I have an I phone 3 gs and unless I stand next to a router It cannot find a wireless signal.I guess the phone is broken.Also I don't believe you have to pay for apple to ask that question?

Question

I have an I phone 3gs which for the last few months cannot find wi-fi signals unless I stand next to a wireless modem. To annoy me even more I called apple to find out if the phone is unserviceable and they want money to tell me if it's broken!!! Is this bill gates in disguise?

Answer 1

The netgear is not going to work very well.. and not at all unless it is universal wireless extender.. you cannot use WDS method.
If it does support universal wireless then make sure the airport uses a rational SMB compatible wireless name.. not an apple name which is 35 characters long with spaces and illegal characters like apostrophe.
So nice AE name.. AEwifi and actually while you are trying.. fruitlessly to do this.. use AE24ghz and AE5ghz (so different names on the different bands)
Assuming your AE is gen3 or greater.
You should also fix the wireless channel at least for 2.4ghz since the netgear is probably only going to repeat 2.4ghz so use channel 11, as a trial.
And use no wireless security as a test.. if that works.. then use WPA1 & 2.. as often old equipment using WPA2 is not compatible.
If it fails with simple name.. fixed channel and no security. Sorry it is not compatible at all.. it happens.
If your AE is G wireless or earlier model.. really the time has come for replacement.
If your Express is G wireless model it is not supported.. and is too old to bother with expect I guess if you want to run audio to a speaker.
You must use older 5.6 utility to do this.. so do you have a computer running older OS.. up to Mountain Lion it is easy to install with a bit of manipulation.. later is much harder .. or windows computer anywhere or available to you.