Proper way to setup two airport express and router in a single wireless network

Take a look at this Apple document on creating a "Roaming Network".

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260

Not sure it will work with the Thompson router but maybe it will give you some ideas.

just need to know what kind of network do I need to tell the airport setup wizard to use.

Unfortunately, the "wizard" does not mention anything like a "roaming network"

Setup each AirPort device to "create a wireless network" using the same wireless network name, same wireless security setting and same wireless network password as your Thompson wireless network. Accept Apple's recommendation to configure the AirPorts in Bridge Mode.

Most users know the name of their wireless network and the password, but few know exactly what type of wireless security settings their router is using. The wireless security settings on the Thompson router and Apple AirPorts must match up exactly.....otherwise the wireless will not behave as one network.

So, do not proceed with the setup until you know exactly what type of wireless security the Thompson router is using, since you will need that information to be able to configure the AirPorts correctly.

1) If you see all 3 APs are set up to be on the same network, they are on the same network.

2) Well, you could change the WiFi name which would allow you to differentiate between the 3 APs, but then you would have to change the WiFi network on your devices whenever you moved around.

1) How can I check that all three access points (the two airports and my router wifi) are in the same wifi network?

If you configured the AirPorts in Bridge Mode, they are on the same network as the Thompson router. You can verify this if you can check the client device list for the Thompson router. You will see that the AirPorts are on the same network.

Everything will behave as if it is on the same network if you used the same wireless network name, same password and same wireless security on all the wireless routers.

the two airports and the router are setup exactly the same. including the channel.

Unless this means that you are using the "Automatic" channel setting, you want each wireless router separated by at least 3-4 channels from the others. So, if the Thompson is on Channel 1, then manually set one AirPort at Channel 6, and the other at Channel 11 or similar.

As far as 5 GHz, just set the routers to use a different channel....you don't need to worry about separating them by 3-4 channels on this band.

Looking at the airport utility, it seems that the wifi clients on the 2nd floor are connected to the airport in the 1st floor instead of the one on the 2nd floor (which is closer) and --as expected-- they don't get an excellent signal.

This will depend on what "clients" you are talking about. If you have a recent Mac laptop, you can "walk" it around the house and it will automatically switch to the wireless access point with the best signal.

If your "clients" are iOS devices like an iPhone or iPad, this will not usually occur since the iOS operating system is greaty simplified.

iOS devices tend to "hang on" to the access point with which they originally connected. Even if you move the iOS device closer to another AirPort, it may not "switch" to that AirPort. Nature of the beast with iOS.

If you move the iOS device to another area, you will likely need to either power it down and power back up, or turn off the wireless on the device and turn it back on so that the iOS device will hopefully switch access points and pick up the stronger signal.

If I manually change the channel to 1,6 and 11, will my iOS devices (iPads/iPhones) switch to the nearest/strongest Airport?

Unfortunately, no. Manually changing the channels will not fix a shortcoming of the iOS operating system.

Bob Timmons wrote:

If I manually change the channel to 1,6 and 11, will my iOS devices (iPads/iPhones) switch to the nearest/strongest Airport?

Unfortunately, no. Manually changing the channels will not fix a shortcoming of the iOS operating system.

Actually, iOS devices WILL automatically switch to the best signal with a properly set up roaming network. My iOS devices do this just fine. Early versions of iOS on the iPad 1 had problems with this, and were also non-compliant with the Wi-Fi spec in many other ways. Most of this has been cleaned up now.

There are two reasons why Flying Dude's iOS devices are not switching.

1. The channels are the same on all the access points (Airports and Thompson router). This will create automatic switching problems on all Wi-Fi devices, not just iOS. The interference caused by having the same channel enabled on access points in close proximity will also create the poor performance that Flying Dude is complaining about.

2. If the signal from the first AP is still "good enough" then the device won't change APs even in the face of a stronger signal. This is done to prevent excessive switching, which can degrade performance. A Wi-Fi device won't even look for an alternative AP until the signal of it's current connection falls below a certain threshold. That threshold is determined by the device manufacturer. I've heard that iOS devices have lower performance thresholds and tend to hang on to the existing AP longer than other devices, but they will switch if it gets bad enough.

The implication is that the lower signal is probably good enough, even though a better signal is available. If you fix the channel problems you should have adequate throughput from whatever AP your iOS device decides to use. That is cetainly true in my house.