How to Setup 2 Airport Extremes in WDS in 5Ghz along with TWO 2WIRE Routers

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How to Setup 2 Airport Extremes in WDS in 5Ghz along with TWO 2WIRE Routers

OK, Let me explain what I've got and Using Now...

Right now All items are working as in I'm able to surf the web without any problems...

The main Router/Modem is an AT&T U-VERSE 3800 2Wire Modem. Off of that I've got one Apple Airport Extreme router in 5GHz N Mode hooked up with Cat5.
My second Airport Extreme is about 436.7ft from the Main Airport (mentioned Above) second is in 5Ghz N not connected with a cable. I set this up using my iMac Airport Utility. I followed the steps within airport utility to make a WDS network, this worked Flawlessly.
Once I got it all working I took the second router to it's location 436.7ft away.
+(If your wondering how I know the exact distance between each router, I found a Great Tool within our County Assessors website that uses something like Google Maps but much more up close and personal overhead shots... and has a measuring tool you can use.)+

Ok now back to my problem,
The second Airport Extreme has a 2Wire Router attached to it to CONVERT the signal back to 2.4GHz G mode since my Windows 7 Laptop doesn't have a Wireless N card built in...
I think this is the cause of my Issue. (Which I'm getting to... someday.) =)
_______________________________________________________________________________

I am using a HAVA Streaming Player to stream my DirecTV DVR over the Web. (this is much like the Slingbox)
When I'm in the Main Network that has the Actual AT&T Uverse 2wire router/Airport extreme, I can view my Hava Player within the network.
When I go to the 2nd Location and connect to the 2nd 2wire modem thats connected to the Airport Extreme to convert the wifi signal back to 2.4GHz G,
I can't View the HAVA Player...

I haven't tried using a Cat5 directly connected to the 2nd Airport to my laptop bypassing the 2.4GHz G 2wire router. I don't know as of now if I can view the HAVA player doing so...

So my question to you guys is,
How do I get the 2.4GHz 2wire 2nd location router to be on the same network as the main location 2wire modem/router?

iMac i3 Intel, Mac OS X (10.6.6), iMac 3.2ghz Intel i3 512 video card.

Posted on Feb 20, 2011 3:17 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Bob Timmons

Community+ 2024

Level 10

159,698 points

Feb 20, 2011 3:48 PM in response to musick7

How do I get the 2.4GHz 2wire 2nd location router to be on the same network as the main location 2wire modem/router?

That 2Wire router must be configured in Bridge Mode. If there is not a specific setting to enable Bridge Mode on the router setup page(s), turning off DHCP and NAT will accomplish the same goal on just about any brand of router. Off course, there are some exceptions, but I can't tell you whether the 2Wire router might be one of those or not.

The AirPort Extreme hooked up to your main Uverse router must also be configured in Bridge Mode. The setting for this is located under the Internet icon in AirPort Utility > Manual Setup. Connection Sharing = Off (Bridge Mode).

The "remote" AirPort Exptreme is already setup in Bridge Mode, so no additional configuration will be needed on that device.

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Answer 2

musick7 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2011 4:03 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thank you for the fast reply!
I should of added that I was also having an issue with seeing both Airports within the Airport utility on my windows 7 laptop. One was only showing up, The main one.

Once I changed the Main Airport like you said to do, It showed up instantly after I changed it to bridge mode off.

Not sure if that's what was causing that or if its something else.

Anyways I will post my findings about the first part of your suggestion, turning off DHCP and NAT.

This model of 2wire has a way to enable bridge mode but i don't remember where there settings are within the 2wire. This info I had bookmarked on my last iMac but it got sent back to apple and they sent us a 3 yr newer model at no charge.
And I wasn't able to get an upto date Time Machine backup... But I do have the old HDD just no way to connect it to my new mac as of yet...

Thanks Again for your suggestion.

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Answer 3

Feb 20, 2011 4:08 PM in response to musick7

This model of 2wire has a way to enable bridge mode but i don't remember where there settings are within the 2wire.

Probably, you will enter something like 192.168.1.254 into your browser to bring up the configuration page. That IP address works for some other AT&T devices, but I don't know if it will work on the 2Wire you have there. Try a Google search for something like "default IP for 2 Wire routers"

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Answer 4

musick7 Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 20, 2011 4:30 PM in response to Bob Timmons

NEW PROBLEM...

When I changed the MAIN AIRPORT to BRIDGE MODE OFF, I lost internet connection on Every Connected Device in my network...

Then I wasn't able to Login to my Uverse Router using 192.168.1.254 which is always what I've used before. However, I wasn't able to login to the Uverse router I was Able To Login to the AT&T DSL 2Wire router over at the second location... Which again caused a problem...
I had to turn the Main Airport router back to share a public IP address.
Now everything is working again but I'm assuming no HAVA streaming at 2nd location. Will check this soon.

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Answer 5

Feb 20, 2011 4:34 PM in response to musick7

You only want one router configured to handle DHCP and NAT on a network. All the other routers behind the main router must be configured in bridge mode. That's a basic networking rule and I can't tell you to break it.

Are you power cycling the entire network after any configuration changes you make. Power everything down...all devices. Then start modem first and work your way out until all devices are powered up.

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