Using an Airport Express and a second Airport Extreme to extend network; will proximity to AEX vs. AE make a real world difference in speed

Question

Using an Airport Express and a second Airport Extreme to extend network; will proximity to AEX vs. AE make a real world difference in speed

I have set up an extended network (thanks go to Bob Timmons for his assistance) using an AE as a base station and a second AE and an Airport Express to extend the wireless signal. Comcast provides, so they say, 50 Mbps. The AEX is located in the bedroom where it is used more often and the AE is in the pantry (for occasional use in the garage.) Would I get better speed/signal strength if I switched the two devices; i. e., placed the Airport Extreme in the bedroom and the AEX in the pantry?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), MNI's MBP w/retina display

Posted on Aug 11, 2014 8:40 AM

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Answer 1

213JB

Level 2

385 points

Aug 11, 2014 8:46 AM in response to CardsFaninExile

More then likely it will not make a significant difference.

To make a real world difference, create a roaming network.

Wi-Fi base stations: Setting up and configuring a roaming network (802.11 a/b/g/n)

To do so you would need to wire the base stations together.

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Answer 2

Aug 11, 2014 9:09 AM in response to 213JB

Thanks for your response. I set up the wireless network because running Cat-5 was cost prohibitive. My internet connection is very good for general purposes but I ask the question, somewhat academically, because Wi-Fi Explorer shows the Max Rate of the network devices as follows:

Airport Express (located in the bedroom): 144 Mbps @ 2.4 GHz

Airport Extreme (in the pantry): 217 Mbps@2.4 GHz

To reiterate, If these two changed locations would I get better speed/signal in the bedroom location? Does it even really matter since Comcast is "only" sending me 50 Mbps? Just a couple of questions to keep my mind active (and confused).

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Answer 3

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Aug 11, 2014 9:12 AM in response to CardsFaninExile

It will make no difference to the internet speed and a minor one to the internal network file transfer speeds. But, there is no guarantee that the max speeds will move with the device anyhow.

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Answer 4

Aug 11, 2014 10:12 AM in response to Csound1

Thank you; I appreciate your feedback. I'll try not to obsess and simply enjoy the fact that the entire system IS working properly.

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Answer 5

Csound1

Level 9

60,063 points

Aug 11, 2014 12:38 PM in response to CardsFaninExile

🙂

You're welcome.

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