I have BT Infinity's HomeHub 3 and it's working great guns but I'd like to extend the range to take advantage of Apple TV etc. Can I use my Airpot Extreme as a relay base to extend the range of the BT Home Hub?
If so, how do I do that?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.2)
Sorry, but it is extremely unlikely that the AirPort Extreme would be compatible with the BT HomeHub if you are trying to extend using wireless only.
Very few devices are known to be compatible with Apple's WDS settings. The "known" compatible devices are as follows:
If you can establish an Ethernet connect between the AirPort Extreme and the HomeHub, you have some options to create more wireless coverage that way. Post back if you need more details on this.
Many thanks for your quick response. The ethernet solution sounds interesting as I really only need to extend the range up to the next floor -- a short cable would achieve that. Is there a how-to guide for that?
Is there a how-to guide for that?
The tricky part to hooking things up this way is that you must know the exact type of wireless security settings that the HomeHub is using. If you can provide that info, I will list the configuration steps for you to get this going.
A few examples of wireless security settings look like this:
WPA2 - PSK - AES
WPA - PSK - TKIP
WPA/WPA2 Personal
WPA2 Personal
Do you have the older "round" or "dome" version of the AirPort Extreme, or the newer "square" version with rounded corners?
The newer square version. I'll have to check the HomeHub settings later, though.
That's fine. Post back when you can.
Many thanks for your patience. The literature that came with the hub says the interface is wi-fi 802.11 b, g or n and the authentication is wpa-psk or wpa2-psk. Encryption type is aes of tkip
I hope that helps
There are some good clues here. This narrows down the compatible settings on the AirPort Extreme to 2 choices, so if one does not work....try the other as noted below.
It would be an excellent idea to first reset the AirPort Extreme (AEBS) back to factory default settings and then configure it with the new settings. To do this.....
Connect an Ethernet cable from one of the available LAN <-> ports on the HomeHub to the WAN port (circle of dots icon) on the AEBS
Open Macintosh HD > Applicatons > Utilities > AirPort Utility
Click Manual Setup
Click the Base Station tab located below the row of icons to assign a name to the AEBS (you can use the same name that you used before), assign a device password and adjust Time Zone settings
Click the Wireless tab next to the Base Station tab and adjust your settings to look like this:
Click the Internet icon, then click the Internet Connection tab
Click Update at the lower right to save the settings and allow 25-30 seconds for the AEBS to restart. You should see a green light.
Very important.....Power cycle the entire network as follows:
Check for proper network operation. You should have a strong wireless signal in the area near the AEBS.
Please post on your results.
Thanks for this info. I have the same configuaration at home and followed your guide to set up my AEBS to Extend my network, works perfectly now. The AEBS is in the far corner of the house connected via ethernet and now serves that side of the house and the garden. Many thanks.
Thank you, I followed your set up and now I have wifi now in the far end of the house.
Many thanks
Bob, you appear to be the Apple community expert on extending a local network using a combination of BT Home Hub and AirPort Express. I was hoping I could pick your brains.
I already had a working set up using a D-Link modem, and two AirPort Expresses, one creating a wireless network, the other extending it. But I wanted to change to BT Broadband, so today a spanking new BT Home Hub 4 arrived. I connected it easily, and used it to create a wireless network. All fine and functional, but then my problems began.
I must admit that I had given no thought to wireless device compatibility. I had assumed that Wi-Fi was a brand-agnostic technology. Vain hope! I set up one of my AirPort Expresses to wirelessly join/extend the network being created by the Home Hub. It seemed to work, but was completely unstable.
So then I connected the other AirPort Express to the Home Hub with an Ethernet cable, created a new wireless network with this Express, and joined this network with the second Express. I also disabled the wireless function of the Home Hub, so that it is now functioning purely as a modem, just like D-Link modem I already had.
This system works, but… it is still rather unstable. Much less so, but one or other of the AirPorts disconnects at least once every half-an-hour.
I have several questions for you:
1. Do you have any idea why my set-up is unstable? It uses default settings, in as much as the Home Hub DHCP server is enabled, and the devices on the network use the IP addresses that it serves. The "Router Mode" of the AirPort that is creating the wireless network is set to Off (Bridge Mode). I suppose I could disable the Home Hub DHCP server and change the AirPort router mode to either DHCP and NAT, or DHCP Only. Any thoughts?
2. In your answers in this thread, above, you say that you should set the Airport to create a wireless network with the same name and the same password as the Home Hub network. Are you therefore suggesting that the Home Hub wireless creation is NOT disabled? And you have the Home Hub and the Airport both creating wireless networks with the same name? Since I've already spent five hours today trying to get a stable network running I though I'd ask before I try this solution for myself.
I'd really appreciate your thoughts and comments, for which many thanks in anticipation.
Best, Kevan
Hi Bob,
I just followed your setup for a BT HH5 - seems to be a success so far. Thanks for the setup instructions.
As a note to others, regarding this step:
Wireless Security = Try WPA/WPA2 Personal first. Otherwise, try WPA2 Personal
I used "WPA/WPA2" mode and it was successful.
Tom
Extending a BT Hub 3 range with Airport Extreme?
