Can 1st Gen Airport Express be used to extend an AEBS Network?

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pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Can 1st Gen Airport Express be used to extend an AEBS Network?

I'd like to know if it works wirelessly, or with ethernet connected.

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8), iPad2, 60GB iPod Photo, Hp j6480

Posted on Jan 27, 2012 2:19 PM

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Answer 1

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Jan 27, 2012 2:30 PM in response to pgoodwin

Airport Utility 5.5.3 doesn't recognize the Express when it's not connected via ethernet. It does when it's a wired connection, but I haven't tried to mod the network in the uitility yet. I'd like to know if it will work before go in and modify my working setup

Message was edited by: pgoodwin

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Answer 2

Bob Timmons

Level 10

186,200 points

Jan 27, 2012 3:01 PM in response to pgoodwin

Not sure what you mean by 1st Gen AirPort Express. The AEBS has "generations", but the AirPort Express does not appear this way...at least in AirPort Utility.

Might be a good idea to check for the Model No on the side of the AirPort Express to find out what you have. It will be something like A1084 or A1264.

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Answer 3

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Jan 27, 2012 7:33 PM in response to Bob Timmons

It's an A1084

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Answer 4

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Jan 27, 2012 7:46 PM in response to pgoodwin

airport Utility doesn't recognize the Express without the Ethernet attached, but it shows up in the Airport Menu at the top and in iTunes on the computer, iPhones, and iPads in Music. I don't see how my model can be used to extend the network wirelessly. However, extending the network wirelessly isn't too great of a thing to do anyway because it halves the throughput because now two machines have to process the traffic when you're connected via the Express It's better to hook the Express to the Ethernet.

I was hoping to get a response from someone who had tried it or found documentation that said it could be done with the A1084 model before I went in and upset my working network. I'm not sure if using the older Express will change the behavior of the Extreme and lock out 5 GHz or something weird like that..

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Answer 5

Bob Timmons

Level 10

186,200 points

Jan 27, 2012 8:02 PM in response to pgoodwin

That is a "b/g" version of the AirPort Express.

Your best option by far is to connect the AirPort Express to the AEBS using an Ethernet cable and configure the Express to "create a wireless network" using the exact same wireless network name, same security setting and password as your AEBS network, and make sure that Bridge Mode is selected for the AirPort Express.

That will provide a slower "g" wireless network in the general area where the Express is located. Faster "n" devices will connect at lower "g" speeds when they are in the vicinity of the AirPort Express.

If you want to connect the AirPort Express to the AEBS using wireless only, that really gets complicated. Both The AirPort Express and AEBS will need to be configured to "Participate in a WDS network".

The upside to WDS is that you will have a bit better wireless coverage.

The downsides to WDS are significant:

WDS operates only in "g" wireless mode, so your "n" AEBS drops down to a "g" level wireless router
The bandwidth on the entire networks drops in half, so you will have a "g" wireless network running at half speed
WDS is difficult for most users to configure. It's easy to make a mistake and impossible to recover without starting all over again on the configuration.

So, WDS is for very patient folks who will be satisifed with a very slow network

Apple's instructions for WDS are here if you want to give it a try:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4262

Whichever setup you choose, it would be a good idea to perform a Factory Default Reset on the Express as a first step in the process.

Resetting an AirPort Base Station or Time Capsule FAQ

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Answer 6

pgoodwin Author

Level 2

164 points

Jan 27, 2012 8:57 PM in response to Bob Timmons

Thanks Bob. I did a lot of reading on this topic today. There's some good stuff about it in the Airport Utility Help. I've come to the conclusion that due to all of the cons you've mentioned above, I should not use this model Express for anything other than playing iTunes thru audio gear.

I'm going to invest in another Extreme and a gigabit switch to expand the Extreme use it as the router and replace my 10/100 D-link 10/100 DI-604 router and Netgear 10/100 switch.

I'll extend the network using my present Extreme via Ethernet as you mentioned above. I have quite a bit of stuff that's wired (2 Ethernet BluRay players, a PS3, and two computers. I have quitte a bit of wireless stuff now too (MacBook Pro, Dell laptop, two iPhones and two iPads). I'm hoping for some minor Internet throughput improvement (the bottlenect there is Time Warner and the cable modem) and a big improvement on the internal network for transferring large files and backups between the computers.

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