Extending a wireless network using an old 802.11g Extreme

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Extending a wireless network using an old 802.11g Extreme

To preface this I just bought a new 5th Generation Airport Extreme for my house. I have an old (2nd or 3rd Gen.) Airport Extreme, that uses 802.11g (and obviously the new Extreme uses 802.11n).

My hope is to extend the wireless network in my house, but the age difference in the two airports is causing some problems..I've been looking at the support sections for extending a wireless network, but the step by step doesn't quite work for me.

I've set up the main base station (the new one), and have the option selected for extending the wireless network. However, when I get in to the settings for the older airport extreme, I do not have the option to set it to "extend a current wireless network" in the drop down menu for "Network Mode".

I would really appreciate the community's expertise here!

Thanks in advance!

Posted on Aug 6, 2012 10:18 PM

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Tesserax

Level 10

148,453 points

Aug 7, 2012 8:49 AM in response to ianAPOC

If your "old" AirPort Extreme is actually a dome-shaped 802.11g model, then the only option to extend the new 5th generation Extreme is with a Wireless Distribution System (WDS). This type of extended network has two major drawbacks: 1) It can only operate in the 802.11g Radio Mode, and 2) For every base station added the overall bandwidth is cut in half. For two base stations, running in 802.11g, that would be 54 Mbps / 2 = 25-27 Mbps.

If; however, your "old" AirPort is actually a 1st or 2nd generation 802.11n model, then you can configure them for an extended network without the bandwidth penalties of a WDS.

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