How can I properly use an airport express as a range extender?

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How can I properly use an airport express as a range extender?

I have an Airport Extreme connected in bridge mode to a 2Wire Router/Modem provided by AT&T for our U-Verse internet. Initially, we only had the 2Wire router, but it had issues with stability and range. A friend recommended the Airport Extreme, which, after being set up in bridge mode, successfully solved the issue of stability. However, range was still an issue.

We recently got an airport express to help solve this issue. Currently, the Express is upstairs while the Extreme is downstairs, and the Express is only plugged into the wall and set into extending a network mode. However, it does absolutely nothing to help with range. Sometimes, it seems to even hurt the connection as places where originally a slow connection was available now have no connection at all.

I am curious how I can set this up properly so that the Express will extend the range without issue. As of now, it makes it very difficult to connect to the network while upstairs and it is currently completely unplugged. Does this have something to do with the bridge mode of the Extreme prohibiting using the Express as a wireless extender? How would I properly set this up?

Thank you!

MacBook Air, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Dec 25, 2013 11:24 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

158,496 points

Dec 25, 2013 2:38 PM in response to bbq1029

Since your AirPort Extreme is connected directly to another router, it is appropriate to have it configured as a bridge. Having it in bridge mode should not be an issue with extending it with the AirPort Express base station.

Are you currently operating two separate Wi-Fi networks with the 2Wire and extended AirPort routers?

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Answer 2

bbq1029 Author

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Dec 25, 2013 2:44 PM in response to Tesserax

Currently they are separate wireless networks but the 2Wire goes entirely unused. The Airport Extreme connects into the 2Wire machine and the express is unwired upstairs and should function as a wireless range extender but doesn't work. Do I need to find a way to do a wired setup for the Express?

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Answer 3

Tesserax

Level 10

158,496 points

Dec 26, 2013 11:14 AM in response to bbq1029

Ok thanks for clarifying that for me. You should not have to use a wired connection between the Extreme and the Express unless you may want to consider configuring all three routers into a roaming network. This does offer better overall bandwidth performance over an extended network but does require all routers to be interconnected by Ethernet. If this is something that is doable for you then I can assist with the set up instructions.

However, if connecting the AirPorts by wire is something you want to avoid, the next step would be to review the following Apple Support article which details the set up steps for an extended network to see if anything was missed when you set up yours. The only difference is that your AirPort Extreme will be configured as a bridge but it will still be the "main" base station in the extended network with the Express being the extending base station.

A couple of other things to take into mind:

You may want to consider disabling the wireless radio in your 2Wire router so that not only will you have a single Wi-Fi network to work with but any Wi-Fi interference introduced by having two networks will be eliminated.
Where you place the Express will be critical to having the best possible overall bandwidth of your extended network. Please check out the following AirPort User tip for details on base station placement.

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Answer 4

bbq1029 Author

Level 1

5 points

Dec 31, 2013 5:29 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for the tips, they've helped a lot. Still getting some issues with getting things to prefer the express over the extreme. Are there any tools to force the computer to switch between stations? Better yet, I have a Chromecast as well that I'd like to force to connect to only the express. Are you aware of any way to do that? I do have the MAC address of the Chromecast if that's something important. Thanks so much for the help though!

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

158,496 points

Jan 1, 2014 12:04 PM in response to bbq1029

Still getting some issues with getting things to prefer the express over the extreme. Are there any tools to force the computer to switch between stations?

In theory, a wireless client should connect to the base station with the strongest signal. Depending on the exact models of both your Extreme and Express base station, most likely, the Extreme will provide the better signal.

If you find that your wireless clients always connect to the Extreme, you may not have needed the Express in the first place.

The only way I have found to "force" the connection to a particular base station in an extended network was to cycle the device's Wi-Fi radio on-off while the device was located at the preferred base station. This, typically, allowed the device to connect to the nearest base station ... but is not 100% fool-proof.

I don't have a Chromecast device so I don't know if you can power cycle it, but if you can it may be worth a try. Knowing the MAC address would only be helpful if you were trying to filter which wireless network clients can connect to the Wi-Fi network.

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Answer 6

Jan 1, 2014 4:05 PM in response to bbq1029

I know Tesserax touched on this but take another look at your distances between the base stations.

This works depending on distances.

Main Base Station ----------> Extended ----------> devices

This may not work so well as devices may try and connect to main base station.

Main Base Station ---------------------------> Extended and devices in the same general location

Try moving the extended device about 1/2 way between the main base station and the rooms you need coverage.

Experiment with the location of the extended Express.

What generation is this Express?

1st genration or the newest one which is 2nd generation.

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