Multiple airports as extenders

We have had serious signal quality issues with interference from our wifi network, so we have multiple airport expresses and extremes to get everything working. After completely redoing the entire network, we are able to get everything working so we no longer have the interference issues, but now our devices have a slight issue. If they need to be restarted for some reason, they connect with the strongest signal at the time, which might be another extender. If they connect to an extender, then the signal does not get passed on. Is there any way for the devices to be set where they automatically default to the main extreme, rather than the strongest signal at the moment? I hate having to reconfigure the entire network every time the power flickers. Thanks.

That's a good question. On the devices that are configured to "extend" the wireless network created by your Extreme, do not check the box "allow this network to be extended", assuming that appears as a choice.
See if that fixes it.
Review this KB article:
Wi-Fi base stations: Setting up and configuring an extended wireless network (802.11n)

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Multiple airport express's

Can i have multiple airport expresses acting as range extenders on the same network?

Yes, if you remember that they all must connect to the "main" base station.
Apple's extend a wireless network feature works like the hub and spokes of a wheel. Your AirPort Extreme would be the "hub" and each AirPort Express would reside at the end of a separate "spoke".
Each AirPort Express only communicates to the hub....not to another Airport Express at the end of another spoke.....so it is important that the AirPort Express devices be located about the same distance from the hub....and....that they are closer to the hub than they are to another AirPort Express.

Connecting to multiple Airport Express base stations at the same time?

I want to be able to use wireless internet and stream music to my stereo at the same time, but I only have a single internet connection behind my stereo and it's connected to the Pay TV. My options seem to be getting a new line installed behind the stereo so I can insert this into the same Airport Express base station I use for my music, or buying a second Airport Express base station and connecting it to one of the other internet connections in the room, then connecting to both Airport Express base stations at the same time.
Is this possible? Are there other alternatives?
Many thanks

Nate, Welcome to the discussion area!
Once you have a network, you can connect multiple AirPort Express (AX) to that network (wirelessly or via Ethernet). When your computer joins that network it can access all the AX.
You could take your current internet connection and run it into an inexpensive router with multiple Ethernet ports (not the AX). If this is a wireless router then your AXs could be located elsewhere and connect as wireless clients to that network. Once you computer joined that network it could stream music to the AXs.

Cannot select multiple airports using remote app.

Why can't I select multiple airport express units using the remote app?

Thanks for the reply.. I also tried that way.. I face couple of issues
1) I could not find an option of saving a Draft Message
2) After multiple recipients(I have selected 12 recipients) in "TO" section, if I type a word in "TO" such as "Pre", it shows me all the contacts containing "Pre" but I cannot select the last contact incase there are more than 20 contacts coz I am unable to scroll down till the end.. If I do so.. I cannot select coz screen scrolls up automatically..
Pls try ... If required I will insert video

Multiple Airport Express streams?

Is it possible to have more than one Airport Express Unit receiving different signals from different iOS devices? E.g. My iMac plays one track, my iPhone plays another and my iPad plays another?
I have a 4 input hub in my house powering 4 sets of ceiling speakers in various rooms and want to know if multiple Airport Express units mean I don't have to go down the Sonos route as all my music is on iTunes.
Thanks in advance

I do this regularly. I have 5 AX units connected to various receivers around the house. I can stream to a subset of speakers from one device and have another device stream to others. I don't see why I couldn't stream five stream to these speakers.
But the big caveat is that most of my AX units are connected via a gigabit ethernet network not a wireless connection (yes I know the AX units are not gigabit, but my network is). If you were trying to do this via wireless you might quickly run out of bandwidth. This is particularly true for IOS devices. For example, I have an ipad that can stream internet radio. If you think about it the ipod in this case has to first get the wireless signal and then send it back out to the AX, immediately doubling the amount of spectrum used compared to streaming from a device that has the music stored on it. That's probably why my internet radio app won't let me select multiple speakers the way I can with itunes or airfoil.

Multiple Airport Express issues revisted

I've been trying to set up multiple airport expresses. I want to wirelessly connect to two stereos and stream to both at the same time. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
So far I tried the directions below. But after following them, when I was in itunes, it would not acknowledge either AX. When I was making the suggested settings in the Airport tab, as listed below, it asked me for the name of the network. I wasn't sure what to put there though.
I can set up each on its own network, but then itunes can only find one stereo at a time.
Thanks for you help.
For each AirPort Express Base Station (AX):
Perform a "factory default" reset
- (ref: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108044)
To set up AirTunes on the AirPort Express Base Station (AX), using the AirPort Admin Utility, connect your computer directly (using an Ethernet cable) to the Ethernet port of the AX, and then, try these settings:
AirPort tab
- Base Station Name: <whatever you wish or use the default>
- Wireless Mode: Join an Existing Wireless Network (Wireless Client)
Music tab
- Enable AirTunes on this base station (checked)
- Enable AirTunes over the Ethernet port (optional)
- iTunes Speaker Name: <whatever you wish>
- iTunes Speaker Password (optional)
In iTunes:
iTunes > Preferences... > Advanced > General
- Look for remote speakers connected with AirTunes (checked)
- Select "Multiple Speakers" from the speaker selection at the bottom of the iTunes window.

You need to have one of the AirPort Express (AX) join the wireless network created by the other one. See KB 302153, AirPort Express: How to join an existing wireless network in client mode.

Multiple airport connections

I have an airport express that I use for sending music to my stereo, all works fine. If i want to connect to this I have to disconnect from by home hub that provides my internet, I had read that you can have multiple airport express connections so you can stream to different rooms in the house? Can this also be done with other routers? I have a BT Homehub and an airport express, and they are not beside each other, that was just incase someone suggests plugging in the express unit into the main router.
Thanks
Fudzy

Go to airport utility select the airport express you want to manage and when it prompts you tell it to join an existing network. This works.

Connection problems when I use multiple Airport Expresses

I have one Mac that I use to stream music to multiple Airport Express's. Its seems that when I connect to 3 expresses things work fine. If I connect to 4 the sound cuts out on all speakers.
Is 3 the limit or am I doing something wrong?

Yes you can but....
With the apex in the ceiling you may get a signal loss from your main wireless system. To be able to do what you want in a whole home sound system they all need to be on the main wireless system. You also have to plug them in to a wall outlet which may be an issue with your fire regulations with them inside the walls/ceiling. With airplay you have some limitation also. If she has an ios device and likes say pandora she can only do it to one set of speakers/APex. Only itunes from a computer can do multiple/house party sound. I have 2 APex in my house and love them all. If your main wifi is out of range for some of the new APex's you can run 1 cat5/6 (APex is 10/100) and make a new network and bridge the rest to it. As long as your new wire is connected to your main network you will stay on the same network.
So now you get sound and a roaming wifi through out the house. (that's what I did but not in the ceiling.)
Sonus are good but $$$. by then rewire!

Best option for multiple Airport Extreme base station setup

I'm looking for the best way to setup my wireless network at home. I have a fairly large two story home with some ethernet cable run to various rooms upstairs and downstairs. Basically I was thinking if I could use some of the wired connections in my home the wireless network might be faster (instead of just rebroadcasting the wireless signal with multiple airports).
In my laundry room (downstairs) I have my cable modem, an 8 port switch and my airport extreme. Currently, the cable modem is hooked up to my Airport Extreme (via ethernet cable) and then I have an ethernet cable running from the airport to the switch. The various ethernet cables that run through my home are then plugged into that switch.
In my office (upstairs) I have a live ethernet jack (one that runs down to that switch downstairs), but instead of having the airport plugged into that ethernet jack I have the second airport extreme just "extending the network". Is there a way to utilize the wired connection inorder to have a stronger signal to broadcast for the upstairs wifi?
I've seen WDS mentioned before, is that what I need to setup? Basically, I just want to know what the best way is to setup the wireless network to keep the speeds as good as they can be.
Thanks!

Good news, you can use Ethernet to connect the Apple routers together.
Perform a Hard Reset on the upstairs AirPort Extreme by holding in the reset button for 9-10 seconds and then releasing. Allow a full minute for the Extreme to restart to a slow, blinking amber light.
Connect the Ethernet cable to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort. ( I assume that you have tested the cable by connecting a computer to it directly to make sure that it is working).
Click the AirPort icon at the top of the screen on the Mac
Wait a few seconds for a listing of New AirPort Base Station to appear
Just below that, click on AirPort Extreme (the example below shows an AirPort Express)
AirPort Setup will open up automatically and take a minute to analyze the network, then announce that the AirPort will be configured to extend your other AirPort router.
Enter a device name that you want to use for the AirPort...(you can use the same device name as before if you wish), then click Next.
Now AirPort Setup will indicate that the AirPort is being configured to extend using Ethernet.
When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done
You are all set.

Airport Exreme - Airport Express droupout with multiple Airport Express sta

I have multiple airport express's, an iMAc, a Airport extreme router, all software/firmware to current release. If I play on the iMac and one set of remote speakers, no problems, once I add two airport express stations with iTunes, I get the dropouts. Any ideas. I have already got rid of wds, changd channels, tc. to no avail.

I have the same set up and had the same issue and a guy at apple support gave me a tip to try and it worked!. First remove all the expresses from the power outlets keeping your airport extreme running. I also recommend using a different channel say 11. and use ap grapher
http://www.chimoosoft.com/products/apgrapher/
to see if your network looks like it's running well after you resetup your everything or before you bother doing this. I found my audio gear was really messing with my airports bandwidth and when I moved it to a new spot ap grapher showed I was getting a nice steady 54mbit/sec.
So again unplug the expresses and keep the extreme up and running.
You must first do a reset on the airport express by pushing in the little white button on the bottom with a paper clip for a few seconds, but you should check out how to reset the airport express via apple's web site because there are 2 types of resets one with it plugged in and one with it not. Not sure which is right reset method so check that yourself.
Once you have reset it you want to set the first express to extend your preexisting airport extreme network using the airport setup utility. If you have two expresses you may only need to do this to the last one in the chain but it can't hurt to reset them all form scratch.
Once the first express is up and running you then unplug the airport extreme from it's power outlet. Then you go to set up the 2nd express after you reset it and here lies the trick. You extend the 2nd express off the first express without the extreme involved. Then you plug in the extreme back into the power and bingo you have tricked the express #2 to extend from the first express and they wind up with new ip numbers like 10.0.1 and 10.0.2. Instead of them competing for signal using the same ip address they now have their own individual ip address, it turns it into an extension chain. If that makes sense I don't know what the tech terms are for this but it did cure my issues of dropouts I thought it was odd that they had the same addresses so it makes sense that they should have their own.
Micro wave ovens cause drop outs and so do some wireless phones but you can always check on your signal using AP grapher. I found that when I walk around with my MacBookPro in my house that the expresses really don;t have much of a range so if they are really far apart that could also be an issue. I'm sure the N versions are much better and I am thinking about upgrading.
Hope this helps cause it sure took a long time to type:)

Multiple Airport Express connections?

Hello:
I was wondering if it is possible to set up multiple airport connections through my wifi? I am running windows 7. Will I be able to set them both up through the airport utility device?
Thanks!

In bridge mode, the AirPort Express is basically a pass-through device. Any wireless client, connected to it, could be "seen" by the NAT router upstream of the Express ... so it may be possible that the hotel's router checks for individual MAC Addresses before it provides Internet access.

AirTunes and multiple Airport Express modules

I was curious if there are plans to support connecting to multiple Airport Express modules? I have two modules in my home and would love to be able to send music to two different places at the same time.
If there is a plan to introduce this option I'd love to know and if I already can I'd love to know how.
Thanks

I would love to know this as well.
I have just purchased an older home and re-wiring the
house is somewhat out of the question.
I purchased two AirPort Express modules's, but then
found out you can only play to one at a time. I
would love to be able to play one play list in the
basement and another in the living room upstairs
without having to run two iTunes.
Or at least play the same playlist to both at the
same time?
I too would like to know this. I have an older home and would like the option of playing the same music throughout the house or in just one location.
Even being able to hear what is playing from the
iTunes player would be decent as well.
Any thoughts?
Stephane
G4 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Multiple Airport Express without Airport Extreme

Is it possible to have multiple Airport Expresses on a network without the router being an Airport Extreme? I have a Buffalo router and can't get more than on Airport Express to be recognized. Is this possible?

The Express must be configured to "join a wireless network" to be able to stream iTunes to your stereo. It sounds like you have one device working OK, is that correct?
If you can't get AirPort Utility to "see" your other Express, temporarily connect an ethernet cable from your computer to the Express and then open AirPort Utility to see if that helps. You will configure it to "join" your wireless network.
When you have it configured, you can disconnect the ethernet cable and move the Express to the location that you want.

Connecting to multiple Airport Express base stations for internet and TV?

I want to be able to use wireless internet and stream music to my stereo at the same time, but I only have a single ethernet connection behind my stereo and it's connected to the Pay TV. My options seem to be an ethernet splitter (maybe - any ideas?), getting a new ethernet connection installed behind the stereo so I can insert this into the same Airport Express base station I use for my music, or buying a second Airport Express base station and connecting it to one of the other internet connections in the room, then connecting to both Airport Express base stations at the same time.
Is this possible? Are there other alternatives?
Many thanks

Nate, Welcome to the discussion area!
Once you have a network, you can connect multiple AirPort Express (AX) to that network (wirelessly or via Ethernet). When your computer joins that network it can access all the AX.
You could take your current internet connection and run it into an inexpensive router with multiple Ethernet ports (not the AX). If this is a wireless router then your AXs could be located elsewhere and connect as wireless clients to that network. Once you computer joined that network it could stream music to the AXs.

Can multiple Airport Expresses be connected via ethernet to an Airport Extreme to extend a single WiFi Network?

I am a big fan of both the Airport Extreme and Airport Express. In my work environment, I need to create a good quality single wireless network around 2 large aircraft hangars and some offices at the perimeters. We have a good quality wired Cat5e ethernet network extended between the buildings and offices now. Is this possible and does it seem like a good practical solution? I think that 4 or 5 Airport expresses would easily provide good wireless coverage in the needed areas.

Can multiple AirPort Expresses be connected via ethernet to an AirPort Extreme to extend a single WiFi Network?
Yes, this will work just fine as long as any individual Ethernet cable run will not exceed much over 330 feet or about 100 meters.

Multiple airports as extenders

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