vzhang123

Q: Airport Express as main hub with Airport Extreme as Extender?

I currently have the most recent Airport Express (AX) and just purchased a refurbished Airport Extreme (AE). I have a two-story wired home with the cable modem in the walk-in closet of the master's bedroom. In order to connect the two routers via Ethernet cable and the ports in the wall, I'll need to have one of the routers in the closet. My plan is to have the second router downstairs. It seems like it'd be a waste to have the AE in the closet where the signal would be weakened. Would it be possible to have the AX connected to modem and the AE connected via ethernet cable to the AX? Would there be any negative ramifications of having the less powerful router (AX) as the main hub? Thanks in advance for your help.

Posted on Apr 20, 2016 4:24 PM

Close

Q: Airport Express as main hub with Airport Extreme as Extender?

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Tesserax,Apple recommended

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 21, 2016 8:00 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 9 (54,452 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 8:00 AM in response to vzhang123

    Would it be possible to have the AX connected to modem and the AE connected via ethernet cable to the AX?

    Yes.

    Would there be any negative ramifications of having the less powerful router (AX) as the main hub?

    Unfortunately, yes there is at least one negative ramification for doing so and that is that the AX only has 100 Mbps Ethernet ports. The Extreme (except the 1st gen model) & Time Capsule employ 1 Gbps ports.

     

    Neither base station's wireless would perform well in a closet. You may be better served by using a wired-only router in the closet, and then, connect both base stations back to it.

  • by vzhang123,

    vzhang123 vzhang123 Apr 21, 2016 9:04 AM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 9:04 AM in response to Tesserax

    Thanks for the reply. I'm only getting 58 Mpbs so perhaps if that's the worst of it then perhaps that would be the best bet. If I were to get a wired-only router in the closet, would that mean purchasing another AE or Time Capsule and turning off it's wireless capabilities? My two-story condo is almost completely covered by just the AX in the closet so I wonder if that would overkill...

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Apr 21, 2016 9:15 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 9 (54,452 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 9:15 AM in response to vzhang123

    If I were to get a wired-only router in the closet, would that mean purchasing another AE or Time Capsule and turning off it's wireless capabilities?

    No, I mean that you should replace the Express in the closet with a wired-only router. There are many to choose from. One example is the Cisco RV180. The key is to get a router that your ISP supports.

    My two-story condo is almost completely covered by just the AX in the closet so I wonder if that would overkill...

    It's really up to you. If your networking goals include streaming HD video, then you will want the best bandwidth possible to do so. If your current AX is doing an adequate job, I would suggest by starting with just swapping the Extreme for the Express ... and just try using the Extreme only.

     

    I would suspect that you will getter Wi-Fi performance with the Extreme over the Express. Try this configuration for a while to see if it meets your needs. If you still find that you are not getting wireless coverage in any part of your home, you can add back the Express. I would further suggest that, when you do this, you configure both base stations for a roaming type network to avoid the performance penalty of an all wireless extended network.

     

    Either way you go, let us know and we can guide you through the set up.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 21, 2016 10:20 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 10 (105,079 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 10:20 AM in response to vzhang123
    My two-story condo is almost completely covered by just the AX in the closet so I wonder if that would overkill...

    If the Express is almost covering the area, then an AirPort Extreme.....with its additional wireless antennas up at the top of the "tower".....might do everything you need.

     

    Much better.......if it is possible to get the AirPort Extreme out of the closet..... the Extreme will perform much more effectively. if it were me, I would buy an Ethernet cable 15-20 feet, or about 5-7 meters and test out the Extreme with it located outside of the closet.  If that works well, it should not be too difficult to drill a small hole in the closet wall to permanently hide the Ethernet cable.

     

    Think of a wireless router as a water sprinkler or bright light. You want to get as big of an area as wet as possible, or as illuminated as possible. Obviously, that won't happen when a wireless router is located in an enclosed or confined area.

  • by vzhang123,

    vzhang123 vzhang123 Apr 21, 2016 10:51 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 10:51 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    I have a newer home that has pretty much 1 ethernet port in each room. I currently have the modem in the closet, where the main hub is located and where all the cables congregate at, and the airport express in my master bdrm connected via the port in the wall. However, since I only have one port in each room, I can't connect the any routers to each other since I need to connect back to the main hub to go to a different port.

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 21, 2016 11:19 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 10 (105,079 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 21, 2016 11:19 AM in response to vzhang123

    Then, in addition to the Ethernet cable from the modem to the AirPort router, you would need one more cable to go back to the Ethernet switch (which I assume is in the closet) from the AirPort router. Two cables won't take up much more room than one cable, and depending on where you place the AirPort router, the Ethernet cables may be very easy to hide.

     

    What we're suggesting to you is based on simplicity and best performance, which I admit is my preference on any network design.  If you are willing to make things more complicated, and use a wired-only router in the closet as Tesserax suggests, then that is an option.....more complicated....but an option none the less.

     

    Frankly, locating a wireless router in an enclosed area, where it will lose a third to half of its performance, is not an option that I would consider. But, another user might.....if the wireless router performed well enough in the closet.

     

    Unfortunately, even very good networks involve compromises between performance and convenience. Nature of the beast, I am afraid.

  • by vzhang123,

    vzhang123 vzhang123 Apr 22, 2016 1:10 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 22, 2016 1:10 AM in response to vzhang123

    So after setting it up today, I discovered that what I thought was I phone jack was another ethernet port. Silly me but I guess I'm still finding things out about my home as I just moved here last month. I was able set up the AE in the Master and run a line back to the closet to a switch that connected to my AX downstairs. I had some trouble setting it up, with the "creating a network" versus "extending a network" issue, but in the end I believe I was able to successfully set it up. Airport utility shows internet - AE -AX with all solid lines in between. When I do a scan via Airport utility, I see double of both my 2.4 and 5 ghz networks with 4 separate BSSIDs. Am I supposed to be seeing that?

  • by Bob Timmons,

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Apr 22, 2016 6:08 AM in response to vzhang123
    Level 10 (105,079 points)
    Wireless
    Apr 22, 2016 6:08 AM in response to vzhang123
    When I do a scan via Airport utility, I see double of both my 2.4 and 5 ghz networks with 4 separate BSSIDs. Am I supposed to be seeing that?

    Yes. Each AirPort is a simultaneous dual band device producing a wireless signal at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz with the same wireless network name, so each AirPort will be picked up by a scanner as 2 networks.  Since you have 2 AirPort devices, a scan will pick that up as 4 different signals.

     

    But, since each network uses the same wireless network name, everything will behave as if you have one "big" network. That is why you only see one network when you click the WiFi menu icon on your Mac.

     

    The theory here is that computers will pick up the signal from the closest AirPort depending on their location in your home.