Airport Not Connected to WAN; Roku Plays, but Other Devices Won't Connect

What model is your modem please??

The model I am currently using is a Motorola SURFboard SB6141. It has performed reliably for the last few years, since we purchased it in January 2013.

Part of what you have written is impossible.. ie the Roku works.. and the Express is not connected to WAN.

the AE shows that it is operating normally (with a both a solid green light on the screen for the AirPort Utility app, and on the device itself), but showing an orange light for connecting to the internet (on the AirPort Utility app).

This is wrong.. if you have orange light on the WAN connection you should have flashing orange on the airport itself and on the utility.. nothing should be green.

Is the Roku connected by wireless?? Is it really connected to the express or is it connected to someone around you with open wireless??

I am aware that this is not how the AE is supposed to function. However, this is exactly what is happening. I can sit directly in front of my AE and modem, observing that both have the proper lights illuminated indicating a connection to the internet (in the case of the modem) and WAN (in the case of the AE)... yet look at the AirPort Utility app and see that there is no connection ot the internet (and similarly look at the Apple Wireless diagnostic, which states that there is no connection to the WAN.

At the same time that these two conditions are occurring, I can also be streaming Netflix from my Roku devices (either next to the AE, or upstairs in the living room)... both of which are wirelessly connected to the AE (we do not use hard wires for either Roku device, and there are no peripheral devices hard wired to the LAN and AE). And while this is occurring, other devices in my home are not connecting to the internet (though they are connected just fine to the AE itself).

It is correct to observe that I should have a flashing orange light on the AE and utility, and that nothing should be green. However, there is a difference between what should be happening and what is actually happening... which is the reason I elected to post to this forum in the first place.

Is it really connected to the express or is it connected to someone around you with open wireless??

It is really connected to the AE. One of the first things I checked was to make sure that it hadn't inadvertantly connected to an open network. Of course, all of the networks in my area are secured and there are no open networks (not even hotspots, jet packs, etc.), so that wouldn't have been possible without receiving a password prompt (ergo meaning that I would have had some indication that it was trying to stream from a different network)... but nevertheless, it was one of the first things I checked.

Express are not adequate router.. IMHO it is an adjunct device.. for airplay or extend wireless. You may have got away with using it as a router.. but it is not suited to the job.

The fix I would recommend is to go and buy a proper router..

In our experience, this has not been the case. I have owned the AE since January of 2013, and it has performed reliably for me and my home since then (and until the last few weeks). We have had no issues with multiple devices connecting (devices running everything from iOS to OSX to Windows __ to Linux and beyond) to the AE, streaming, and putting the AE through its paces. It has handled heavy workloads and user demands in the past with no problem, and your assessment of what the device is has not matched my experience.

I appreciate the time you took to respond, though I would appreciate anyone else who might have feedback on other areas that I might troubleshoot and haven't examined yet.

Thanks!

Just a quick update for the benefit of the collective whole:

After reconfirming (which was one of my original checks prior to posting the original message) that there were no issues with the IP addresses and that the router was configured for DHCP and NAT, I still had ongoing issues with the AirPort Utility app saying the AE had no connection to the WAN, even though the Roku boxes could stream wirelessly and the light was green on the front of the box. I confirmed once more that the modem was allowing hardwired devices to connect to the internet with no issue, and decided to throw a Hail Mary on the wi-fi network itself.

To that end, I broke down and did a full, back-to-square-one factory reset on the entire router. I created a new network name, and ensured that the settings were all in line with what they needed to be to enable success. After a few minutes of going through the configuration process, I had—or so I thought—a functioning wi-fi network once again. I ran the "new" network through a number of stress tests... connecting every device that previously ran on the old network (prior to encountering issues) and running multiple speed tests. For the rest of the evening after I performed the factory reset, the network performed gloriously.

But then, I woke up in the morning to find that my iPhone was "connected" to the network, but wasn't reaching the internet.

Once again, I ran the AirPort Utility app... and what should appear, but the old familiar words that the AE wasn't connecting to the WAN (accompanied by the orange indication for internet connectivity). I checked the AE, and the light on the front was still green. Without a lot of time to troubleshoot what was happening, I waited until the evening after work to look at it again.

Except when I did, everything seemed to be functioning as they did the previously evening... in short, normally and as it should (i.e. everything connected to the networked and the internet). I decided that perhaps my experience in the morning was a fluke of some sort... a ghost of the previous months' issues with the AE connecting to the internet, and a by-product of some weird interaction between Cox servers and the "new" wi-fi network. And, so I gave it another day or two... and while there were brief glimmers of internet connectivity in that time, eventually things became as bad as they had been before the factor reset.

And so I did something I thought I wasn't going to do... I marched to Best Buy the first thing on a Saturday morning, plunked down $40, and got a cheapy Netgear wi-fi router to see if the issue was with the AE or with the broader modem/router/internet system and interface. I brought the new router home, plugged it in, and with everything configured as I'd had it on the AE, I found myself enjoying decent internet speeds and reliable internet connectivity. With the exception of one, brief late night outage (for a Cox-pushed firmware update to the modem), I've been with a solid, steady, and reliable internet connection ever since.

While I don't know exactly what happened with the AE, I have reached the conclusion that the AE was the culprit in the entire thing. The device worked well and functioned much longer than preceding routers I've owned, though I'm disappointed I had to part with it like this.

Thanks for your help and assistance! I appreciate the feedback and advice.

I think it would be incorrect to quickly point the finger at Apple for this... somehow suggesting that there's a corporate effort to bury the issue or ignore a problem. The router and modem were actually a GREAT combination for me for a number of years. Why the router eventually flaked out is beyond me, but the fact—in my experience—remains that both both the AE and modem functioned well together.