Airport Extreme - Cable Modem - to Extend my Range?

Please start over again and disconnect the Ethernet cable from the AirPort Express.

Temporarily, connect the Ethernet cable to your Mac or a PC. Turn off the wireless on the computer temporarily, and make sure that you can get a good Internet connection that way. If you can, this confirms that the Ethernet cable is working correctly and you can proceed to the next steps.

However, if you cannot get a good Internet connection on the computer, you will need to troubleshoot the cable and connectors to find the issue, before you can proceed with the setup of the AirPort Express.

In order to extend the signal correctly, the AirPort Express must use the exact same settings as the Technicolor modem/router in terms of:

1) Wireless Network Name or SSID, as it is called

2) The wireless network password, or passphrase

3) The wireless security settings, which should be WPA2 Personal or its equivalent, which is called WPA2-PSK-AES.

You likely already know the name and password of the Technicolor network, but do you know the type of wireless security settings that the Technicolor is using for the network?

Unless all three elements match up exactly, the network will not be extended correctly.

Post back when you have tested the Ethernet cable and confirmed the type of wireless security that the Technicolor modem/router is using, and we will continue.....likely in a different way than you tried before.

In any case, the Technicolor modem/router should not be in Bridge Mode, since it would not provide an Internet wireless signal at all in that setting.....and you asked about extending the Technicolor wireless network.

I can buy a USB - Ethernet cord to test this later.

That is a handy item to have around.....just for things line this.....or if you want to transfer a lot of data from your Mac to another device, the wired connection will go quite a bit faster.

Is there nothing else around that you have....an older laptop or another Ethernet device that could be used to test the connection? We can go ahead and proceed without first testing the Ethernet cable, but it will make troubleshooting a nightmare if things don't work correctly out of the gate.

Here are the wireless security settings that my DSL Modem is using:

WPAWPA2-PSK(TKIP/AES)

Unfortunately, this is an older and lower security setting than the default settings on the AirPort Express. Please check again to see if an exact WPA2--PSK---AES setting or a WPA2 Personal setting is available on your Technicolor modem/router.

No real difference for the purpose of this discussion.

The real key is going to be whether the wireless security settings will match up and that is sometimes really tough to do with products from two different manufacturers.

It would really help our chances if you could find a WPA2 Personal or WPA2--PSK--AES setting on the Technicolor modem/router.

OK, we need to test to make sure that both the Ethernet cable and the Express are working, so we will set up a "test" network first, then if things are working that way, we will change the settings on the AirPort Express to try to match the Technicolor network.

Go ahead and perform a Hard Reset on the Express by holding in the reset button for 7-8 seconds, then release and allow a full minute for the Express to restart to a slow, blinking amber light status.

Connect the Ethernet cable to the WAN "O" port on the Express

Click the WiFi icon at the top of the Macs screen and then click on AirPort Express under the listing of New AirPort Base Station.

That should display a screen that looks like this:

Network Name.........use "Test" or something similar (without the quotes)

Base Station............something like AirPort Express

Password.................use the same password as the Technicolor network

Verify.......................confirm the password

Click Next

The wizard will set up everything for you. Move your laptop close to the AirPort Express and see if you can log onto "Test" and get a good Internet connection that way.

Post back on your results.

If both routers use exactly the same wireless network name, exact same wireless security setting and exact same password.........

A Mac will usually automatically switch and pick up the strongest signal for the closest router. For example, if I walk my Mac laptop from my office to the den, the Mac will automatically switch and pick up the signal from the den router when it gets close to the den. Note that both routers are Apple products.

In theory, this would work with products of different manufacturers. In practice, sometimes it does not work this way.....because the routers are not the same.

However, if I walk my iPhone or another mobile device from the office to the den, the iPhone will not switch to pick up the signal from den router.....it "hangs on" to the office router. After a few minutes, the iPhone might switch and pick up the signal from the den router and it might not.

If I want the iPhone to switch to the den router when I walk it from the office to the den, I must temporarily turn off the WiFi on the iPhone, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on. Then, it always picks up the signal from the den router.

That is not as nice as having the Mac laptop automatically switch routers when it moves.....but it only takes a second or two to switch off the WiFi on the iPhone and then switch it back on. I do not have to select the network again......it is already selected.

You will need to do some experimenting to find out how well things will operate on your network. Let us know when you can.