Extending Wireless Network with older and newer airports

Hello all,
I have 1 brand new Airport Extreme, 1 somewhat new Airport Express (802.11n) and 3 older Airport Expresses and I'm at a loss at how to use them all together to get wireless coverage in our apartment.
For some reason I just can't seem to get the older expresses to extend any network. I started with the Extreme as the base station and set the radio mode to 801.11g and used the Airport Utility to set up an Express to extend the network but it didn't seem to actually extend the signal but rather it just joined the network. I was hoping to use the Extreme and the 3 older Expresses to set up an 802.11g network, but now I'm not sure how that will work.
It's strange because when I first purchased the 802.11g Expresses several years ago it was easy to set up and extend the wireless network, not sure what is different now.
Any thoughts would be helpful.
Thanks!

There are basically two methods to extend the AirPorts' wireless network by wireless: 1) The 802.11g "static" WDS, or 2) 802.11n Extended Network or "dynamic" WDS.
The second option is only available when ALL base stations are 802.11n models. The first option is available when either ALL base stations are 802.11g models or you use a mix of 802.11g & 802.11n models.
Since you have a mix, you should be aware of two significant drawbacks of the earlier static WDS: 1) The overall network can only operate in the 802.11g radio mode. That effectively nullifies have any 802.11n devices, and 2) For each base station added to the WDS, the overall bandwidth (speed) is cut in half ... so with a total of five base stations, you would get around: 54 / (2 x 2 x 2 x 2) = 3.375 Mbps! I hope you don't plan on doing any video streaming, especially not HD video.
If you still want to push ahead, please check out the following Apple Support article how to do so.

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Extending wireless network with an aiport express

I have a netgear wireless router set up in my house on the second floor, but my room being located on the first floor i get a poor signal so i bought an airport express to extend my network. i tried going through the aiport exress setup assistant but that wouldnt work, so i ended up hooking it to my netgear router on the second floor to set it up in airport admin utility and then brought it back down to the first floor. my itunes worked with the speakers for about.. ten seconds then stopped. and my signal is just as weak as before.. any suggestions?

Unfortunately, it is simply not possible to use an Airport Express to wirelessly "extend" the wireless range of any model of Netgear wireless router. Netgear's wireless routers do not support Apple's implementation of a wireless distribution system (WDS), which is a necessary requirement for setting up an extended wireless network with the Airport Express. And no - it doesn't work the other way around either (Airport Express as base station, Netgear wireless router to "extend").
It sounds like you did successfully configure your Airport Express to "join" your existing wireless network - which will allow you to print and stream iTunes to the Airport Express. The problems you are having with Airtunes "hanging" on your Mac are almost certainly due to the poor wireless signal quality problem that you are already aware of.

Extend wireless network with AirPort Express

How to extend the wireless network with AirPort Express and Belkin PlayMax as the primary router ?

How it work if I have an AirPor Station and 4 Airport Express, I actually also have an old TimeCapsule and an old AirPort Express. Can I cover all my house (around 300 m2). And will the old Airport slow down or convict with the new ones?

Extending Wireless Network with Airport Express / DLink Wireless

I have a DLink wireless router WBR-1310. I own two Airport Express 802.11n's. Can anyone help me out with how I can properly set-up an extended network with these products? All help is greatly appreciated.

You would need one AirPort Express located near the D-Link router and connected to the D-Link with an ethernet cable. This Express would be configured to "create a wireless network" and "allow this network to be extended"
If you have two areas that need more wireless coverage, you would locate an AirPort Express approximately 1/2 the distance between the "main" AirPort Express and the area that needs more wireless coverage.
Then do the same with the second area that needs more coverage.
Without knowing your room layout, I can't honestly tell you whether you need only one "extending" Express or more than that.
It will help to remember that the "extend" setup works like the hub and spokes of a wheel. Your "main" Express connected to the D-Link would be the "hub". Each of the "extending" Express devices would be at the end of a spoke. The Express devices at the ends of the spokes communicate directly to the hub, not to another Express at the end of another spoke.
So, to work well, hopefully your D-Link router and Express will be located in a central area of your home so the extending devices will work around the perimeter.
I would recommend that you study Apple's support document on extending wireless networks before you make a final decision on what to do.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4145
Finally, consider if you can connect the two Express devices you have now back to the D-Link using ethernet cables. This would provide much better performance than a wireless only situation.

Troubling extending wireless network with Time Capsule and Airport Extreme

I am trying to set up and extend a wireless network in my house, but it’s not working right. I have two Airport/Capsule units in the house:
2TB Time Capsule (Dual-Band II)
1 Airport Extreme (Dual Band)
I have the Verizon Fios router as my gateway to the internet, and also as my DHCP server. I have also tested the ethernet ports in my house to verify that they work, and that I can get a DHCP-issued IP address.
Now, my Verizon router has WiFI, and it’s still on. I am not using it though except to troubleshoot. So far as I understand, this should not cause a problem.
Base station setup
So I setup the TC to Create A New Wireless Network, on the ethernet network it’s on (Dlink switch plugged into Verizon router). I set it up in Bridge Mode (as opposed to having it dole out IPs, since the Verizon router does this already). The TC gets a valid IP, and my wireless device connect to it without a problem. I have checked “Allow this network to be expanded” under Wireless settings.
Extended station setup
The AE Dual-Band is plugged into the Ethernet, and is reset to Factory Settings. I name it “Airport Extreme 2” and I chose “I want Airport Extreme to join my current network.” The other two options are: “I want to create a new wireless network” and “I want to replace and existing base station or wireless router with Airport Extreme.”
I chose to “join,” I select “I want to connect Airport Extreme to my network using Ethernet to extend my existing wireless network.” The other options are to disable wireless entirely, or to “wirelessly join my current network.” On the next page it asks me to select the device or network that the Airport Extreme will connect to using the Ethernet. I set it to the Time Capsule.
Results:
Access near the Airport Extreme 2 is incredibly slow. Speedtest shows I am getting less than 1Mbps. Worse yet, my mail client won’t connect. It just times out.
What I had hoped was that the AE would connect via Ethernet to the network, and just bring the wireless network to the other side of the house. Instead it almost seems as though it is just re-amplifying the TC’s signal. Otherwise, why is performance so bad?
Thanks to anyone with some insight here!

Hello Kennuff. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!
Since you have the ability to connect all of the routers by Ethernet, there is no need to configure the Time Capsule (TC) & 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) for a dynamic WDS (aka, extending a network). This option is only when the routers do NOT have an Ethernet connection between them.
Instead, you want to configure the TC & AEBSn in a "roaming" network. I suggest starting by performing either a "hard" or "factory default" reset on both.
Next be sure that both the TC & AEBSn are on the same Ethernet subnet coming from the Verizon-supplied router.
Configure the TC & AEBSn as follows:
AirPort Utility > Select the TC or AEBSn > Manual Setup > AirPort > Wireless
o Wireless Mode = Create a wireless network
o Allow this network to be extended: <not checked>
o Radio Mode: <leave the default or if you require a specific mode make sure both routers are configured the same>
o Wireless Security: <configure both routers the same>
AirPort Utility > Select the TC or AEBSn > Manual Setup > Internet > Internet Connection
o Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode)

Extend wireless network with multiple airport express and netgear powerline

I currently have the following network configuration:
1. Using ATT u-verse (2-wire 3800HGV-B "modem") to internet
2. Disabled the u-verse modem wireless router, and have connected an Apple Time Capsule wireless router (on a DMZ)
3. Have four Netgear XAVB5001 powerline adapters connected to the time capsule (for our iMac desktops and the Apple TV)
4. Have an Airport Express wirelessly connected to the time capsule to extend range (for our iPhones and iPad)
All this is currently working. What I would like to do is the following, keeping 1-3 above the same:
4. Connect the airport express to the time capsule via Netgear XAVB5101 powerline adapter (instead of wirelessly connecting to the time capsule as it is today) and use it to extend the wireless range of the time capsule
5. Add ANOTHER airport express to the time capsule via powerline adapter (and extend the wireless range elsewhere in the house).
Does anyone have any experience with this kind of setup and can assure that it would work? (I'm trying to decide whether to spring for a couple more powerline adapters and another airport express)
Thanks in advance!
Dave

I had a VERY similar problem: I was trying to extend my wireless network using a hardwired ethernet connection from Airport Extreme to my Time Capsule. Every time I plugged in the wire to the TC, everything disappeared. Unplugged, and boom. Came back.
Here's how I solved it:
Go into Airport Utility and select the unit you are trying to use as a wireless extender and choose to edit it. Then, on the wireless tab select CREATE a wireless network. But, give it the exact same name and password. This is completely counter-intuitive. You would think to choose EXTEND, but this would be wrong. Next choose the network tab. And, select Router mode to Bridge (off).
By choosing the same name and password, your phone, laptop, etc. will think it's on the same network and move seamlessly from one to the other.
See if this fixes your issue. Fixed mine instantly. AND, it only took 3 painstaking hours of checking ethernet connections and rewiring jacks, etc. to figure it out. LOL

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.

Will signal strength or internet speed suffer when using a Generation 1 Time Capsule and wireless extending a network with a Generation 5 Airport Extreme

I have a wireless network in my home and I have a Time Capsule 1st generation and a Airport Extreme 5th Generation, will this cause my internet to be slow or have glitches with signal strength?

We've gone over this in the other thread.
If the Time Capsule will be connecting using wireless only, everything depends on the quality of the connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.
The quality of the connection will be affected by the distance that the Time Capsule is located from the AirPort Extreme and any obstructions in the signal path.
If you have a ceiling between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, then you should expect the signal arriving at the Time Capsule to have lost 30-40% of its bandwidth (speed). So, the Time Capsule can only repeat the weaker signal that it receives.
Other walls or other obstructions like heavy furniture, large mirrors, etc will also affect the wireless signal as well as cordless phones and other wireless networks around you.
If you are lucky enough to have line-of-sight between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, then the wireless connection between those devices can work quite well. Few of us have this luxury, and must settle for significant compromises in performance.
If the wireless connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule does the job for you reliably, then you can leave things as is. If you are not getting the reliable performance that you need, then you will need to establish a wired Ethernet connection between the AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule.
As you might imagine, there is virtually no signal loss in a wire, even up to 300+ feet or 100 meters.

Extend Wireless network with Airport Express via Cat6 cable to Cisco E4200 router.

Hello there! Totally new to this, but I've been doing a lot of research, and have been getting conflicting answers, so maybe someone can help me out. I've been reading that you cannot wirelessly extend your network unless you have a time capsule or an airport extreme. However on some forms, if you have the airport express hard wired to the router(in my case a Cisco E4200), you should be able to extend your network. Is this accurate? If so, can someone please post steps on how to do this? Thanks!

How it work if I have an AirPor Station and 4 Airport Express, I actually also have an old TimeCapsule and an old AirPort Express. Can I cover all my house (around 300 m2). And will the old Airport slow down or convict with the new ones?

Extending home wireless network with 802.11b/g Airport Expresses

Home Setup: iMac with iSight G5 2.1GHz PPC, OS X Leopard 10.5.8, 2.5GB memory, 2 Airport expresses-802.11b/g.
Up to just recently, I was able to use my AE's to create a whole house wireless network: one as my main network connected to my cable modem, and the other as a wireless network extender. My extender got pulled out one day accidentally, and when I went to plug it in it wouldn't reconnect to my network...and so the problems began. Airport Utility used to give the option of "Extending the Wireless Network", but no more.
I've done a lot of searching through the forums regarding this issue, read through the sage advice by superusers Tesserax and Bob Timmons, and attempted to set up my main AE as my "WDS Main" AE and the other as my "WDS Remote". The WDS main connects fine to the internet, but the WDS remote continues to show a flashing amber light and inability to extend my wireless network. I've done soft and hard resets to the remote AE (which transiently gives me a green light, then back to flashing amber), network diagnostics using the Airport utility, but still no luck. The AE wireless extender continues to flash amber and is nonfunctional.
AE Wireless extender settings reported:
-WIreless Mode: Create a wireless network
-Connect using: Ethernet
AE Errors reported:
-Ethernet Unplugged
-Default Settings
I setup the AE Wireless extender as a WDS Remote, it resets and shows "Normal" without problems reported in the summary window of Airport Utility. Connection indicated as "Airport (WDS)" and Wireless Mode reads "participate in a WDS network", but the AE is still flashing amber and will not connect to the internet or Main WDS wireless network.
Went to the Genius Bar at the local mac store...they couldn't help at all.
I'm out of answers...help?!
Allan

There are basically two "flavors" of WDS that the AirPorts support: static & dynamic.
o A static WDS allows for a main, relay, and remote base stations in the configuration. This only operates in the 802.11g radio mode. Its advantage is it is well suited when you are trying to cover a considerable linear range ... like a rectangular house where the Internet connection comes in at one of the shorter sides and you want wireless at the other end. The biggest disadvantage of this type of WDS is that for every base station added, you lose half the overall bandwidth.
o A dynamic WDS allows for only a single main and multiple remotes. Think of a wheel with the main at the center and the remotes as spokes of the wheel. The advantage of this type of WDS is it operates in the 802.11n radio mode and doesn't suffer a significant bandwidth loss like the static version.
As a minimum, a dynamic WDS requires two 802.11n AirPorts (or Time Capsules). You can create a static WDS with either all 802.11g AirPorts or a mix of 802.11n & 802.11g AirPorts. Note; however, you cannot create a dynamic WDS with mixed mode base stations.

Extend Wireless Network with Two Airports Via Ethernet?

I would like to know if you can extend a wireless network using an ethernet cable between two Airport devices.
There are a couple of reasons why Id like to do this:
Im thinking that because the additional basestation (Airport Extreme) is hardwired to the main Airport (Time Capsule, plugged directly into my cable modem), it doesnt rely on a Wi-Fi signal source, so the network speed wouldnt be degraded as it does when you normally extend a Wi-Fi network over the air. And possibly the range would be a little better? Id still be using Airport network for my iDevices.
Id like to use the Extreme as a router to hook up other devices such as a TiVo, TiVo Stream and Xbox 360. I'd prefer these devices be hardwired to the network (and actually the TiVo Stream requires that it be).
How would you set this up while keeping everything on the same network? Is this even possible?
Currently my setup looks like this: Cable Modem<ethernet>Time Capsule<ethernet>Airport Extreme:<ethernet>TiVo,<ethernet>TiVo Stream,<ethernet>Xbox 360

In addition to John Galt's suggestion, there is another very simple and quick way to verify that your AirPort Extreme is "extending" correctly.
Locate your Mac laptop near the main router first....in your case, it would be the Time Capsule and log on to the wireless.
Hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the AirPort icon
Look for the BSSID and jot down the last few numbers. That is the AirPort ID of the Time Capsule.
Now move your laptop close to the AirPort Extreme and perform the same test. If you see the same BSSID as you did before.....the AirPort Extreme is not extending, since your laptop is still picking up the wireless signal from the Time Capsule.
If you see a different BSSID, that will confirm that the laptop is picking up a wireless signal from the extending AirPort Extreme.
Try to minimize obstructions between wireless devices and the access points to which they are connecting.

Extend wireless network with Time Capsule

I have a dual band Time Capsule in a two story house. The TC is upstairs, and I have an Airport Express downstairs to extend the wireless network. However, the speed is very slow downstairs. I have recently wired the downstairs with ethernet cable, and would like to use a wired wireless repeater (bridge) to get a better signal downstairs. What hardware should I use?

I have a similar but slightly different issue/question. I didn't know whether to start a new post but I will try here first. I'm not able to set up a 5GHz roaming network.
I am a self employed songwriter and need 5GHz speed for numerous devices that stream video and music (computers, DirecTv, Tivos, AppleTVs etc.). All these have both wireless cards and Ethernet cables connected for backup. I need the 2GHz radio only for iPhones or guests. I have ATT DSL with 5 static IP addresses. The first is assigned to TCdual and "shared". My older "L" shaped home is tuff on wireless signals (plaster walls etc). Since I've had a lot of trouble with WDS and wireless connections, years ago, I ran Ethernet to every network device as backup, including an Ethernet connected Airport Express, with wireless turned off, I dedicated exclusively to Remote Tunes. It's been working the past few months (knock on wood). But I need to extend TCdual's 5GHz network with roaming. Here's what I've tried without success.
I placed a 2nd Airport with 5GHz (the model before TC dual) in the room TC's 5GHz will not reach and connected it to TC via ethernet. Using Airport Utility, I tried to "extend" TC's 5GHz network. No luck. AU will only extend TC's default network, which is 2GHz. Very frustrating. So... the only way to get 5GHz in this room is to create a 2nd 5GHz network on Airport #2. Even using the same network name does not create roaming. Whenever I move MBP from this room, I lose Airport#2's 5GHz network and every WAN/LAN connection. I have to reconnect to TC's 5GHz network, every other WAN/LAN device, resume downloads, iChats etc. and start again. VERY frustrating. I think I must be missing something. Am I really forced to choose between speed or roaming. Can't I set up a 5GHz roaming network and have both?

Extend wireless network - have FIOS and AP Express

Hi all,
I've found bits and pieces of answers in various posts, but I'm not 100% sure I understand if it will work for me, so I figured I would explain my setup in detail and see what the best options are as far as hookups, equipment, etc.
I have FIOS with the Actiontec router. The Actiontec is in a media closet under a staircase (not ideal for signal strength I know) in the family room on the 1st floor of my house. I only use the Actiontec for DHCP. I have an AirPort Extreme (b/g/n) bridged to the Actiontec that creates my wireless network.
I use Airtunes on the Extreme to stream music (iTunes and other web content like Last.fm) to my home theater, which is also in the media closet. I would like to keep that functionality.
I would like to extend the coverage of my wireless network as the signal isn't so great on the second floor. My preference would be to not run ethernet if I can avoid it, but it is certainly an option. (NOTE: The FIOS line comes into a control panel in a bedroom in the 2nd floor of my house, and there's a phone matrix panel in there as well. Not sure if I could convert some of the phone lines to ethernet and put the router up there, but that is not something I would be proficient at.)
My questions:
Can I use another Express to extend my existing Express? (I don't think so...)
I might be able to get an AirPort Extreme on the cheap - I assume I could put this in the media closet with the Actiontec and use that as my primary wireless and then take my existing Express and put that upstairs and use it to extend the Extreme? But I would lose the ability to stream music with AirTunes, which is a deal breaker. Would I need another Express in the media closet just for AirTunes?
Does the AppleTV provide AirTunes and would that be an option for the streaming music portion?
Any suggestions appreciated!

Tesserax, thanks for the quick reply.
I assume that you meant to say "Express" and not Extreme here ... correct?
Correct, I meant AXn.
Some homes that are pre-wired with Ethernet, use the CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable for both computer data and phone service. Those that do, will not be able to support Gigabit Ethernet as all four pairs of wires in the Ethernet cable are used.
I'll need to check what I actually have. The whole house was pre-wired for phone obviously, but in one room there is also an ethernet port, and there's an ethernet port in the control panel. So I don't know if that one is different or not. But it sounds like I'd be limited in either case. I don't know a whole lot about phone wiring.
The other option is to consider Powerline adapter. These take advantage of your home's electrical circuit to create a pseudo Ethernet one. In this case you would place an adapter at each router location, and then, connect the routers to the adapters by an Ethernet cable.
So in my scenario where my Actiontec router is in a closet, I would connect that to a Powerline and then in another room upstairs I would have a second Powerline and would connect that to an AXn or AE? And then on this upstairs AXx or AE router extend (or duplicate) my existing wireless network? Did get that right? And the performance/speed is pretty good?
Actually yes. You can use another AXn to extend the wireless range of the first one. However, distance & building materials (walls, ceilings, etc.) may prevent this from working properly ... especially if your goal also includes HD video streaming.
Is this done by setting up a WDS?
Any wireless router can pass the iTunes stream. Only the AX or Apple TV can use it to actually provide the stream to speakers or audio receiver for playback. That is because the Extreme does not have any type of audio circuity.
I need the stream to my audio receiver, so I would need the AX or ATV in he media closet.
The current Apple TV does support AirTunes and can be a destination for iTunes streaming. The new Apple TV introduces a "upgraded" version of AirTunes, called AirPlay which allows for video streaming as well.
So even if I used the ATV for AirTunes/Airplay, I'd still need a wireless router in the media closet downstairs and another AXn upstairs to extend the network, which is probably more equipment than I need.
So my options seem to be:
1. buy another AXn and put that upstairs and extend the existing AXn network. But suffer diminished performance.
or
2. buy a Powerline adapter to extend ethernet upstairs and buy another AXn for upstairs to extend the network. Better performance.
I guess I will take a look at Powerline adapters and see what they run.
Question: Is the range on the Extreme better than the Express?

Extending wireless network with Express

Hi all
We recently renovated and got the house wired with ethernet to almost every room. Currently the signal comes through a Motorola router/modem and connects to the ethernet network.
I am broadcasting a wireless signal via the Airport Extreme, and everything works great except that the range does not cover one end of the house. I have an Airport Express that I'd like to set up in order to extend the range of the signal. My understanding is that simply doing this wirelessly (where the express picks up the existing signal and rebroadcasts) isn't all that effective. I'd like to connect the Express to the ethernet network and broadcast the same wireless network as the Extreme.
Will that work?
So basically both the Extreme and the Express will be connected directly to the Motorola modem. Can they both broadcast the "same" network? or does the Extreme have to be connected directly to a port on the Express for this to work?

My understanding is that simply doing this wirelessly (where the express picks up the existing signal and rebroadcasts) isn't all that effective
Correct.
I'd like to connect the Express to the ethernet network and broadcast the same wireless network as the Extreme.
Good plan.
So basically both the Extreme and the Express will be connected directly to the Motorola modem
A true "modem" has only one Ethernet port, so that would not work. Better to connect from the WAN "O" port on the Express to a LAN <-> port on the AirPort Extreme.....even if the "modem" is a modem/router or gateway with more than one Ethernet port.
Can they both broadcast the "same" network?
Yes, this is known as a "roaming network".
Your next question might be how to set this up. The answer depends on the AirPort models that you have and what operating system you are using on your computer.
Check on the bottom of the AirPort Extreme for the model number....starts with an "A" followed by four numbers. The model number on the Express is on the side or bottom of the device. It also will read "Axxxx".
If you have a Mac and are not sure what operating system it is using.....click the Apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen, then click About This Mac. Post back with the OS X Version number that you see there.

Extending wireless network from BoB modem using Airport Extreme

Hi,
I am using BoB with wired and wireless internet for my house.
I recently got Airport Extreme but am having difficulties extending my wireless network.
I have tried turning the WDS off and on the BoB as well as turning the AE to bridge mode etc.
I have managed to set up 2 wirless networks using both but still unable to extend my wireless with BoB.
Can you please help?
YOGI_OZ12

If you are trying to "extend" your wireless network....using a wireless connection to the AirPort Extreme.....it might be helpful to understand that an AirPort Extreme can only do this if you have another AirPort Extreme, AirPort Express or Time Capsule producing the wireless signal.
Apple routers cannot "extend a wireless network"....using wireless only....from non-Apple routers.

Extending Wireless Network with older and newer airports

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