Setting Up Roaming - New AirPort Extremes and Utility

Hi Tesserax and Bob Timmons. As expressed by the others in this thread, thank you for your good, clear explanation. Above, SBsyncro asked a very good question regarding the Radio Channel setup. I, too, have been running a roaming network for a few years, but have manually configured all radio channels to be on the exact same number (11: 2.4 GHz and 149: 5 GHz). From memory, when I first set this up, that was the recommendation and also to limit interference from other devices. Though, I am onIy running a 2.4 GHz network at the moment.

have two questions:

1. What is the reasoning behind setting the radio signal to different modes per wireless access point (either Extreme or Express)?

2. Is this roaming network a true mesh network? i.e. seamless handoff between two signals without interrupting streaming such as Skype, GoTo Meeting, etc. etc?

3. If this is not a true mesh, does Apple have an ability to set up a mesh using this hardware?

Thanks in advance for your support.

1. What is the reasoning behind setting the radio signal to different modes per wireless access point (either Extreme or Express)?

You do this to avoid interference that would be created by having two access points using the same wireless channel. In most cases, using the Automatic channel setting on each access point will take care of this for you automatically, but some users swear by setting channels manually.

2. Is this roaming network a true mesh network? i.e. seamless handoff between two signals without interrupting streaming such as Skype, GoTo Meeting, etc. etc?

it depends on the wireless device that is connecting to the network. Most Mac computers will automatically switch between access points as they move about the house to pick up the best quality signal, but iOS devices like the iPad and iPhone will not, as well as most PCs that I have used.

With iOS devices, you need to temporarily turn off the WiFi on the device when you move the iPad or iPhone from one location to another, then turn WiFi back on, and the device will usually pick up the signal from the closest access point. Sometimes, an iOS device will switch from one access point to another after a time....4-5 minutes or so...and sometimes not. Nature of the beast with the iOS operating system.

3. If this is not a true mesh, does Apple have an ability to set up a mesh using this hardware?

See answer to 2. above. It is up to the device that is connecting to the network.....not the network.

Hi, I' ll just add a quick question here, that might have to do with this.

Yesterday when I watched the (streaming) news, the playback was jumping forward and backward on the timeline; first it would jump ahead five seconds or so, then it would jump back five seconds. This happened many times during the 30-minute show.

Can the reason be that my laptop (MacBook Pro) was switching between access points? Both my Airports are pretty close to where I was sitting, but on separate floors.

1. What is the reasoning behind setting the radio signal to different modes per wireless access point (either Extreme or Express)?

Actually, you will NOT want each base station to use the same radio channel due to interference between nearby stations. Instead, you want each to use a unique channel. As Bob has mentioned, this is where leaving the Radio Mode in 'Automatic" usually works best.

In medium-to-large corporate networks, network engineers go to great lengths to make sure roaming base stations do not interfere with each other. As you can imagine, especially on the 2.4 GHz band, there are not a lot of channels to work with. In this case, the engineers stagger the channels so that similar ones are as far away apart as possible.

Although anything is possible, I would suspect that if your MacBook Pro was on a threshold between the signal strength perceived by the laptop, you would temporarily lose connectivity. This, in turn, could play havoc with the playback cache of your streaming video player with the broadcast coming in sporadically ... but, then again, that is exactly what the cache is designed for.

A couple of tests to try:

1. Temporarily move the MBP to be adjacent to one or the other base station. Try streaming again. Does the "time warp" reoccur?
2. If possible, increase the playback cache of the streaming video player. Did this help?

I'll try these things, thanks.

Just as you say, this is exactly why there's a cache, but if it's too small, it might cause these hiccups.

Thanks again Bob and Tesserax. You guys answered my question. My latest issue has been the handoff on my IPhone between AP signals. Your explanation has been quite helpful.

Tesserax

I know that this is an old post, but you have save me!! I hired a tech and spent $2000, what you figured out in 15 minutes.

Thanks

Thanks for your comments. I'm glad you found my post helpful. I'm sorry you had to go through the expense of hiring a tech.

Just another reply to your post to say "thank you!" Tesserax, your instructions were the best kind: clear, concise, and completely accurate. My Airport Extreme (ac), Airport Express (b/g), and Airport Express (n) now comprise a roaming network that covers the entire house and the front- & backyards. Hat's off to you!

I've also tried to connect an slightly older version of the Airport Extreme (5th gen) with a brand new one (6th gen), however have so far not been able to do so. I connected them correctly, but it simply will not work.

I can't for the life of me figure out how and why not. I set it up exactly as you described it which corresponds perfectly to Apple's own instructions but to no avail. I tried putting the newer one first, then switched them around.

Contact between the airports is intermittent, I have yet to try an wireless extension since that defeats the purpose of the second AE.

When I use them separately, they both work as they should but just won't function together. Can the slight age difference be the culprit?

I even attempted to let the second AE create a whole new network instead of extending the existing one, same problem. I'm not able to access internet or the local network more than intermittently.

It's extremely frustrating since it's supposedly so simple, the configuration is almost automated but even though I am absolutely certain that the set up is correct (even Airport Utility says so), it just won't work. I'll attempt with my friends 6th gen AE just to be thorough, but I just don't know what to think.

Any ideas or experiences would be very welcome!

Thank you very much for this detailed explanation - now my system works great!

Thank you for this post about resetting to factory default. The steps to configure were not taking until after i did a factory reset on the second router.

Thank a bunch. I have to pop out but will try it when I come back.