Can I add two AirPort Expresses to my Extreme to extend my network

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Level 1

14 points

Can I add two AirPort Expresses to my Extreme to extend my network

This is a simple question that I can't seem to find a concise answer to. I currently have an AirPort Extreme and an Airport Express which extends the Extreme. I don't have enough coverage to one part of my house. I want to add a second Express to extend coverage to this dead zone. My question is, is this possible... will this extend internet well and in Airport Utility, do I choose to make it extend the main Airport Extreme again or extend my current Airport Express (drone). FYI, both Expresses will be in range of main Extreme.

In addition, the official confusing word from Apple was that this may degrade throughput but in the next paragraph says that it will improve throughput. Does anyone know if having an Extreme and two drones will degrade throughput that much? Thanks everyone!

MacBook Air (13-inch Late 2010), OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on May 20, 2015 1:12 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

May 20, 2015 1:18 PM in response to Urbaneness

Yes, you can.

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Answer 2

May 20, 2015 1:27 PM in response to Urbaneness

Both Expresses will need to be about the same distance from the AirPort Extreme....and both Expesses will need to be closer to the AirPort Extreme than they are to each other.

The reason for this is that each Express must connect directly to the AirPort Extreme to be able to extend the signal correctly. It is not possible to extend the signal twice......in other words, have one Express extend the signal from the AirPort Extreme and have another Express extend the signal again from the Express that is already extending.

When you extend using wireless, you should expect to lose about half of the potential maximum speed on the entire network. In other words, while the network will have greater range, it will be a significantly slower network. You may not really notice this that much however, since the network will still likely be faster than the connection that your Internet provider supplies.

If you want preserve speed on the network, the extenders need to both be connected back to the AirPort Extreme using a permanent, wired Ethernet cable connection. In addition to being much faster, this type of setup will be more reliable as well.

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