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User profile for user: jmeyer84
jmeyer84 Author
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Using Airport Express As Bridge To Ethernet Device(PS3)?

I currently have the Airport Extreme Base Station(wireless N) providing wireless access to my house. I recently purchased a PS3 that is wireless G capable. Although I have ~75% signal strength on my PS3, I am having buffering issues on streaming some videos from my MacPro. There is no way I am going to get a CAT5 or CAT6 cable to where my PS3 is located.

My question: *Is it possible to use the Airport Express(Wireless N) as a ethernet bridge to my PS3?* I would like the Airport Express to receive the wireless N signal from my Airport Extreme, and provide a ethernet connection to my PS3. The idea being that transfers, bandwidth, and signal strength would increase by using Wireless N to a ethernet bridge over just using wireless G. The Airport Express does not need to repeat the wireless signal, just receive the existing signal and provide a connection through ethernet.

MacPro 2.26 Octo, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Dec 26, 2009 11:27 AM

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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
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Dec 26, 2009 11:34 AM in response to jmeyer84

My question: Is it possible to use the Airport Express(Wireless N) as a ethernet bridge to my PS3? I would like the Airport Express to receive the wireless N signal from my Airport Extreme, and provide a ethernet connection to my PS3.


Yes, the 802.11n version of the AirPort Express Base Station (AXn) supports Ethernet bridging with a mode known as ProxySTA. Basically, you would configure the AXn to join the wireless network, created by the AEBSn, and then, enable the Allow wired clients setting using the AirPort Utility.

The idea being that transfers, bandwidth, and signal strength would increase by using Wireless N to a ethernet bridge over just using wireless G.


That would seem logical, but unfortunately doesn't quite play out that way in the real world networking scenarios. Typically, the following would be the order of best to worst performance: 1) Ethernet-to-Ethernet, 2) Ethernet-to-Wireless, 3) Wireless-to-Wireless, and 4) Wireless-to-Ethernet.
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User profile for user: Bob Timmons
Bob Timmons
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Dec 26, 2009 5:49 PM in response to jmeyer84

There's quite a bit of "overhead" bandwidth loss converting wireless to ethernet.

Ethernet powerline adapters would be the next best thing to running a straight ethernet cable and better than any wireless to wireless or wireless to ethernet arrangement.

I noticed that Belkin is offering adapters that are close to Gigabit speeds, but haven't tried them. I have used Netgear and Linksys regular powerline adapters and both ran circles around a very good wireless connection in my home.
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User profile for user: Tesserax
Tesserax
User level: Level 10
148,453 points

Dec 26, 2009 8:46 PM in response to jmeyer84

The order that I provided you is for bandwidth performance; actual throughput will almost always be less ... and may be different than what you would expect. It certainly would be worth the try to see which provides your PS3 with the best streaming performance. The only suggestion, I could offer at this point would be to check on the return policy on any networking equipment you do decide to try.
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User profile for user: jmeyer84
jmeyer84 Author
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Dec 27, 2009 8:58 AM in response to Tesserax

I was able to monitor the video stream. Anything above 2.5 or 3.0 Mbps is choking it up and causing it to stutter. For wireless-G that is line of sight maybe 50 feet away (3 walls), this is horrible. I think it has something to do with the wireless chipset on the PS3.

I got a $50 Apple gift card for Christmas, so I'm going to try the bridge with the Express. I'll post my results here.

Thanks for the assistance and feedback so far.
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Using Airport Express As Bridge To Ethernet Device(PS3)?

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