AirDrop not working in airport bridge network

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Level 1

8 points

AirDrop not working in airport bridge network

Hi, I have an odd situation where air drop does not work using only Apple equipments. I did not find any similar report or solution for the problem.

In my house I have one AirPort Extreme router configured as bridge in the main floor. On the upper floor I have an Airport Express router connected to an ADSL modem. The router on the upper floor allows the Internet access. Both routers are wire connected. The WiFi has the same name and password on both devices , so any equipment may connect to one or another depending on signal strength. It works fine for Internet access.

This is the recommended connection for extending wifi coverage in my house.

Using 2 iPhones or 1 iPhone and an iPad I only can do file transfer using airdrop method when both equipments are connected to the wifi on the upper floor router (express). If they are connected to the main floor router (extreme) , which is only a bridge router, airdrop does not work at all. An entire Apple ecosystem but airdrop works partially. I really do not understand why it happens. There must be a software problem where this condition was not considered in project.

I also have an AppleTV in the main floor and an Macmini on upper floor wired connected to the upper router (or wifi connected). Any control between the equipments as remote controlling or exporting video or audio works fine between then. The only issue is really airdrop not working between the devices conected to the main floor router.

Any clues to solve the problem? Does anyone have the same problem?

Marco Aurélio Carvalho

Other OS

Posted on Jun 28, 2016 4:46 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 28, 2016 5:29 PM in response to maurelioc

Airdrop has a whole series of problems. So I am not surprised it doesn't work.

You do need to understand it is based on a complicated switch using bluetooth and peer to peer networking.

See http://www.imore.com/how-to-fix-airdrop-iphone-ipad

There are a stack of suggestions there to fix it.

No luck tell me what happens if you rig the network to use Extend wireless on the Airport Extreme instead of wired.. you will need to disconnect the ethernet while you do this.. you can also export the configuration of the Extreme before you start.. just go into the airport utility and select the Extreme.. click on the Extreme icon and then edit on the short summary. In the top menu you will find export configuration.

If that does work there is a slightly different configuration we can try on the Extreme which will still allow the cabled connection. It might work better than bridged.

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Answer 2

maurelioc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 28, 2016 6:01 PM in response to LaPastenague

First of all, thanks for your kindness.

Nop. Does not work either.

It is really annoying.

My routers have a specific characteristic too, which I will describe but I am pretty sure that it is not the origin of the problem. One was bought in Europe (Extreme) and the other in USA (express). So the WiFi bands may have some differences depending on which country it was selected to. The extreme is configured for South Africa frequency bands and the expresse for Brazil bands. But the actual channels automatically allocated for both equipments are common to many countries. And since they are connected by wire, the frequencies bands and channels would only eventually affect the connection of the phones or other equipments. And in my case , all of them support all bands and channels.

But to learn a bit more, which configuration would you suggest in case the extended mode worked? I thought that the bridged network was the best for my case.

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Answer 3

Jun 28, 2016 6:31 PM in response to maurelioc

Agree with you.. it is annoying.

Also agree that purchasing in different areas should make no difference.

I am rather surprised the Extreme did not work in extend wireless.. but no issues.. lets first discover if it has some other issue.

What version Extreme is it? AC one just say AC.. otherwise give me a Gen and firmware version.

I also am guessing the Express is setup as router?? You only stated the Extreme is bridged.. but if I am reading this correctly you are using Express as router.

Try using the Extreme in double NAT mode.. if the Express is running default router setup it will have IP of 10.0.1.1 the Extreme should be setup to 192.168.1.1 and still wired to the express.

It is easier to start with a factory reset of the Extreme.. then run through the setup using the options instead of auto.. that way you can force it to create a network.. and go to the Network options tab and change the IP range.

Double NAT is problematic and I don't expect you to continue using it.. but I want to force the setup so we can determine if the Extreme has issues.

Setup using a different wireless name to the Express.. so you no longer have a roaming network.. then connect your apple devices and see if the airdrop works.

If it does, then you can try the static IP method.

Re: airport time capsule keeps disconnecting

Static IP will stop the Extreme from routing but it still keeps the DHCP server running which I think could be significant for airplay to run.

This will probably not work on a very old Extreme though, which may simply not be capable of airdrop.

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Answer 4

maurelioc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 29, 2016 5:45 PM in response to LaPastenague

Yes, express as a router and extreme is AC model. The last model of the equipments. Both with last firmware too. Extreme using double NAT works with airdrop. But the network is really a mess. Airport config SW cannot manage properly both equipments in this condition. I even had to HW reset the extreme and a

reboot the Mac mini to restore control over the network. Depending where Mac mini is connected and wire or wireless one or another router is considered out of network , but internet is still available. I did not test interchanging both equipments, whitch I used initially when installing both equipments operating together. That time I did not try to use airdrop. The actual configuration of using express as the router in the upper floor is best, since extreme give me more coverage in the main floor. And my network ADSL is in the upper floor. The bridge connection allows me to access internet and see all of them in the same LAN, useful for backup, accessing media , and using AppleTV, and exchanging files through ssh or any other method including app client/server (not airdrop). VNC or TeamViewer connections works perfectly. The only thing that does not work is airdrop when one equipment is connected to the bridged extreme.

I Hope that Apple may see this post and work on SW solution on another FW upgrade. It seems to me that is a SW problem.

Thanks anyway.

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Answer 5

Jun 29, 2016 7:08 PM in response to maurelioc

Extreme using double NAT works with airdrop

Then try the static IP method I listed in the last thread.. you might find airdrop requires dhcp to be working on the router that is handling the clients.

That gets rid of double NAT and works very well for me.

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Answer 6

maurelioc Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 30, 2016 3:57 AM in response to LaPastenague

I will read carefully the previous post.

But my config is not using double NAT. The ADSL modem is bridged , the express router is running as a real router with DHCP client (for ADSL side) and server (for in house side) activated and the extreme router that is after express is bridged too.

So only express router is controlling NAT and DHCP, which works correctly. I allocated fixed IP addresses for known equipments via MAC - IP table on express router. For guests the ip allocation is variable and begins on another number edge to avoid conflicts. So, the express is the router that also handles port openning for external accesses directed to internal known devices as the internal IPs are pre fixed. Roaming between Express and extreme works nicely without IP changing and Everything working except the airdrop in the bridged extreme router.

In fact I have onother complain that guest network limits traffic speed and is not configurable. We cannot set the limit for guests. But this is out of the scope of the original post. And is not a malfunction, just a limit that is not accessible for users. And another that if I set access control for the main network, the guest network is also affected. I would prefer to set them separated. But not a malfunction too, just preference.

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Answer 7

Jun 30, 2016 3:43 PM in response to maurelioc

The method I am telling you to try is static IP with DHCP server turned on for the Extreme.

It is NOT double NAT.. and it is NOT bridge.

Please read the method here.

Re: airport time capsule keeps disconnecting

That is what I wanted you to follow.

If you cannot understand how to set it up then please give me a screenshot showing the full setup info of the Express.

What Apple has done is force the connection for airdrop to be linked with the router that is running DHCP.. so the wireless in the Extreme is one step away and has no way to pass whatever info is needed to the express.

Everything working except the airdrop in the bridged extreme router.

In fact I have onother complain that guest network limits traffic speed

There are any number of issues with the Apple airport routers.. due mostly to Apple removing controls from the end user. This is a fact that Apple will continue to remove as much control as they can.. every new version of the airport and the airport utility takes away our ability to control it.

eg SNMP in the latest AC version airports... for no good reason.

Logs in the v6 airport utility. So you cannot even find out what errors are occurring. This is Apple's closed garden and I personally find it unacceptable.. hence I don't use an Apple router for the network.. I run a router that has decent controls. And I use Apple routers in Static IP mode to handle the Apple clients.. that has been the best way I have found to have my Apples and eat them, so to speak.

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