PMaier1971

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

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Q: Devices not connecting to the "extended wifi" (i.e. Airport Express)

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Joseph Kriz,

    Joseph Kriz Joseph Kriz Dec 14, 2013 1:48 PM in response to PMaier1971
    Level 5 (5,144 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 14, 2013 1:48 PM in response to PMaier1971

    Generally, you can only extend the wireless connection ONCE in ONE direction only.

    That may be your problem.

     

    Airport Extreme -----> Airport Express

     

    Or you can also go the other direction (either horizontal or vertical)

     

    Extended Airport Express <------- Airport Extreme -----> Extended Airport Express

     

    See this Apple article:

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4259

     

    The bottom row in the diagram below will not work properly:

    Extending Network.png

  • by PMaier1971,

    PMaier1971 PMaier1971 Dec 14, 2013 1:57 PM in response to Joseph Kriz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2013 1:57 PM in response to Joseph Kriz

    Ah! I should have included a diagram. This is how the network looks like:

     

     

                       Airport Extreme

                                  |

                                  |

                                  |

           -------------------------------------------

          |                       |                          |

     

    Airport                Airport                Airport

    Express             Express              Express

    Room 1             Room 2               Room 3

     

    Does that make sense? I believe it is similar to your second option...

     

    Thanks, Philipp

  • by Joseph Kriz,

    Joseph Kriz Joseph Kriz Dec 14, 2013 2:14 PM in response to PMaier1971
    Level 5 (5,144 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 14, 2013 2:14 PM in response to PMaier1971

    Which Airport Expresses do not have any clients connected?

    1, 2, or 3 ?

     

    What is the distance between 1, 2, and 3 ?

     

    For trials, I would unplug 1 and 3 and see what kind of reception you have downstairs.

    If they are all in the extend mode, then plugging them back in, they will automatically be reconnected again.

    If possible, try moving 1 and 3 around after testing out with just #2 connected.

    I would start there.

     

    Let us know.

  • by PMaier1971,

    PMaier1971 PMaier1971 Dec 14, 2013 2:23 PM in response to Joseph Kriz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2013 2:23 PM in response to Joseph Kriz

    Thanks, Joseph - I realize that debugging "via internet" is not easy...

     

    Airport Express #1 and #2 have no clients connected, Airport Express #3 has the three. #3 is in our living room, #2 in our kitchen and #1 in our bed room (all downstairs). Incidentally, the Airport Extreme (upstairs) is just above our kitchen, which could explain why nothing's connecting to this one (I could unplug it, it's more there for trying out different combinations).

     

    Without posting a full floor plan of our "palace", let's just assume that they are about 50 feet apart.

     

    BTW, I did try moving #1 and #2, but that didn't really do anything. If I unplug the two unused ones (#1 and #2), it's still the case that, say, my iPad will connect to the Airport Extreme upstairs, even if it sit right next to the Airport Express (#3). That's the part I don't quite understand, as I would have assumed that the device automatically connects to the nearest one.

     

    I guess that there is no way to "force" connecting to a specific networking device (say, #3)?

     

    Thanks again, Philipp

  • by Joseph Kriz,Helpful

    Joseph Kriz Joseph Kriz Dec 14, 2013 2:35 PM in response to PMaier1971
    Level 5 (5,144 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 14, 2013 2:35 PM in response to PMaier1971

    Yes, it is cumbersone over the internet.

     

    What version of Airport Express units do you have ?

    The 1st generation "n" or the newer 2nd generation that is the current model ?

     

    1st generation

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/FB321LL/A/refurbished-airport-express-base-sta tion-with-80211n-and-airtunes

     

    2nd generation

    http://store.apple.com/us/product/FC414LL/A/airport-express-base-station-june-20 12

     

    The 1st generation is NOT simultaneous Dual band. It will only do 2.4 or 5 GHz at a time.

    I went through this before with my older versions. (not the old 'g' version though at this time)

    Some of my devices would only connect to the main base station because they wanted 2.4 GHz but that band on the Express was already being used by a 5 GHz device.

     

    A few weeks ago I finally replaced the 'n' version with the newest version which has "Simultaneous" dual bands.

    Now everything works the way I want it to.

     

    Just throwing some ideas out for you to think about.


  • by PMaier1971,

    PMaier1971 PMaier1971 Dec 14, 2013 2:38 PM in response to Joseph Kriz
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 14, 2013 2:38 PM in response to Joseph Kriz

    Yeah,

     

    I definitively have the 1st generation Airport Express. I was worried that it may be a "band" issue.

     

    So, I guess that I'd have to upgrade the Airport Express in order to have everything connect "the way it should"? Is there a way to check whether an Airport Express is doing 2.4 or 5GHz? And I'm assuming that I cannot figure one to do 2.4, and the other to do 5 GHz?

     

    Thanks again,

     

    Philipp

  • by Joseph Kriz,Solvedanswer

    Joseph Kriz Joseph Kriz Dec 14, 2013 2:46 PM in response to PMaier1971
    Level 5 (5,144 points)
    iPhone
    Dec 14, 2013 2:46 PM in response to PMaier1971

    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