Extend Network with Airport Extreme & Express

I am trying to extend the range of a wireless network from one house to another about 80 yards away. I have an Airport Extreme Base Station (ABES) and an Airport Express (AX) which is supposed to accomplish this. I found some instructions in the forums that walked me through configuring WDS. That was easy enough, however, when the AX restarts it doesn't come back up in the Airport Utility. It will come up if I do a hard reset on the AX. The ABES continues to show a WDS error and displays a flashing amber light.
What am I doing wrong? How do I fix this issue?

Karen,,, sorry for the interruption. I have the same issue..... AP Extreme Flying Saucer, AP Express "b", and a new AP Express "n" and would like to stop all the drop outs with my music. So, I'll ask Bob for some help.... I think I already know the answer.....
Bob,,,,, Here is my schematic layout.... Everything is "as the crow flies" and in the same height placement. iMac in bedroom, 1st Stereo in Living room approx 25 feet away, 2nd Stereo in a detach Shop approx 85 feet from the iMac. There is a concrete block wall between the computer and the first stereo and the same block wall along with two big glass windows between the computer and the shop stereo. Again all are in a straight line from the computer.
The new AP Express "n" is in the shop which is the greatest distance. If the wind is blowing hard I have lots of drop outs in both stereo's..... And during other nice weather times everything works excellent.
How can I extend the wireless signal??? I'll buy all "n" stuff if you think it'll do the trick....? I can't raise the Dr. Bott antenna due to cord length.... Oh,, my internet modem is plugged into the iMac not the AP Extreme...
Any suggestions....?

Similar Messages

Extending network with Airport Extreme and Airport Express

I am trying to extend my network from Aiport Extreme via Aiport Express. The problem is that I do not wan to use WDC (speed penalty). Is there a way to set it up otherwise?

Yes, but you will need to connect the AirPort Express device to the AirPort Extreme router via Ethernet cable.

Time Capsule connectivity drops on extended network with Airport Extreme

I have a new Airport Extreme router as the main router in my network and a Time Capsule set to extend the 2.4Ghz network. The routers must be configured in this order because I want the 5Ghz network from the Extreme to cover my main seating area.
The problem I have is that while I'm connected to the Extreme, on either the 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz network, the connection to the Time Capsule will 'drop'. The network drive within the Time Capsule will no longer be available and the AirPort Utility no longer shows the Time Capsule. If I reboot the Extreme, the Time Capsule will reappear.
Also, when the connection drops, if I were to move within the primary range of the Time Capsult and connect to the 2.4Ghz network, it will connect flawlessly and I would have access to the Time Capsule and it's resources. It is only access through to the Time Capsule through the Extreme that is no longer available.
Any ideas what could be causing this? Both routers work flawlessly otherwise. I'm fairly certain there isn't a hardware problem here. I've gone through all the configuration settings multiple times and can't find anything that could affect this. I have the latest firmware for both routers and the latest AirPort utility.
One thing to note is that the Time Capsule is a North American unit, while the Extreme is from Hong Kong. I know there are slight differences regarding the wireless channels that both can use, but I don't think this is an issue since the Time Capsule maintains proper internet connectivity the whole time. If it was a channel issue, I'd expect the Time Capsule to lose internet access when this issue arrises.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

7.4.2 firmware does NOT resolve this problem.
I also have this problem -- it started about 2 weeks ago (around July 20?), possibly at the time the new Airport Extreme firmware went into effect. I have two separate Mac laptops that each use Time Machine to back up to different disks that are attached to the Airport Extreme (i.e., each laptop has its own backup-destination disk). Both were working flawlessly before (for more than 6 months); now, each one reliably drops the connection to the disk (produces an error message, and thereafter cannot re-connect to the destination disk until I cycle the Airport Extreme with power-off/on). I had hoped that 10.5.8 would help (the release notes talked about improved stability with Airport connections), but not so.

What are the downsides to extending an Airport Express's network with Airport Extreme?

Or are there downsides at all, assuming latest generation Airports? I think it happens more often than not that the position of the modem from your ISP in the dwelling is not the ideal location for a router, and it is sometimes inconvenient/impossible to wire an ethernet connection to the optimal location. I have an Airport Extreme and an Airport Express, and was thinking of hooking up the Express to the modem and having the Extreme extend that network, placed at the optimal router location. My concern with that setup is whether the Extreme will use all of its antennas, since the Express has fewer (6 vs 2 if I'm correct).

Or are there downsides at all, assuming latest generation Airports?
There are none. You might be confusing such a "wirelessly extended" network with a WDS, which was a horrible compromise with significant disadvantages.
The optimal location for the second AirPort might not be obvious. Keep in mind that it can only "wirelessly extend" the signal it is capable of receiving. Place it in a location where the wireless signal created by the main router remains strong, while still being able to create a network that covers your required wireless service area.
Don't worry about the number of antennas or how they are used. They're all used.

Can't extend network with Airport Express on Sky Broadband

Hello,
I'm having some difficulty that's driving me bananas!
I've recently moved house and got Sky Broadband. They sent me their Sagemcom router and the setup was easy. I thought I'd do what I always do. I'll connect my Time Machine to it via ethernet, and connect via Time Machine's network. Then I have two Airport Expresses in the house to extend the network and use Airplay etc.
I can set up the Expresses with no problem, everything talks to everything without a problem and the lights are all green but the network isn't getting extended with either of them. I refuse to believe they're both broken as I also borrowed an Express form my Dad's house (which extend the network without a problem) and it doesn't work with me.
Extend my network is checked in the Manual Setup in Airport Utility but for the life of me I can't get my network extended.
I have done tests where I replaced Time Machine and made one of the Expresses the main base station and it throws signal out easily like that but I can't extend that network with the second Express.
I followed this thread https://discussions.apple.com/message/13171691?messageID=13171691 and have tried a few things to no avail. Currently I have configured an old Airport Extreme (just to keep testing) which works great and have set up an Express wirelessly. All lights are green and the settings seem to all be correct. I turn wifi off on my computer and connect to my computer from the Express using ethernet and nothing. Should I get a connection like this?
Is it Sky? I have read in a few places that Sky have disabled the ability to extend their network but I'm not eve using the signal from their box.
Any ideas or thoughts will be gratefully received.
Thanks in advance.

OK so I've been tying it out but unfortunately to no success. Everything looks fine and all lights are green but the network isn't getting extended - just as before.
Click the Wireless tab
Wireless Mode = Extend a wireless network
Wireless Network Name = Same name as the Time Capsule network
Check Mark next to Allow Wireless Clients
I don't have an option to extend a network, only to join: http://flic.kr/p/a222kR
I do get the option though if I use the guided setup, even though it doesn't work: http://flic.kr/p/a24TQQ
I did try one other thing though. I set up the Time Capsule and it works great. Then I tried instead, to use my Airport Extreme to extend the network. The Extreme did give me an option to extend the network in the drop down menu and a checkbox to Allow Wireless Clients, unlike the Express. I do believe that this is now working. I now need to find the best place to put it to extend the range.
My Expresses are only 802.11g so they're pretty old but as I said, it worked at my Dad's house but not here. Does it make a difference that the Airport Base Station at my Dad's house is an older UFO shaped Snow Airport? I'm becoming suspicious that seeing as I've only ever lived in small houses and apartments that maybe they never worked?? I've recently moved into a more spacious house so could this be the problem?
One final test using iStumbler showed that it could see Apple Network XXXXxX until I configured it. Once it was configured it disappeared from iStumbler. The Airport ID number had gone from the list.
Do I need newer n compatible Airport Expresses then? So many questions pop up now... When I turned my Express into the base station (which only throws out a g network) then surely I should be able to extend to the next Express (which is also g only)? It still didn't work. The Express are on version 6.3 by the way. Having the Extreme extend the network is a good start but I also need the others to work too. Do you think I'm correct in my assumption?
How about WDS, could that work? Will WDS slow the network considerably?
Sorry if this message is rather long and garbled and again, thanks for your interest and advice.

Extending N600 wireless network with Airport Extreme, wirelessly

For the past year or so I have run a Netgear N600 wireless modem router, and have extended the network with a first generation A1143 Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS). Prior to this I have run the same extended network with an older Netgear router - successfully for 5 years.
After a recent lightning strike, the N600 router needed resetting. Everything was back to normal, however I was unable to reconnect the old AEBS to the network as before. I did this so that I could wirelessly back up the laptops to a connected HDD by Time Machine
Figuring that maybe this was the end of life for the old AEBS, I went out today and bought a new 5th generation AEBS, expecting that I could reconnect everything as I have been running with this router, and the old Netgear router before that without a problem.
Now though, with the new AEBS, I still cannot extend the network. Ive tried everything including connecting it via ethernet to the Netgear Router.
I can only surmise that there is something different in the N600 settings that have changed, than now do not allow me to connect.
Ive even reinstalled Mountain Lion, and also Airport Utility, and trashed preferences...to no avail. Can someone please help? Have I just wasted $200 on a new AEBS?
Im running a Retina MBP and a MBAir

Who wants to use WEP these days... I need apple to update the airport so we can use WPA together with wireless hardware from 3d parties like dd-wrt.
I have 2 airport expresses doing nothing atm because of the lack of SAFE encryption with WDS.

Is it possible to set up a network with airport extreme that is not on the internet

Is it possible to set up a home network using airport extreme that will be a non-internet option? Not connected to the internet wifi.

Is it possible to set up a home network using airport extreme that will be a non-internet option?
Yes
Not connected to the internet wifi.
If the AirPort Exteme is not connected to the Internet, then Internet connections will not be available on wireless or wired connections.

Extend wireless network with Airport Extreme n and Airport Express g

I have a 4th generation Airport Exteme (n) and an older Airport Express (g) and would like to use the Airport Express to extend my network to the other end of my house, where the signal is very weak. When I tried to set it up tonight, my Airport Extreme disappeared all together and I had to do a hard reset to get it back. I am using a macbook pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running OS X 10.7.2. Are there any current insturctions to do this?

Here's a Youtube video of how to do it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3EdbRfX1_w
I had the same set up you do. I did not have success with the Express g. And in my case I had much better success when I sold the Express g on ebay, bought an Express N from the refurb store, so it only cost around $20 get something that is much more reliable.
I quickly tried to find an Apple Support tech note for you but didn't, post back if you need more.

Extend existing network with Airport extreme and 3 airport express.

I want to extend an existing network (thomson TG787v) with an airport extreme (MD031Z/A) with 3 or 4 airport express(MC14Z/A)
The thomson is the router from the provider and must be used. The building is an old mansion with a lot of brick walls
I tried to connect the extreme with an ethernet cable (in bridge mode) and then connect the airport express in a line to have wifi in all rooms of the mansion.
But somehow the airport extremes cannot extend the network.
Can anyone tell me how to setup the apple devices to make this work?
Thanks
Bernhard

I tried to connect the extreme with an ethernet cable (in bridge mode)
This is the correct.
and then connect the airport express in a line to have wifi in all rooms of the mansion.
Apple's "extend a wireless network" feature will only allow you to "extend" the signal one time. So, the first Express would connect to the AirPort Extreme wirelessly and extend the signal.
But, you cannot "extend" the signal a second or third time. Each AirPort Express must be located so that it connects directly to the AirPort Extreme. In other words, each AirPort Express must be located about the same distance from the AirPort Extreme.
Another way of thinking about his is to visualize the hub and spokes of a wheel. The AirPort Extreme would be located at the "hub". Each AirPort Express would be located at then end of a "spoke". As such, each AirPort Express communicates directly to the AirPort Extreme.....not to another AirPort Express at the end of another hub.
You may need to consider installing Ethernet cable to each location where you will need an AirPort Express and configure the network that way. Performance wise, this is a much better way to "extend" the network.

Extending network with Airport Express and Airport Extreme (latest models) causes chaos on network

Today I upgraded from my several year old Airport Extreme (3rd gen) and 2nd gen Airport Express to a new (what you'd buy on the shelf today) Airport Extreme and Airport Express. All airports are updated with the latest firmware and I'm using windows 7 for configuration.
The intention is to use the Airport Extreme as the main router, also serving wifi. And extend the network using the express. As such, the following has been done:
The Airport Extreme is configured for automatic channel, and automatic radio mode. I tried to select 802.11n 5 ghz and 802.11 n 2.4 ghz only, but it won't take the changes. Additionally, it wont' accept me using only channel 6. Not sure why, but I digress. The airport extreme is not set to broadcast a separate name for the 5ghz network.
The Airport Express is configured to use bridge mode, use an existing wireless network and is connected to my network on it's WAN port (the circle icon on the back) with ethernet. The password and wireless name used in configuration is the same as created initially on the Airport Extreme.
Initially I did the configuration of both airports on my computer, connected by ethernet to ensure stable connectivity while I inputted settings. During this, they appeared to accept the changes fine. However, when I moved the airport express to it's destination (other side of my house), the entire network went crazy.
Internet became slow, and often wouldn't load pages. This was on wired and wireless connections. When I attempted to administer the Airport in the Utility, they would not load, an error would occur. Also, at one point the Airport Extreme had renamed it self with a (2) at the end. Which was super odd. So far, the only solution has been to unplug the Airport Express and attempt to devise a solution.
Anyone have any ideas? Of course, I will continue to tinker with this, but it seems realllly strange. The previous setup was also extended (granted, using wireless only, not ethernet > wireless) and worked fine, granted it was a smidge slow, but it worked.

I wanted to add this.. I followed the guide here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260 to extend using ethernet, and the above is the result.
I just tried re configuring in OS X Mavericks and got the same, odd, result.

Extending Network with Airport Expresses?

I'm drawing in wifi signal from the shipyard and want to broadcast(extend) it throughout the lower sections of a boat.
Currently I have 1 airport express drawing in the signal with ethernet connecting to the computer. However I want to extend the current network. Can I do this by buying another Airport Express and connecting through ethernet cable to the one I currently have. Would this work? What options would I need to select with the new AE(extend network, create network, etc)? Would this work with an airport extremeas well.
Any help much appreciated.
Ash

Tessarax,
Are you saying I would need three AXn to create the extended network? or would it just work with 2?
ie
AXn(Recieving)-----Ethernetcable-----AXn extending network
Will this not work?
Sorry just want to know how much I'm in for and if it will work before i go out and spend it.
Thanks for the reply
Ash

AT&T 2wire network with Airport Extreme and Airport Express

Howdy,
I have AT&T DSL with a 2wire 2701hg-b plugged in one room but would like to extend my network to connect my Direct TV in my living room. Can I somehow connect my Airport Extreme (recently purchased) to the 2wire and use my Airport Express to wirelessly connect the Direct TV in the room? An additional concern is that my wifi keeps dropping on my Macbook Pro but not on my HP laptop. Any guidance/assistance is greatly appreciated.
Francisco

Well that's great news. . . I figured it probably just wasn't compatible. Just for the heck of it though, does this tell you anything? (I thought I could post a screenshot but I guess not. Here's the text)
+Public Routed Subinterface+
+(check box) Enable+
+Check ENABLE to create a route from the Internet to the public network specified below.++
+Router Address:+
+Subnet Mask: +
+(check box) Auto Firewall Open+
+(check box) Default DHCP Pool+
That was a portion of the 2Wire Routers settings page. What do they mean by Public Routed Subinterface?
Tyler

Extend 5 GHZ network with airport extreme 5th generation

I'm having issues extending a 5 ghz network with an airport extreme 5th generation. Here is what I have -
1 brand new airport extreme (2013) in the basement connected to the cable modem. It nearly doubled the speed I was getting over the 5th gen.
I moved the 5th generation airport extreme up to the office on the first floor. Due to the construction of the house and a mess that previous owners made with the wiring, it's cheaper for me to have multiple devices extend the network to various parts of the house than it is to tear open the walls and try to fix the coax issue. I have a 4th gen and a 2nd gen, as well as a few airport express models. So, the 4th gen extends the 5 ghz network without a problem. I use the 2nd gen to provide 802.11g (2.4 ghz) to some older devices that can't handle 802.11n. Both work fine. When I moved the 5th gen upstairs to extend the 5ghz network in the office it won't do it.
I did a factory reset on it, Set it up with a new device name, and set it to extend the 2.4 ghz network, and it works without a problem. If I change it to extend the 5 ghz network, it restarts and then flashes amber. The airport utility can no longer see it and I have to do a factory rest in order to get it working again. I downgraded the firmware, but that made no difference.
Any idea why the 4th gen works for this, but the 5th gen fails ?

At times, a Hard Reset will not completely clear all of the old settings when you reset the device, and as a result, you do not start from a true factory default.
If you have not already done so, try a Factory Default Reset this way.....
Power off the AirPort Extreme
Wait a few minutes
Hold in the reset button first, and keep holding it for 9-10 seconds while you simultaneously plug the power back into the AirPort Extreme
Release the reset button after the hold period, and allow a full minute for the AirPort to restart
Not sure what else to suggest, other than taking the device to an Apple Store.....if you have one near you....to let them take a look.

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.

Problems extending network with Airport Express

After messing with the settings on my new Airport Express((802.11n), I finally managed to set up a WDS network that sort of works. I've been struggling for a day and a half trying to use it to extend my regular network set up on my Airport Extreme(802.11g). I used multiple configurations, different securities, channels, etc, and got nothing but flashing amber. Somehow I've got it working with AirTunes, but no internet. Here is the current WDS setup:
*AEBS(g)-WDS MAIN*
Connected to Comcast broadband
v 5.7
WPA/WPA2 security
Channel 6
Set as WDS-Main
Internet: Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
Remote is set to the ID for the AX
Sharing: Share a public IP address
*AX(n)-WDS REMOTE*
v 7.3.2
WPA/WPA2 security
Channel 6
Set as WDS Remote
Internet: Configure IPv4: Using DHCP
Sharing off (Bridge mode)
The AX works as a music streamer only. In order to access the internet I have to switch to the main network (AEBSg). For some reason the AE is not sharing internet connection with the AX. Could it be my internet settings on the AE? Or maybe it's not possible to extend a "g" network with an "n" AX? Any suggestions would be great...

Price difference between an express vs an extreme makes moving to an extreme very attractive. using extremes and the extend a network feature automates a lot of settings. I tried the express route and was never happy with the results.

Extend Network with Airport Extreme & Express

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