Greetings,
I have an Airport Extreme (802.11n)......4th Generation.
I also have an Airport Express 802.11g.
The Airport Express has Airplay enabled and is what I use to stream music to stereo. Everything works, but I'm wondering if by using an older Airport Express, am I reducing my wireless internet bandwidith in half......or does that only happen when in WDS mode?
Thanks.
Since your Extreme is a simultaneous dual band model, any activity that occurs in the 2.4 GHz spectrum has no effect on the 5 GHz spectrum.
The effect you cite was only a problem with 802.11n devices having to use 802.11b/g "compatible mode" with non-802.11n devices sharing the 2.4 GHz spectrum. In that mode 802.11n devices would be limited to about 70% of their theoretical maximum bandwidth, not 50%.
For a definitive answer, you have to determine whether you are using 5 GHz to the maximum extent, or if you are mixing 802.11n and 802.11b/g devices on a 2.4 GHz channel.
WDS is a different matter. In a WDS, each additional base station would reduce the available bandwidth by at least 50%. With two base stations, the number of required transmissions doubles, plus "overhead", resulting in a significant degradation in wireless performance.
Thanks John.
I've got an extra Airport Express....802.11g sitting in a drawer. Aside from setting up another airplay music thing or connecting a printer.....are there any other uses you can think of? Using it in a WDS setup doesn't make much sense these days, yes?
Yes. Connect the older Express to your Extreme with an Ethernet cable, and you will have another access point in a "roaming" configuration: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260
It will be 2.4 GHz 802.11a/b/g only, but perfectly suitable.
If your Mac is running Lion or Mountain Lion, you will need to use this workaround to reconfigure it: How to Configured an old AirPort Express
Airport Express bandwidth question
