If I have an Airport Express, why might I want to upgrade to an Airport Extreme?

Question

If I have an Airport Express, why might I want to upgrade to an Airport Extreme?

I recently upgraded my Time Warner data plan. I was told to swap my Doc2 modem for a Doc3 modem. My Airport express is connected to the modem with what appears to be an ethernet cable. I'm pretty sure it used to show a continuous green light when everything was working properly. Now it just blinks yellow. Also, I don't see a lot of increase in the speed of the internet connection. Do I need to upgrade to the Airport Extreme to realize the benefits of the faster modem?

Upgraded my cable data rate.

Posted on Dec 2, 2015 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 2, 2015 7:58 AM in response to Captain.Marvel.aka.BillyBatson

Hard to say without any specifics about your setup.

What bandwidth were you upgraded to?

What download speeds are you currently getting? You can use Ookla Speedtest for that: http://www.speedtest.net/

What model / generation of Airport Express are you using?

The Yellow light indicates there is a problem with the Airport settings. and you need to look into it.

AirPort base stations: About AirPort base station status lights (LED) - Apple Support

Wi-Fi base station: Understanding and resolving a blinking amber status light - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Tesserax

Level 10

158,490 points

Dec 2, 2015 9:52 AM in response to Captain.Marvel.aka.BillyBatson

In addition to Phil0124 comments I just wanted to add that the data throughput through an 802.11n or 802.11ac AirPort Extreme base station will be significantly better than you are getting through your current AirPort Express. That is because the Extreme base station use Gigabit Ethernet ports vs. only 100 Mbps ports used by the Express ... so, theoretically, you should see an improvement in the amount of data that the Extreme can pass over your Express. However, please note that the router has does nothing to do with improving the Internet 'speed' that is provided by your ISP.

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