Wireless network issues w Airport Express and Belkins Powerline HD

Question

Hi,
I have a new Airport Extreme and the wireless network generally works great with my iPad and Sony Vaio, but there are wireless deadspots in my house when using my MacBook, and the wifi signal will die out often for it in those spots. I'm guessing it's because my MacBook is old with only a a/b/g wireless capabilities. I tried extending my network using Airport Express in the deadspots, but it did nothing to strengthen the signal (i.e., since it ended up extending the weak signal).
So, I bought a Belkin's Powerline HD (gigabit), connected one Powerline receiver to the Airport Extreme using ethernet and plugged it into the wall outlet. I plugged in the other Powerline receiver into the wall outlet in the separate room with the deadspot, and I connected my the Airport Express to it directly using ethernet and am having no luck getting the Airport Express create/extend my current wifi network (i tried creating a new network too, but no luck). I know the Powerline does work because when I connect my MacBook to it using ethernet (i.e, not using Airport Express), I have no problems connecting to the internet. But I would really like to create/extend a wireless network in the deadspots of the house for my MacBook so I don't have to use the ethernet cable.
In the Airport Utilities, I set up the Airport Express to connect to Airport Extreme using ethernet and extend the current wireless network (also tried creating a new network). I got as far as getting a successful set-up confirmation and a green light on the Express base unit and can get full bars on the MacBook. But when I try to connect to the internet, I get an error message saying that there is no internet connection. (Same error when I created a new wireless network.) The diagnostic says there is no ISP signal/connection, which leads me to believe that the Express is not connecting to the internet through Airport Extreme. What am I missing? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

HI,  I don't know very much about Airport Express or indeed Apple products in general.  However, I do use Belkin 200mbps powerline adapters.
I have used these adapters in two separate ways.  1) device to router; 2) additional wireless access point to router
In the first situation they work perfectly fine and the connection is fast and reliable for anything I care to throw at it (file transfers, audio / video streaming, internet browsing).  However, in the second situation the connection drops intermittently.  I will have access to the main router via the access point over powerline for all devices, then suddenly this will just stop.  To restart it I have to remove the powerline from the mains, wait about ten seconds, plug back in, let it boot up and reconnect and I'm connected again.
Having read more (sorry I don't have the links to hand), it appears that powerline adapters can handle one-to-one traffic fine, but when bridging a wireless access point where several wireless clients are transmitting / receiving, they 'lock up' and just stop.  Even when connected in this configuration, streams tend to stutter and my squeezebox devices get totally out of synch.
Given I know very little about Airport Express (i conceded as much at the top of this post), is it fair to assume that a belkin powerline connected to the 'Express' would closer match with scenario 2 in my above description?  If so, I'm afraid I don't believe Belkin Powerline will be a suitable solution for you.  Hope my experience saves you the days of head-scratching I went through before removing powerline devices (incidentally, I bought a wireless repeater to solve my problem in the end, and put the powerline adapters to good use by connecting my media player (under the TV) to the main router directly).