iphone can access my network of macs and the rest are running in N 2.4ghz joined to the extreme network as apposed to extending the network. It seemed to me that the 5ghz is much faster but has very poor range about half the range of the N so I run the network in 2.4ghz. Oddly the express I have bridged running in G mode seems to have more range than the N network. Whenever I tried to extend the network with an express in N 2.4ghz my performance went down and I could not really notice any difference in range. Perhaps this has changed with firmware updates of late so I am going to play with them some more. A side note is that when the express is in join mode to my extremes N 2.4 ghz network I can stream full HD video 1080i and 5.1 sound to my other macs. So when my MBP is hooked up to my AV
setup I can stream Eyetv recordings around the house. But when I extend the network the playback is choppy. It seems when you extend the data rate takes a dive. The odd thing to me is that it seems that the N network does not have any more range that the G express if not even a little less range. My extreme and bridged express are in the same place in my house and if I go outside on my deck there is no N and there is a little G and again if I extend the N network with an express it seems to make almost no difference in range and the transfer speeds seems to drop.
Any thoughts on how to improved N speed / range in extend mode would be appreciated.

The ethernet port is active with this settting, (assuming you enable it in AirPort Utility) which can be a plus in some installations, but I see no improvement in the "breadth" of the wireless network using the "Join" setting, at least when comparing it to the "extend" setting. Is this correct?
The AXn's feature to join a wireless network & have its Ethernet port enabled, as you already know, is known as ProxySTA.
Although a convenient feature indeed, it's not stellar as far as maximum bandwidth goes. As an example, the following would be typical "real life" throughput values (for the AXn's 2.4 GHz radio) based on the AXn's configuration:
o Router: Wired-to-wireless: 85 Mbps
o WDS: Wireless-to-wireless: 33-39 Mbps (Note: Extended would be closer to the Router value)
o ProxySTA: Wireless-to-wired: 26-35 Mbps
Unfortunately, ProxySTA is the "worst" of the bunch.
I have to believe that a lot of the confusion between "join" and "extend" is occurring because the "extend" option is not available in the auto setup using AirPort Utility. Aren't there a lot of users out there configured to "Join" when they think they are "extending"?
No doubt the "Manual Setup" function of the AirPort Utility still needs a bit of improvement as it does tend to confuse folks. Similar, would be the differences between "Extend" & a "WDS" as both are types of WDS.

Airport express won't extend network via ethernet but shows GREEN (HELP!!)

I have the following routers setup up the same network and are working.
10.0.1.1 Airport Extreme (connected to hardline from IP)
10.0.1.2 Time Capsule 1 (extending network and providing internet connection to computer via ethernet)
10.0.1.3 Time Capsule 2 (extending network and providing internet connection to Xbox1)
10.0.1.4 Airport Express 1 (extending network and providing internet connection to Xbox2)
Not working correctly
10.0.1.43 Airport Express 2 (wanting to set this router up to extend network to plug into desktop)
The router seems to join the network fine and will show GREEN but doesn't show a similar IP address as the rest of the routers. It also doesn't provide any internet connection via ethernet to any computer, the network pref page says that it shows RED and that nothing is connected to the computer for internet but airport shows GREEN.
Reset the router multiple times, tried every which way of setting it up and no go. I also tried assigning it a IP and not using DHCP and gave it a 10.0.1.5 and still the same outcome.
Right now just at complete loss as to what to try next.

Sorry, the older version of the Express does not have the option to "extend a wireless network", which is the setting on the new Express that provides more wireless coverage and also enables the Ethernet port.
What you want to do can be done with a different setting..."participate in a WDS network" on both the Time Capsule and Express, but I am not recommending that you do this because WDS operates only in "g" wireless mode. Your Time Capsule would lose most of its performance in this setting and the network would slow down tremendously...defintely not what you want for gaming.
You'll have the best performance if you connect the PS3 directly to one of the Ethernet ports on the Time Capsule using an Ethernet cable. If it is not possible to run the cable, the next best performance option would be to use a pair of Ethernet powerline adapters to send the Ethernet signal over the existing AC wiring in your home.

Best way to extend WiFi network with extreme and express using access contr

I just got my new AirPort Extreme and configured it to use 2,4 and 5 GHz. I also would like to use Access control. When I configure my AirPort Express to extend my network I see two strange things happen.
1. On both devices I have to configure access control. I figured this is an extension of the Extreme, the Express uses the same list
2. When I finished configuring I see the Extreme and Express flash heavily green and my wired network is becoming extreme slow. I think the two devices are talking to each other, but packets are dropping??
I tried a hard and soft reset of the both devices, no solution.
Does anyone recognize this problem and maybe you can tell me what the best way is to configure both devices.
Is there also a way to configure WEP instead of WPA for using my Nintendo DS.
The firmware I use is 7.5.2

I just got my new AirPort Extreme and configured it to use 2,4 and 5 GHz. I also would like to use Access control. When I configure my AirPort Express to extend my network I see two strange things happen.
1. On both devices I have to configure access control. I figured this is an extension of the Extreme, the Express uses the same list
2. When I finished configuring I see the Extreme and Express flash heavily green and my wired network is becoming extreme slow. I think the two devices are talking to each other, but packets are dropping??
I tried a hard and soft reset of the both devices, no solution.
Does anyone recognize this problem and maybe you can tell me what the best way is to configure both devices.
Is there also a way to configure WEP instead of WPA for using my Nintendo DS.
The firmware I use is 7.5.2

Extend wifi network via PLC + Airport express

Hi everyone,
I have a linksys WRT54G and an Airport Express. I'm using the WRT54G to create a wifi network (toto), and the AE is too far away to get the WR54G signal.
I want to connect the WRT54G to the AE via PLC to extend the toto network, but when I try to select "extend a wireless network" in the airport utility, it says "the network you selected cant be extended..."
Ideally I don't want do have 2 wifi networks... And I think WDS is not what I want to do.
Do you know what settings do I have to use ?
Many thanks !!!!!
Message was edited by: dathieums

Hello dathieums. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
The following are a few articles that you can find in both these Discussions and on the Internet where users have been successful extending the this Linksys wireless router with an AirPort Express Base Station (AX), that you may find helpful in configuring yours:
o How to extend your Linksys WRT54G with AE
o Linksys WRT54G and WDS
o Extend a Linksys WRT54G network via AirPort Express
o Linksys WRT54G, Airport Express, and WDS
o AirTunes, AirPort Express, and the WRT54G

Cannot connect devices using Extend Network via Ethernet

Hi
I have been going nuts with this issue, and cannot seem to find any solutions. PLEASE HELP!
I have an Airport Extreme (pretty new and all up to date) connected to my modem. Everything works perfectly. The wi-fi is great, all devices can connect without any issues so nothing is wrong here. The Airport extreme is dishing out the IP addresses etc. The Airport extreme is in the lounge.
I purchased a new airport express yesterday. I put it in my study, far away from the lounge. I connected the airport extreme to the airport express using an ethernet cable. I plugged it in, and set it up to extend the wireless network via ethernet. I.e. it is set up in bridged mode and set up to 'create a wireless network' with identical name password etc. Everything is good. It reboots and the light is green. in the Airport utility everything shows up correctly.
Here is the problem., The second that any device (lets say iphone) moves from the lounge to the study, and tries to 'jump' to the stronger network provided by the express, it kills the ENTIRE network. The following happens:
1. The iphone loses wi-fi signal immediately. If I go into wi-fi settings, it sees my netwrok with FULL strength, but just remains in the 'spinning ball' state trying to connect. Seems to me that the express is unable to hand out an IP address or something.
2. If i open the airport utility on my Imac (in the study), the airport extreme has a yellow warning light and cannot be found via ethernet OR wi-fi. (The Imac is also Hard Wired from the Airport extreme in the lounge).
THe whole system requires a re-boot in order to work again.
If I re-boot the system, and leave a device near the airport express, it immediately receives signal, gets an IP address, and has an internet connection. Going back to the lounge causes no issues, it doesnt drop signal and still connects to the internet via the extreme. But as soon as I walk back into the study again - BOOM, everything drops.
I only purchased the new express because i was having EXACTLY the same issue with an older Airport extreme. No matter what I do, it just wont work via ethernet. I have tried all manner of settings. The ONLY setting that seems to work is to extend the wi-fi network. However, the rooms are too far apart, and this will require a third station in the middle, which i want to avoid (by the time the wifi network is extended across 3 decvices it is too slow).

Can I use airport express to make my pc pick up the wifi by plugging the pc into the ethernet socket?
Yes. But, it is the AirPort Express that would "pick up the wifi". Then, you would connect an Ethernet cable from the AirPort Express to the PC.
Configure the AirPort Express to "Join a wireless network" and click the option to "Enable Ethernet clients" during the setup to activate the Ethernet port on the device.
I would also plug a printer (currently connected to the pc) into the usb, so it can become a shared printer.
There is a good chance that your printer will work connected this way, but you won't really know until you try.

Wireless Network problems (Extreme & 3 express)

The basics: 1700 sq ft two story house. iMac, Extreme, modem in upper right of house, two airport express in lower left of house.
The problem: music broadcast from extreme to expresses cuts out. I've called Apple several times but the problem continues.
I've tried extending the network and nothing seems to work well.
I even replaced my original airport extreme because I thought it was the problem. Now I don't know.
Having expressed all that, is there a way to test the original airport extreme and use it down stairs to replace an express and strengthen the network signal?
I have read similar inquiries but I'm not very tech savvy and would appreciate an easy-to-understand answer.
Many thanks,
Mike

Unfortunately there is no "magic bullet" when it comes to setting up an extended wireless network. By that I mean, no one solution works in all cases. The following Apple Support article does a good job of explaining the number of ways that are available to you with the AirPorts, but which you choose will depend on your requirements and what is practical / feasible to you.
As you will find out, Apple recommends using a "roaming" type extended network first over an extended wireless network where all of the base stations use wireless connections between them. Primarily, I believe, this has to do with throughput performance. However, a roaming network would require that all base stations are interconnected by Ethernet. If your home is not pre-wired for Ethernet, this can impose a significant problem with setting up one of these types of extended networks.
If you must go with a wireless all the way, then the key to success is the proper placement of each of the base stations to ensure that the signal quality (of the base station that will be extended) will be sufficient enough at each of the extending base stations. If the signal quality is too low, the extending base station will only be able to repeat the signal at the bandwidth that it receives it ... even if it "boost" the signal.

Wireless Network Using Extreme and Express?

I currently have a linksys Wireless G station and range expander that I am absolutely sick of and since I have a Powerbook and will eventually change my desktop to an iMac, I wanted to explore getting a similar set-up with Airport Extreme Base Station and extending the range with Airport Express. Is it as easy as I just made it sound? What am I missing here? Can Airport Express in fact act as a range expander? Do I have to plug it into a network cable or does it do it wirelessly like my Linksys range expander does? Sorry for all the newbie questions but I wanted to ask before I invest. Thanks to any and all.
E

Thanks, Don. To clarify, this means I can in fact create a network using a Base Station and a plug-in Express or should I use two Base Stations with one set up as a remote/relay and keep the Express for travel?
It seems the configurations are limitless! Which I mean as a good thing.
E

Wired Connection to An AE that is extending network via wifi

I have 2 Airport Extremes. The first is a 2nd Gen model the other is a 4th Gen.
The 2nd Gen model is connected to our modem and has made a working home network for a number of wired and wireless devices.
I also have an older mac pro with no wi-fi card installed. What I'd like to do is use the 4th gen Extreme to connect to the Mac Pro via ethernet to get the mac pro on the network via the wifi Capability of the Extreme.
Using one of the other computers I have been able to configure the 4th Gen to extend the network via wifi and other wifi macs can see it on the network and it appears to be working as expected but when I connect the old mac pro I get no networking or internet through it.
The mac pro's network control panel shows it as being connected through wi-fi even though it is actually an ethernet cable into the 4th gen AE. Selecting ethernet gets me nothing. The mac pro also doesn't seem to be getting the correct IP addresses.
Is there an incompatibility between the 2nd and 4th gen models that I'm unaware of that won't let them do this?
Just to reiterate I'm trying to go:
Modem---> 2nd Gen Extreme---> Via WiFi to ---> 4th Gen Extreme ---> Mac Pro's Ethernet.
Can it be done?
Thanks

In order to enable the Ethernet ports on the 4G Extreme for the Mac Pro, both AirPorts need to be configured for an extended network. Please read through the steps provided in the link to see if you may have missed any steps.

Creating and Extended Network with 2 Airport Express Units

I had an extended network using 2 express units but one of them broke. The old network was setup with an older version of Airport Utility and I can't seem to repeat the set up a new network with the new express unit I have bought.
The simple setup procedure using Airport Utility 5.5.1 only appears to allow you to 'join' the remote Express unit to an existing network, there is no 'extend remotely' option.
I remember doing it last time by creating a WDS network which agrees with instructions I have found here - http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2009/03/taming-an-airport-express-wds.html
I set up the first Express as a base station with a network and select 'Participate in a WDS network' and 'Allow this network to be extended' under the wireless tab. Under the WDS tab I 'Allow wireless clients' and add the hardware address of the second express unit.
I then update the express unit but I get a WDS error which states, "This Airport wireless device is set up as part of a WDS network but no other AirPort wireless devices were found."
This seems to be a chicken and egg situation.
Any help would be appreciated.
Alan

Alan, welcome to the discussions!
It appears that you want to set up a WDS arrangment, correct?
But, I can't figure out whether you want to configure it with a "base" and two "remotes", or whether you want to configure it with a "base", "relay" and "remote"
Can you clarify? I'll send you a link with instructions from forum expert user Tesserax with step by step instructions. Just need to know what set of instructions to send.

"extended network" error with airport express

i have my time capsule set up in my living room as the primary, and since there are several concrete walls in my house, i need to extend the wifi connection in order to get signal from my room which is located at the very end of my house. I've had my airport express placed near the doorway of my room which should be getting a clear signal from time capsule in the living room.
everything works fine for few days, and the blinking amber light started going off on the airport express. and from the airport utility it shows 1 notification on my airport express. It said an error of "extended network", if i choose to ignore it, the indication light turns back to green, but then i wont be able to connect to the internet.
is there some kind of settings need to be adjusted? please help~~~
my settings on airport express:
Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode)
Connect using: DHCP
Configure IPv6: Link-Local Only

i've tried to plug the airport express literally right next to the time capsule, and it still showing the "extended network" error message. so it can't be the signal strength issue.
Help please....
additonal info:
my time capsule (primary) :
Connect Using - DHCP
Router Mode: DHCP and NAT
DHCP Range: 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.200
my airport express (extension) :
Connect Using - DHCP
IPv4 Address: 10.0.1.10
Router Address: 10.0.1.1
DNS Servers: 10.0.1.1
Router Mode: Off (Bridge Mode)

Extend network airport extreme

I need to extend my Airport Extreme network. I purchased another Airport Extreme but don't find instructions on how to use it to extend, only how to use it as a base station.

Apple's instructions to do this are right here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4259

Extending my network Airport Extreme - Airport Express

This morninig I took receipt of a new Airport Extreme.
I have setup a new wireless network and I am now trying to extend its range using my existing Airport express units.
I am using the new Airport utility to configure the setup.
After having selected the Aiport network to extend, I then give my base station a new name, click "continue" and get the following error message:
AirPort Utility is unable to set up this base station for WDS because this computer does not have an AirPort card installed.
Which is crazy since I have a new MacPro with a card installed!!
Any ideas?

Are you connecting the new base to your network
(or
computer) via an ethernet cable? If not, try
that.
This is how I ended up configuring my AE-N base,
and
it worked fine. I also configured my Airport
Express stations the same way. This way when the
units restart, they never lose connectivity.
Jeff
Hello Jeff,
I have a mac pro connected to the new base station
via an
ethernet cable. I then have another ethernet cable
which connects the new Airport Extreme base station
to mt DSL modem.
Is that what you mean?
Anthony, did you ever get an answer to this? I'm having similar problems and cannot seem to find someone who has solved them. Please let me know if you've figured out a solution.
thanks!
mIck

Extend Network via Extreme or Express?

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