Wireless advice needed: mac pro=cable, ipad wireless

thanks The Hatter for your helpful reply and all the links.

An update: I just solved the music side of things by plugging the jack from my stereo (old amplifier sort with phono-style cable) to the airport express. The iPad now sends music via the express too - using airplay & the choosing the airport express. I have to disable one device's music conx to play the other. Progress!

The remaining problem: The ipad still cannot connect to the internet through the airport express. I might be wrong but i guess that the ipad is not getting a valid IP address and i'm not sure how to fix this, or even test the theory! wireless networking is so very user-unfriendly in my experience.

I will check the relevant links you provided for a solution. Until then ...

ray

thanks again.

for the record, I do not use apple TV or aiport extreme.

I have managed to get airtunes working for both my mac pro and the ipad today, going through the airport express (802.11g).

I can get Internet through my mac pro (as it has ethernet to the cable modem) but not on my ipad.

My mac pro has Internet sharing turned on and in bridge mode. I am sharing ethernet 1 with ethernet 2 (wired to the airport express.

The ipad sees the airport and shows the signal on top-left of screen but will not connect. It is unconfigurable via the ipad and I don;t really know how to fix it using airport utility on the mac pro. it's driving me insane.

I wonder if simply buying a router would be the best solution here?

I think you're right, I could be spending a lot of time on this issue and still not get anywhere so i'll have to find the money for new gear. It's just puzzling to me that I can use the airport express for music but not for internet on my ipad. AND i cannot find anyone online who has the same issue.

The info about the router is much appreciated. I may have to get a fibre cable-specific device but the 300 + 300 is good to know as the cheaper routers I have found are 300 + 150. Steep learning curve

Went to airport express pages - no luck there. found this in ipad discussions which suggests that the old airport express is no longer being supported by apple https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3490820?answerId=16723203022#16723203022

I have yet to find anything official from apple but yes, it does appear to have been made obsolete for newer networks. I have ordered a cable modem with gigabit Ethernet and USB for backups plus dual band 802.11n. Should cover all necessities.

I knew hardly any of all this before! I would like to see some kind of improved user friendly software way of dealing with networking issues as there are many skins on the onion. :)

I went for the tp-link gigabit cable router and it's working fine. Set up was easier than I expected once I had accessed the router thru safari. Next task is to see how/if I can somehow get the airport express linked up to the network and use this exclusively to send music from my iPad (unlike the airport express, the tp link has no audio out port). It's only for the sake of convenience. I'll rest my head for a while first though!

Thanks for your input

Update: my iPad connection failed after a few days after I had connected it elsewhere and returned. It couldn't even see my newly set up network but saw loads of networks in my area belonging to others. What I had to do was access the router by safari, deselect auto channel and select channel 3 and reboot it.

Wireless is such a nightmare to sort out