Increase Airport Extreme's Range?

I keep getting low signal strength when I am out on the patio and everything is extremely slow then. In looking into extending the range of my Extreme, I saw that a good way might be to use the Apple AirPort Express with Air Tunes (M9470LL/A)
Any thoughts on this please?
Thanx In Advance!!!

What do you mean by: reduce the throughput of the overall wireless network by one-half?
I mean that if you have a 802.11g (54 Mbps) wireless network, and you add a single remote base station as a part of a WDS configuration, the overall wireless network throughput would be 54/2 = 27 Mbps.
Would the AirTunes not be as good as an antenna? Or what about using both?
Audio/video streaming quality is dependent on throughput, with greater throughput = better quality. In turn, throughput is based on signal strength. Anything (poor antenna coverage, WDS, Wi-Fi interference, etc.) that would reduce either signal strength and/or throughput will reduce your streaming quality.

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Installed airport extreme having range problems

i have a mac osx and installed an airport extreme in my house, and wanted to extend the range down to my shop which is aprox 300 ft away. it is a wood building with windows. i bought a express and placed it in the window at the shop and the light doesnt turn green. (express is working i tested it at the house) last weekend i took my ipad and walked to the shop and about halfway down the signal strenghth went from 3bars to 2bars,when i get into the the shop there is barely 1bar. i want to stream the nascar races this season and am just beside myself. my internet carrier sold me a high speed modem that doesnt seem to make any difference. do i need to place another express between house and shop? if so how do i weather proof it? can i run a dsl line down to the shop from my house and hook it up to the express? been messing with this for over a month with no success.. please help me!

the range of the Extreme is more like 150 ft as you have seen from your quick check with the iPad. To get an adequate signal in the shop you could run the DSL line out there and put in another modem, or you could run an ethernet cable from the Extreme to the shop and connect that to the Express and then use the wireless signal of hte Express. Putting an Extreme mid-way and prviding waterproof enclosure protection, and power will introduce more issues to deal with.

Use a New Airport Extreme as Range Expander

I have one of the new 802.11n Airport Extremes and want to extend its range. Can I buy a second Airport Extreme and easily set it up as a range expander for my current Airport Extreme?

Yes. Read through "Designing AirPort Extreme 802.11n Networks" (http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/DesigningAirPortExtreme802.11nNetworks.pdf) and you will find a couple of options.

New Airport Extreme - improved range?

I've seen some preliminary writeups of the recently introduced (June 2011) Airport Extreme revision that suggests it may have improved range over the previous generation. Anyone have first-hand comparisons to share?

I helped a neighbor today who just received the new AirPort Extreme. He still had his 3rd generation AirPort Extreme on hand (soon to go to one of his kids).
When we hooked up the new model, the useable signals at both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz seemed to go a bit further...maybe 10% improvement.....with few obstructions in the signal path.
With 3-4 walls for the signal to pass through, my friend felt that the "new" model was not as effective as his older version, with the signal going maybe 90% of the distance the older version did.
Nothing scientific here, basically first impressions. I will pass along anything else that I pick up.
I do wonder though.....with broadcast power limited by law and every router manufacturer already running at 100%.....how much more distance one might really hope to expect.
So far, I can't remember a more quiet new product introduction, so have to wonder a bit about that as well. Maybe there is more to come.

How to increase Airport Extreme signal strength

I post this in the way of advice, which anyone is free to accept or ignore.
I recently switched to Comcast ("triple play") from an in-complex Ethernet internet system. On my Mac Pro (MP), using speedtest.net, I attained download speeds of at least 22 Mbps. Very fast, I must say. However, I noticed that my Mac Book Pro (MBP) speeds were considerably slower, sometimes only a tenth of those on the MP. I am happy to report that after some reconfiguration I'm attaining almost identical speeds between the MP and MBP. What did I do?
I had initially configured the Airport Extreme (AEx) to operate at 802.11n with 5 Ghz only. Using iStumbler, I discovered that my signal strength was a bit under 60% and the "noise" was 13%. Other wireless devices appearing in the iStumbler window (we live in a downtown apartment complex) showed the "noise" levels at 9%--across the board. I fiddled with the location of my cordless phone (5.4 GHz) and even disconnected it. There was no change in the noise level. I moved the MBP up against the AEx and, while the signal strength increased, upwards of 70%, the noise level remained the same--at 13%.
So, I reconfigured the AEx to 802.11n (b/g compatible). Voila. Not only did the noise drop to 9%, just like the other devices, but the download speeds on the MBP zoomed to around 20 Mbps, or just about the same as the MP.
Too boost the MBP speeds even further I set up an Airport Express (AE) right next to where I use my MBP. I configured it to extend my wireless network.
By the way, I have my MP connected directly to the AEx via Ethernet. The AEx is directly connected to the cable modem. I configured my wireless network as "closed," using interference robustness. I left the multicast rate in default mode, which is 2 Mbps. Transmit power is at 100%.
What I seemed to have learned from this experience is NOT to use the 5 GHz only setting on an AEx, if one wants maximum Internet download speeds. (This seems counterintuitive, I know, because the theoretical limit of 5 GHz is 300 Mbps under 802.11n and "only" 54 Mbps using the 2.5 GHz setting.)

Purchase another Apple AirPort Base Station such as the $99 Express to "wirelessly extend" your AirPort wireless network.

Argh! Trying to Replace Linksys with New Airport Extreme...

Been fighting with this for hours...about ready to take the new Airport Extreme back ...Here's the deal:
I currently have a very wired and wireless 2story home professinally set up with 2 Linksys devices as the primary network and a couple previous generation airport expresses as extenders.   Due to video, audio and other systems the primary router for the network/WAN closet out in the garage needs to remain on the primary Linksys (non wifi) router. I want to replace the Linksys Wifi router (see below) that is puposely set up and has worked for several years as a double NAT config with the new Airport Extreme but i have tried duplicatiing the exact configs from the Linksys router and all the various ways you can use the Airport Express in DHCP/NAT and even in Bridge mode and it still wont work! I've never considered Linksys software easier (and definately more flexible and informative) to use than Apple until this experience! Very frustrating.... I'm being very explicit and using the typical Linksys config profiles below so as to hopefully help you translate this into specific configs i can wrangle into the Airport Extreme to make it work like the
Current Primary Network:
Current WAN Router / + 24 Port Switched LAN Network (for wired ethernet access ports used throughout house) > Linksys BEFSX41 + Linksys 24 port Switch locted in a custom built data /video / audio closet in garage
WAN IP: DHCP
LAN IP: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Current WiFI Network > Linksys WRT160Nv2 (currently conected to the 24port switch via a hardwired ethernet wall port upstairs in my office)
Internet Connection Type: Static IP
WAN IP: 192.168.1.2
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
LAN IP: 192.168.0.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Per config notes from the network engineer who i worked with to build this network when i built the house
"this allows the 192.168.0.x wifi device to successfully route to the 192.168.1.x wired router (and vice versa)"
My goal is to replace the Linksys WRT160Nv2 with the new Airport Extreme (whose range and ability to reach both upsatirs and outside to the beach is MUCH better) and locate it DOWNSTAIRS and connect it in the same way as the Linksys (via an ethernet port in the living room) to the same switch / router in the data closet.
I have tried to set up the new Airport Extreme to replicate this config several different ways both bridged and not bridged (including telling it to ignore the double NAT warning) with the latest.   I am pretty sure non-bridged is the right way to do it but i seem to lack a config parameter to tell the Airport Extreme to replicate the equivalent of the WRT160Nv2 settings despite trating all the submenues and options on the airport extreme set up / Airport Utility App. Do i have to telnet directly into the Airport Extreme config files to do this natively? Help!
PS - no i cannot / will not put the Airport Extreme in to replace the primary Linksys router in the data closet - there is no way it will fit or that its wifi could penetrate the EMI and insulation of all the other electronics in the data closet out in the garage and get a good connection into the house

The trick on the airport extreme is to change the DHCP .. when you change the DHCP it changes the actual IP of the AE..
So go to the setup and open the dhcp, in the network options and you can select by arrow the first two octets and replace the third.
I just posted info on this in another post..
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5134560?tstart=30
Does this answer your question, as I am a bit unclear otherwise??
I have to say I do not like using double NAT.. it is becoming worse and worse as the amount of material on the internet that requires interactive connection increases.. you block so much by doing this.. double NAT is an issue .. not just ignore the warning.
There is no reason why you need double NAT.. you should have a single flat network. If you need to keep some things isolated from others the correct way to do it is vlan.. but you will need a better router than the old linksys to do it. And possibly a managed switch. Nowadays a managed 24 port gigabit switch is not a bad price at all.

Antenna for Airport Extreme

I have recently moved to a larger house and find that my Airport Extreme can no longer provide reliable coverage to remote locations within the house.
I would really appreciate your suggestions for a reliable, reasonably priced antenna that would extend the Airport Extreme's range.
Thanks for the help.

Would the Dr. Bott's ExtendAIR Omni cut my bandwidth in half like a regular expander.
An antenna is a passive device. It's used to focus the wireless signal in certain directions, depending on it's design. It does not however put any additional energy into the broadcast - it just takes whatever energy is being put into it and concentrates that in a specific direction. For omni antennas, the energy that is normally sent straight down and straight up is focused into a horizontal plane, extending the reach of the wireless device horizontally.
With the AEBS, if you can imagine, the internal antenna pattern is a sphere with the AEBS being in the center of that sphere. Omni-directional antennas patterns are more like a donut, extending farther than the AEBS's sphere, but only in a single dimension.
Since bandwidth is dependent on signal strength, the farther you can extend the range of the signal, the more likely you will still have higher data rates farther away from the base station. Antennas, are typically, rated in dBi. The AEBS is pretty much an isotropic antenna, and thus has a 0 dBi...and the Dr. Bott antenna is + 3.5 dBi. The higher the dBi, the more "sensitive" the antenna (in a particular direction.)
On the other hand, boosters can actually increase the strength of the signal being transmitted. The AEBS transmission is around 32 mW. Boosters come in a variety of strengths, typically between 100 & 500 mW.

Help with a 3rd party airport extreme card

I have a G4 power mac running 10.3.9. I purchased the following 3rd party card on ebay:
- Truly Plug & Play - NO complicated software CD setup at all.
- Uses Airport Drivers built into MAC OS X
- Amazing 802.11g 54Mbps Wireless - Airport Extreme speed
- Range: 50' Indoors, 150' outdoors (maximum range in ideal conditions).
- Supports WPA (TKIP,AES),802.1x and standard 128/64-bit WEP Wireless Security
- Fully Compatible with: Apple Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White), G4 Power Mac (all models except Cube) or G5 (tower, PCI model only) computers, with a spare PCI slot, running Mac OS X 10.2.6 with AirPort installer, or Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger & 10.5 Leopard.
Installed the card in an open slot and Airport setup assistant does not find it. The lights on the card are dark and it just is not working. So far the seller has not responded to my emails. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get this thing running? Thanks

What model G4. You need to add this info to your Apple Discussions profile.
What is the make/model of the Airport card?
 Cheers, Tom

I have an airport extreme. is there a way i can increase the range within my house? thanks

I have an airport extreme for my ipad and mac. is there a way to increase the range within my home? there are some rooms it does not connect on the internet to my ipad. thanks

Yes. Please check out the following Apple Support article that provide details on the many ways you can go about doing this.

I just purchased an airport extreme router to increase the range of my wifi. I have an imac with 10.5.8. I get a flashing yellow light on the base unit and it tells me I need airport utility to install yhe ubnit. Where do I get this and how do I do it?

I just purchased an airport extreme router to increase the range of my wifi. I have an imac with 10.5.8. I get a flashing yellow light on the base unit and it tells me I need airport utility to install yhe ubnit. Where do I get this and how do I do it?

sylviafromhanover wrote:
So I assume that the original modem stays installed with the coaxial cable and the Exrtreme is in addition to that.
Yes, that is correct.
Did you have the instructions that came with your Airport Extreme? Are you sure you have it setup properly? Here is the setup guide:
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/airportextreme_802.11n_userguide.pdf
Ensure you have everything setup properly. Once you do this and if you are still having trouble, follow Star's instructions.

I bought the Airport Extreme because I thought it would increase the range of the WiFi signal in my house. I have a DSL modem (also Wifi) and there are parts of the house that do not seem to have a strong Wifi signal.

I bought the Airport Extreme because I thought it would increase the range of the WiFi signal in my house. I have a DSL modem (also Wifi) and there are parts of the house that do not seem to have a strong Wifi signal. The Airport Extreme does not seem to be increasing my Wifi signal strength? Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong? I am able to connect to it, etc. Just thought the strength would be better.

The broadcast power of all wireless routers and devices is limited by law.....and all manufacturers run their routers full blast.....so the relative signal strength of wireless routers from one manufacturer to another will tend to be remarkably similar.....despite the fancy advertising claims.
You may want to consider adding another AirPort Extreme to "extend" the signal strength in your home. If you decide to do this, the "extending" Extreme would normally need to be located at a point that is approximately half the distance from your "main" AirPort Extreme and the general area that needs more wireless coverage.

Can I increase the range of an AirPort Extreme by a router other than AirPort Express?

Im using an AirPort Extreme as my primary wireless router extended by an AirPort Express at home. We are primarily using macs at home and I'm overall satisfied with the quality of the product. However a lot of online reviews (including pcmag and cNet don't list the extreme or the express) amongst the list of top 10 wireless routers. The ones listed are much cheaper and has received very positive user reviews as well. However I need to setup a new network at my new office and I have some questions regarding setting up a wifi network in regard to AirPort Extreme:
1) Can I extend the wireless network setup via AirPort Extreme Base Station by another wireless router other than Airport Express?
2) I've heard of many cheaper alternatives (Cisco and NetGear being chief) to AirPort Extreme. I've also heard that the network set up by the AE is not as compatible with a windows based environment (which could be an issue as I'm going for an IBM server). In that case which would be the best wireless router for me?
3) Any other specific reason for which I should prefer AE over any other wireless modem?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

1) Can I extend the wireless network setup via AirPort Extreme Base Station by another wireless router other than Airport Express?
Apple appears to have designed their "extend a wireless network" feature using proprietary software, so it would be extremely unlikely that a router from another manufacturer would work with the AirPort Extreme....if you are trying to extend wirelessly.
In that case which would be the best wireless router for me?
That depends on your requirements, and whether you are going strictly for specifications rather than features, or even ease of installation and use. In any case, I can't answer that question.
If you subscribe to industry publications with test reports on products, there always seems to be a new "best" product, so expect that whatever you buy will be superceded by another "best" product within a month.
As far as use with a PC, I've had no issues using several PCs with Apple routers.
3) Any other specific reason for which I should prefer AE over any other wireless modem?
Apple routers are for mom and pop at home. While the product would provide basic functionality in an office, the product was not designed, nor does it have the type of features that most businesses would require.
For example, if I were using a business router, I would expect it use a high grade firewall for security purposes, and for the router to provide reports that track Internet use for each computer, along with a record of what Internet sites were being visited by each employee. Apple routers won't do that.

How you increase the strength / length of an airport extreme?

How you increase the strength / length of an airport extreme? I find it hard to use wireless internet

Please checkout the following Apple Support article on details on the many ways you can extend the wireless range of your current AirPort base station.

What is the best long range wireless router, airport extreme or time capsule? Or?

I need a wireless router that will reach 350--400 feet with a strong enough signal to use Netflix. This will be line of site in a rural area reaching from one trailer to another. Both trailers run on 12volt solar systems but trailer A has an inverter to convert to 120volts for a wireless router. Trailer B only has 12volt power so the Internet signal must come exclusively from the wireless router in Trailer A. There is no electricity available for booster wireless routers in between the two trailers.
We don't need all of the bells and whistles like being able to connect to printers etc. This is just about sending out a strong enough signal to watch Netflix. Which is more powerful for this purpose? Airport Extreme or Time Capsule? If neither of those is strong enough, what is?
Thanks,
SV

The issue you are really facing is the long distance (at the WiFi frequencies) you have to travel. The Extreme has a radiated power of 23 dBm, nominal, which can reach 50-150 feet depending on you you are talking to...and that is measured in a closed test chamber at ideal air temperature and humidity, no obstructions. In the real world that signal will be attenuated significantly just by the air alone, assuming completely obstacle free path, and subject to interference from other sources in the area, such as cell phones and cordless phones, and microwave ovens.
The AirPort units have enclosed antennas that cannot be connected with an external gain antenna. So you are stuck with what is in the box.
Other products, commercial, do use external antennas so you may want to do some research in that area.
Keep in mind that the 802.11n protocol uses two frequency bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Signal attenuation increases rapidly as a function of frequency. You will get much less distance if you use the 5 GHz band, so it would be best to restrict operation to 2.4 GHz.
Now, another aspect, at 2.4 GHz you are in the Ultra High Frequency portion of the spectrum...exposure to radio frequency energy at high power should not be considered a safe or desirable thing in the UHF range. Most communication specialialists try to minimize exposure at these frequencies. The reason for saying this is you will need significantly greater radiated power than the Extreme can deliver to reach 400 feet. You might want to do some searches on health effects of the RF energy you will be transmitting.
So, bottom-line, I have difficulty encouraging using wireless tranmission at the WiFi frequencies for the distance you need.

How to set-up new Airport Express to extend range of Airport Extreme

Purchased a new Airport Express to use it as a range extender on existing home network with an operating Airport Extreme base station. While I've read instructions, I'm unclear whether the Express needs to be connected by ethernet cable for its initial setup, or can I simply plug it and initialize it wirelessly onto the same household network? (I've tried the latter but without success).

to edex67 and Bob Timmons:
My objective is to extend the wireless range of the Airport Extreme base station wirelessly - so I do appreciate that the Airport Express would needsto be located haflway between the base station and the "dead zone" area.
The suggestion of using a Powerline ethernet connection to the Airport Express has merit (especially as I have one available).
I continue to use OSX 10.6.8 - does this affect my set-up in any way?
My problem had been - and remains - how to configure the Airport Express in range extend mode - I did click these boxes on both the Extreme base station and the Express, however the Express still has flashing amber lights and error codes - one indicating no internet availability on the Airport Express.

Increase Airport Extreme's Range?

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