Extending wireless LAN using third-party devices?

Question

I know that with multiple Airport Extreme base stations, it’s a simple matter to extend the range of an 802.11n network by using the “Extend a wireless network” or “Participate in a WDS network” wireless modes. It seems like of the two, “Extend a wireless network” might be the easier of the two to configure. Does anyone have recommendations / preferences between the two modes?
Separately, although I can afford Airport Extreme stations personally, I have friends with the same desire to extend their existing wireless network but who can’t afford Airport Extreme stations. Is there a lower-cost way to do this with Netgear, D-Link, or other third-party devices? Does this mean all of the devices must support WDS to work, or are there other solutions? Do you have recommendations for specific models that work well for extending networks (preferrably also models that support WPA/WPA2, and not just WEP).
Any help would be appreciated. I won’t go into the details of the distances involved or intervening walls. Let’s just say a hop or two should stretch the distance.

Answer 1

Bob Timmons wrote:
"Extend a wireless network runs at "n" wireless speeds with minimal bandwidth loss on the network
WDS runs at "g" wireless speeds, even if you are using newer "n" devices. The bandwidth on the entire wireless network is cut in half for each "remote" added to the network. So, with one "remote" in a WDS, you have a "g" wireless network running at 1/2 speed. If you have two "remotes" in a WDS, you have a "g" wireless network running at 1/4 speed.
Bob — thank you so much for the help.
Years ago in the days when Airport Extreme base stations supported 802.11b/g only, I remember setting up a WDS network between three Airport Extreme base stations. I seem to remember that the one in the middle was set up in a “relay” mode to bridge between the two remote base stations. In theory, using multiple relays, you could extend a network arbitrarily far as long as you could get power to all the devices and didn’t care about all sorts of bandwidth, latency, and signal strength hits.
Is it the case that with the 802.11n in current Airport Extreme stations you can't set up relays in a similar fashion using the "Extend a Network" wireless mode? I was looking at Apple’s “Designing Airport Networks Using Airport Utility” document, which doesn’t explicitly say, but seems to suggest that the central base station (operating in “Create a Wireless Network” mode) can be extended if the “allow this network to be extended” button is set, and then on a second base station you can use the “Extend a Wireless Network” mode to extend it. However, there’s nothing to suggest that you could extend off the second base station. Does anyone know if that’s possible?
I was looking at Netgear-brand wireless extenders this morning (http://www.netgear.com/home/products/wireless-range-extenders/wireless-range-ext enders/default.aspx) which sell for around $75 to $80 each online. They can extend any 802.11b/g/n network if the remote device supports the WPS (Wireless Protected System) standard, as most Netgear products appear to do (I believe Airport Extreme base stations don’t support WPS). They make it quite easy to connect Netgear wireless devices using “Push ’N’ Connect” buttons on the devices.
However, Netgear pre-sales specialist pointed out that the Netgear wireless extenders (the WN2000RPT is the current model) can similarly only extend out by one hop from the “center” and cannot operate as relay to get out further, as would be the case for WDS-based relays.
Is it the case that you need to find devices that support WDS (Wireless Distributed System) to allow for multiple relays to cover longer distances? I know that Airport Extreme base stations, both current models and the older b/g models, support WDS. Can anyone recommend third-party WDS-capable wireless modems or access points?
Any help would be appreciated.