Setting up Airport Extreme to extend a network

Power up the AirPort Extreme and let it run for a minute or two

Hold in the reset button on the back of the AirPort Extreme for 7-8 seconds and release

Allow a full minute for the AirPort Extreme to restart to a slow blinking amber light status

Connect an Ethernet cable from your Ethernet hub/switch to the "O" port on the AirPort Extreme

On your iPhone......

Tap Settings > WiFi

Look for a listing of Set Up New AirPort Base Station

Tap on AirPort Extreme xxxxxx

The setup utility will take few seconds to analyze the network settings and then display a screen to

Create a New Network

Name the network with exactly the same name as the Linksys network

Assign a Device Name of your choice for the AirPort Express

Use the exact same wireless network password that the Linksys network is using

Confirm the password again to verify

Tap Next and the setup utility will configure the AirPort Extreme

Should be a green light on the AirPort Extreme in a minute or two

Try things out

was wondering if I can connect the Airport to that and then extended the Wi-Fi that way?

Possibly. Would you be using a Mac, a PC, or an iPhone / iPad to set this up?

Not sure which Linksys router you have, but the AirPort Extreme cannot do Wi-Fi 6 or WPA 3 security, so a Wi-Fi device that connects to the Linksys signal may....or may not....connect to the AirPort Extreme signal when the Wi-Fi device moves into the area near the AirPort Extreme.

It's going to be one of those times when you won't know how well something will work.....or if it will work...until you try.

Post back if you are interested in experimenting.

You don't need to change anything on the Linksys.

The big questions here are......

1) Say you are working on your laptop near the Linksys router and you walk it to an area close to the AirPort router. Whether or not the laptop will automatically switch to pick up the signal from the Airport is open to question.

If it does, the upside is that the laptop will have much stronger signal near the AirPort. The downside here is that the AirPort cannot do Wi-Fi 6 or WPA3 security, so if the laptop does switch to the AirPort signal, potential speeds will not be as fast and there will be drop in security level from WPA3 to WPA2.

2) Same thing in reverse. You power up the laptop near the AirPort so it will pick up the signal from the AirPort and then walk it to an area close the Linksys router. Whether or not the laptop will automatically switch to pick up the signal from the Linksys is open to question.

Ideally, in an extended network you want to use the same or similar products from the same manufacturer so settings like WPA3 and Wi-Fi 6 will be identical on both routers. That will insure the best performance speed and security wise and allow a device to "roam" from one area to another seamlessly.

That is why I answered your initial question of can the AirPort Extreme extend the Linksys network with the word "Possibly".

OK, thanks for the info. It won't hurt to try.

I am traveling today, but will have instructions for you on how to set things up by this evening.