Q: NetGear > Airport Express > Ethernet > XBOX 360 > XBOX Live ?
I've been doing some research and seem to keep finding conflicting answers to the following question.
I want to get a new NetGear Nighthawk router to replace my existing Airport Express (2nd Gen). The Express signal is weak in some further rooms and from what I've read, the Nighthawk, with its external antennas will create way more range. Once I have the NetGear router working, I then want to take the Airport Express and place it in one of those back rooms, have it pick up the WiFi (now provided by the NetGear Nighthawk) and then connect an Ethernet cable from the Express to my XBOX 360 for XBOX Live connectivity.
I need the Express to find the NetGear WiFi wirelessly because I can't run a cord from the NetGear to the Express. I have read some forums and answers saying there's no way to do this because Airport routers can only talk to other Airport routers, so I'm simply out of luck. I have read other things saying you can do it no problem, and then everything else in between. Some say to set the Express up as a bridge and it will work, and then the next thing says that if you set Express up as a bridge then it disables the Port not the back so I wouldn't be able to connect it via Ethernet to anything.
Then there's the whole compatibility with XBOX Live issue. Some things have said Apple routers work fine with Xbox Live and then there's say they don't. It's really gotten quite confusing at this point and I'm hoping some of you WiFi router Xbox ninjas out there can help me out once and for all.
I could always pop the $60 bucks or so on the Microsoft XBOX WiFi adapter, but I've heard that thing is cheesy at best and doesn't provide the best of connectivity, plus I would like to avoid anything Else Microsoft making its way into my home if possible. :)
Thanks in advance for reading my long-winded post and for replying.
Airport
Posted on Jan 7, 2014 8:57 PM
OK, so here's the deal on this once and for all. ignore anything else you read about this because this is the correct 411:
- I used the new NetGear NightHawk and hooked it up to my Router (The Nighthawk is replacing the Airport Extreme I was using, that didn't provide enough range for my liking).
- I then took the Airport Extreme and reset it to factory defaults using Airport Utility from my iPad Air. This was a hair tricky because I thought I could just plug the Express in and the Airport Utility would find it, but it didn't. After some fiddling I ended up taking an Ethernet cable and connecting the Express to one of the LAN ports on the new Nighthawk, at which point the Airport Utility on my iPad Air then found that bad boy.
- Once the Airport Express was set back to factory default, I then used the Airport Utility to have the Express "Join an Existing Network" (this being the new NetGear WiFi network). If you need to know how to do this, just search for it here, or Google it and you can find the steps.
- At this point I was following instructions I had read about putting the Airport Express in 'Bridge' or 'Client' mode, but for the life of me couldn't find a setting like this in the Airport Utility. After some Googling, it turns out that once you reset the Airport Express to factory defaults and choose the "Join Existing Network" option, that in fact puts that puppy in Bridge mode.
- I unplugged the Airport Express and disconnected it from the new NetGear router.
- I then took the Airport Express and set it on top of my XBOX 360 in another room way on the other side of the house, and plugged the Power in. it took a minute, but by-golly that light on the front turned green. I then plugged the Aiport Express into the XBOX 360 via an Ethernet cable (use the LAN <-> port on the Express, not the WAN port).
- I fired up the XBOX 360 and it immediately logged into XBOX Live and it's working like a dream. It may be worth noting that I did follow some instructions in the NetGear manual about setting up priority using the QoS settings, which prioritize the signal for gaming, surfing etc.
So basically the NetGear router will talk with the Airport Express (atleast for this XBOX Live bridge-mode scenario here). Also, the XBOX Live will work with an Airport router without any fiddling, so any incompatibility issues that used to exist are now gone and the two are friendly together.
Sorry about this long drawn-out explanation, but I sure could have used this when I started my endeavor, so I hope this helps someone someday too.
Adios! Apple Rules and Microsoft doesn't!
Posted on Jan 9, 2014 3:04 PM









