Chuck0819

Q: Creating a single big Airport network

I live on a farm with two houses (one if or my family and one is my parents) that are about 200 ft apart.  We had to do some trenching and that allowed be to put in some direct bury Cat 6 cable so I can network the two houses together.  Both of the houses have Airports in them (I have a 2 TB time capsule and my parents have an airport express).  My question is that if they are all running on the same network, would you be able to create a single continuous network of all airports  (i,e named "Farm" for instance) and be able to walk between houses without having to change the wifi SSID?

 

And just to confirm, if this is possible it is only possible with Airports and you can't do the same thing with other manufactuers routers (i,e adding in a Netgear router into the mix would need it's own separate name).

 

Thanks!

iPhone 6 Plus, iOS 9.1

Posted on Oct 21, 2015 2:48 PM

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Q: Creating a single big Airport network

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  • by LaPastenague,Solvedanswer

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 21, 2015 4:05 PM in response to Chuck0819
    Level 9 (52,825 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 21, 2015 4:05 PM in response to Chuck0819
    My question is that if they are all running on the same network, would you be able to create a single continuous network of all airports  (i,e named "Farm" for instance) and be able to walk between houses without having to change the wifi SSID?

    Yes, this is called roaming network.. the apple documents are well out of date.. but it is standard configuration.

     

    Wi-Fi base stations: Setting up and configuring a roaming network (802.11 a/b/g/n) - Apple Support

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6490890

     

    Bob’s setup info.

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6481048


    Roaming can be done with any brand of wireless AP or router.


    Mixing brands can have some unexpected results.. and although this stuff seems extremely easy and straightforward it does occasionally come a cropper and is hard to find the issue.. but I have used different brands with no issues.. except on a handful of occasions.. (where I solved it by replacement .. due to never being able to find the cause).. I would say 99% of the time it is fine.. but not all routers handle apple special protocols well.. eg bonjour, airplay, airprint, air drop and just about every other air thing you can think of.

  • by Chuck0819,

    Chuck0819 Chuck0819 Oct 21, 2015 8:37 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apple TV
    Oct 21, 2015 8:37 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Excellent - thanks!

     

    I'll probably just go with the Airport stuff for now as that is what I have and it easy for my wife and parents to diagnose things if I am away.

     

    Next is getting a NAS so I can do a 3rd backup of pictures away somewhere besides my house

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 21, 2015 9:14 PM in response to Chuck0819
    Level 9 (52,825 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 21, 2015 9:14 PM in response to Chuck0819
    Next is getting a NAS so I can do a 3rd backup of pictures away somewhere besides my house

    Great idea.. photos are now so easy to wipe out from everything you own.. and with magnetic storage almost the only form we have it makes sense to make many copies of it.

     

    Burning to DVD (rewritables) is worth a consideration.. Standard burn once disks have proven to have fairly poor lifespan.. but rewritable are based on a phase change material and not too expensive for the capacity..

    http://www.acronis.com/en-us/resource/tips-tricks/2005/lifestyles-rewritable.htm l

     

    I doubt any mechanical disk will last 20years.. but even worse is that keeping a connection available to it is hard.. stored files on ide disks.. well don't wait too long to transfer it to SATA or the interface will be gone.

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Oct 21, 2015 9:54 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 9 (52,825 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 21, 2015 9:54 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Please don't read the above as saying not to use hard disks..

    I got past edit time.. I just have a thing that people believe hard disks last forever.. but I kind of doubt it..

     

    Paper and photographic film.. and pictures painted or chiseled into stone.. beats all the modern electronic methods of storage hands down.