Q: Devices not connecting to the "extended wifi" (i.e. Airport Express)
Hi,
Let me quickly describe my network setup. Attached to a Motorola cable modem (TWC) is an Airport Extreme (upstairs), firmware 7.6.4, to create a wireless network. Then, downstairs, to extend the network I have 3 Airport Express' (same firmware), all set to "Extend a wireless network". I should also add that while I don't exactly know when they were manufactured, my Airport Extreme is the dual-band version, and I believe so are all my Airport Extremes. I juse Airport Utility 6.3.2. All seems to be working just fine - all green lines, no warnings or errors.
When I look at my different devices and check which Airport they are connected to - I use the Airport Utility to check - here's what I find:
- Connected to the Airport Extreme are a total 7 devices, including a Mac, iPhone 4S, iPad and (cough) an Android tablet;
- Connected to the first Airport Express are 2 devices - another iPad and an Apple TV
- Connected to the other 2 Airport Expresses are connected... nothing.
Here's the thing: some of my devices get a pretty lousy signal (e.g. my phone downstairs). I would expect them to connect to one of the Airport Express downstairs - hey, I'm even in the same room! But even if I shut down and reboot the phone, it will connect to the Airport Express upstairs (which yield a weak signal). Same for my Macbook. So my internet on some devices is really quite slow, despite having enough wireless devices to power a whole neighborhood....
Any idea what could be behind this? Or is this "normal behavior"? As said, everything is working without error, I just suspect that the speed is suffering more than it should.
Thoughts, help or comments would be appreciated,
Phili
OS X Mavericks (10.9)
Posted on Dec 14, 2013 1:36 PM
Philipp,
Here is what I found.
In Airport Utility, see which devices are connected.
Then I looked at those devices and they were connected as a/n, that is 5 GHz
No other b/g/n 2.4 GHz devices could connect to the Airport Express becasue it was already being used by the a/n devices.
The b/g/n devices always connected to the main base station which was further away and had much less of a signal.
Now with the new Simultaneous dual band, all devices can connect to the Express or the Main base station, whichever gets the best signal.
I am using a 4th generation Airport Extreme and the 2nd generation Airport Express.
I am keeping my older 1st generation Airport Express units in case I just want to use them for streaming music to different rooms of the house. With these though, they will be in the "JOIN" mode and not the extended mode.
Good Luck
Posted on Dec 14, 2013 2:46 PM
