Morat
Level 1 (4 points)
Wireless

Q: Airport Express doesn't extend WiFi range

Ok, I've posted a long time back about an older gen Airport Express not extending my wifi range when set up to extend (wirelessly) and connected to an Apple network (Airport Extreme). No solution found, so I gave up.

 

Still frustrated at the lack of a solid wifi signal at my back door/ garden (its a small house!), I purchased a new Express and again set it up to extend my current network, placed it on my back room window sill (where I get a fairly good wifi signal on my iPhone & iPad), yet about 6 foot from it, on the other side of the glass in my garden, I get a flickering 1-2 bars signal strength which will intermittently drop out.

 

I get no significant (or even vaguely reasonable) increase in wifi strength when I approach either of the Express's, but get an increase when next to the Extreme.

 

Either I'm either not setting the Express's up correctly (I'm sure I am) or I am fundamentally misunderstanding the term 'extend a wireless network'. Either that or I have purchased 2 faulty Express's 3 years apart.

 

Can anyone help?

 

Cheers.

Posted on Sep 7, 2016 10:05 AM

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Morat

Q: Airport Express doesn't extend WiFi range

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Tesserax,Helpful

    Tesserax Tesserax Sep 7, 2016 10:40 PM in response to Morat
    Level 9 (53,903 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 7, 2016 10:40 PM in response to Morat

    Do you have a Mac laptop handy? If so, we can run some tests to understand the current signal quality at each location where you want to have Wi-Fi access. Hopefully, we can find out where best to place your extending Express to meet your networking goals.

  • by Morat,

    Morat Morat Sep 7, 2016 10:52 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 7, 2016 10:52 PM in response to Tesserax

    Hi Tesserax and thanks again for trying to help me out. Unfortunately no, I don't have a laptop. Just an iMac, iPad & iPhone.

    Should I expect full signal strength right next to the Express locations (regardless of throughput)? Both are placed in area's where the Extreme's wifi reach is good.

     

    Regards.