How do i know what model airport express i have? i'm not sure if i bought before or after 2008 if it operates with 802.11b/g or 802.11a/b/g/Draft N
Get out those reading glasses or a magnifying glass and locate the model number on the side of the AirPort Express. It starts with an "A" followed by four numbers.
A1084 or A1088 are older "b/g" versions of the AirPort Express.....not really compatible with much of anything anymore, since they do not have a setting or capability to "extend a wireless network".
A1264 is the 1st Gen 802.11n version.....which will work with the new Lion, Mountain Lion and Mavericks operating systems.
Second question is if I have the 802.11a/b/g/Draft N 1st generation can i connect it to a 2nd generation airport express to extent the range of my wifi?
Yes, but since the 1st Gen Express is not dual band, it will only be able to extend one band from the newer 2nd Gen Express.....probably the 2.4 GHz band since that is the stronger signal. If you want or need to extend dual bands, then you will need two 2nd Gen Express devices.
If yes, should i connect 2nd generation to router and then use 1st generation to extend the range? or vice versa
2nd Gen would be connected to the router and the 1st Gen would extend.
That way, you will at least get dual bands from the 2nd Gen. If you reverse the process.....remember that the 1st Gen is single band....the 2nd Gen will only extend one band....and you will lose some of the performance capability of the device.
