Airport Express and AT&T U-verse (3800HGV-B router)

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Airport Express and AT&T U-verse (3800HGV-B router)

Problem: I have one area of my home that does not get an adequate wireless signal. I have service with AT&T U-verse (2wire 3800hgv-b router) and have tried using a Hawking HWREN1 Hi-Gain Wireless 300N Range Extender to extend my wireless signal. This did not work. I tried a Netgear Universal WiFi Range Extender (WN2000RPT) and this did not work either. In both instances, I could not stay "connected" to the internet. Staying connected to the range extender was no problem. I worked with technical support for both companies and they said their device does not work with the 2wire 3800hgv-b. I have contacted AT&T technical support and all the could suggest was trying different wireless channels which did not work.

In addition, I have attempted to use a power line adapter as well but my power in the area where I need the wireless connection is on a different circuit. Moving the router is not an option either.

Prior to purchasing an Airport Express, I would like to know if the Airport Express will extend the wireless range of the 3800hgv-b router? If so, are there any special setup instructions?

Many thanks.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Nov 29, 2010 1:01 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,447 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:06 PM in response to mkfranklintx

Hello mkfranklintx. Welcome to the Apple Discussions!

Prior to purchasing an Airport Express, I would like to know if the Airport Express will extend the wireless range of the 3800hgv-b router?

Unfortunately, most non-AirPort routers are not compatible with Apple's implementation of Wireless Distribution System (WDS)...so it very unlikely that your 2Wire router can be extended wirelessly with the AirPort Express Base Station (AX).

In addition, even if it could, it sounds (based on your description) like the distance and/or obstacles between the 2Wire and the extending router would make it impossible to successfully extend it wirelessly. Sorry!

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Answer 2

mkfranklintx Author

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Nov 29, 2010 1:12 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for the response.

Is it possible to connect an Airport Extreme, as the wireless router, to my AT&T U-verse 2wire 3800HGV-B router, and extend the network using an Airport Express?

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Answer 3

Nov 29, 2010 1:13 PM in response to mkfranklintx

Welcome to the discussion area!

Prior to purchasing an Airport Express, I would like to know if the Airport Express will extend the wireless range of the 3800hgv-b router? If so, are there any special setup instructions?

Unfortunately, the AirPort Express and other Apple routers are not compatible with the devices of other manufacturers for the purpose of extending a network using wireless only.

If you want to use any of the Apple devices, you'll need to connect it to the 2Wire router using an ethernet connection. If powerline won't work for you, (a different circuit is usually not an issue for a Homeplug device if the house is on the same master electrical circuit, but your situation may be different), running the ethernet cable would be the only other option open to you.

You might try Linksys or Netgear, but I doubt that they will be compatible with 2Wire. Maybe one of their forums would clarify this.

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Answer 4

Tesserax

Level 10

148,447 points

Nov 29, 2010 1:18 PM in response to mkfranklintx

Is it possible to connect an Airport Extreme, as the wireless router, to my AT&T U-verse 2wire 3800HGV-B router, and extend the network using an Airport Express?

Yes ... or you can use a second AirPort Express instead of the Extreme.

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Answer 5

Nov 29, 2010 1:19 PM in response to mkfranklintx

Yes, if both devices are newer "n" capable routers....and you can get a good signal from the main router to the location where the extending device will be.

A good test would be to move your laptop to the proposed location of the remote extending device. If you can get a good Internet connection on you laptop at that point, the Express will have enough signal to work with.

The Express does not "boost" the signal, it merely extends what is receives. So, if it's too far away, or there are too many obstructions, it will have a very weak signal to extend with the result being poor performance in the area where you need a better wireless signal.

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Answer 6

Feb 3, 2011 10:30 AM in response to Bob Timmons

to get the Hawking Extender to work in an apple environment attached to a ATT 2Wire modem you need to bridge an airport express to the 2Wire modem, disable the built in WIFI of the 2Wire, use the set up the extender attached to the airport extreme and then it will work anywhere in the home after all IP addresses as assigned.

by using the airport extreme as your wireless router bridged works well

Sol

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Answer 7

May 1, 2011 3:26 PM in response to Bob Timmons

None of my Express or Base Stations will work on my AT&T UVerse network. Even if they are just intended to work as internal Wi-Fi for routing iTunes to speakers. They are always amber. I have tried connecting the WAN port on the Base Station to a wired Ethernet connector on my Gigabit Hub which is connected to the AT&T router but still it will not register.

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Answer 8

!Randy!

Level 1

14 points

May 1, 2011 8:03 PM in response to Mark Wheaton

I have Uverse , a airport express and a airport extreme base station. I have my airport extreme base station in bridge mode directly attached to my Uverse router. I have turned off the wireless function of the Uverse router. I have at one point had the airport express "g" join the Uverse router when I had a printer attached to the airport express. I reset the airport express and got the yellow light even though all the settings were correct. If I remeber correctly I finally got green with setiing the channel to "1" in the uverse router and the airport express rather than "auto" (The same channel). Anyway since the uverse router is only "b/g" if you have a airport extreme base station thats the way to go. Then join your airport express to the extreme base station.

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Answer 9

Rick547

Level 1

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Oct 20, 2011 8:16 PM in response to !Randy!

How do you turn off the 2wire wireless router?

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Answer 10

!Randy!

Level 1

14 points

Oct 21, 2011 4:42 AM in response to Rick547

To disable the wireless function (radio) of the RG go into your web browser and type 192.168.1.254. The default system password is on a sticker on the bottom side of the U-verse RG. Then scroll to the bottom of the screen and select wireless (modify security or settings) and from that page select wireless interface and select disabled.

You can also navigate to the wireless settings page from the start screen by selecting the Settings Tab, then under that tab select Lan then under that selection select wireless.

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