moseman
Level 1 (5 points)

Q: Extending wireless network via ethernet

Hi all:  I have a first gen Airport Extreme and an Airport Express.  I am having a hard time getting my wifi network extended via the Airport Express.  My goal to to have an extended wifi network with the source data delievered to the Airport Express via ethernet and then broadcasted, not repeating teh wifi signal from the Airport Extreme.  The two devises are seperated by several walls which does not allow the wifi signal to propogate between them.

 

I can see both devices via our ethernet wiring (I turn off wifi on my laptop and plug into the network).  The Airport Express is connected to directly to one of the Airport Extreme ethernet ports (and not the WAN port).  I then setup the Airport Extreme first and test it - that works fine.  Then I move over to the Airport Express and set it up to extend the wireless network.  This seems to work fine too.  But when I move the Express to its final location and hook it up to our wired network, it fails to broadcast.

 

I hope my description makes sense.  Is my goal possible?  Thanks, Chris.

Posted on Oct 17, 2013 8:12 AM

by Tesserax,Solvedanswer
Tesserax Tesserax
Level 9 (54,901 points)
Wireless
A:

Then I move over to the Airport Express and set it up to extend the wireless network.  This seems to work fine too.  But when I move the Express to its final location and hook it up to our wired network, it fails to broadcast.

You have the basis for a "roaming" type network. In this case the AirPort Express needs to be configured both as a bridge and to "create a wireless network," not to extend it. The "extend" feature was designed only for when you want the connection between base stations to be wireless. A bit confusing as a roaming network does indeed "extend" the wireless network and uses the same Network Name.

Posted on Oct 17, 2013 8:54 AM

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moseman

Q: Extending wireless network via ethernet

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  • by Tesserax,Solvedanswer

    Tesserax Tesserax Oct 17, 2013 8:54 AM in response to moseman
    Level 9 (54,901 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 17, 2013 8:54 AM in response to moseman

    Then I move over to the Airport Express and set it up to extend the wireless network.  This seems to work fine too.  But when I move the Express to its final location and hook it up to our wired network, it fails to broadcast.

    You have the basis for a "roaming" type network. In this case the AirPort Express needs to be configured both as a bridge and to "create a wireless network," not to extend it. The "extend" feature was designed only for when you want the connection between base stations to be wireless. A bit confusing as a roaming network does indeed "extend" the wireless network and uses the same Network Name.

  • by moseman,

    moseman moseman Oct 17, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 17, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Tesserax

    Thank you very much. That was the missing piece.

  • by iiWoLFii,

    iiWoLFii iiWoLFii Jan 8, 2014 12:30 PM in response to moseman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 8, 2014 12:30 PM in response to moseman

    what about the wifi channel does it have to be the same or different?

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Jan 8, 2014 1:07 PM in response to iiWoLFii
    Level 10 (105,433 points)
    Wireless
    Jan 8, 2014 1:07 PM in response to iiWoLFii

    If you leave the Channel setting on Automatic, you don't have to worry about this. Otherwise, if you are setting channels manually set the extending device about 4-5 channels apart from the main device.

  • by markg04,

    markg04 markg04 Jan 10, 2014 3:33 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 10, 2014 3:33 PM in response to Tesserax

    What setting should be used on the Airport extreme under the network tab?  The options are Off (Bridge Mode), DHCP Only or DHCP and Nat.

     

    Thank you