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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  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Sep 8, 2016 11:17 AM in response to Morat
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 8, 2016 11:17 AM in response to Morat

    Thank you for taking & providing these measurements.

     

    Basically the Wi-Fi edge limit is around -65 to -70 dBm. Ideally, you will want this to be much less negative, somewhere between -25 (ideal) & -45 (workable) dBm.

     

    I can see from your measurements, that both extending locations are neither ideal nor workable. Even your measurements at the Extreme are somewhat concerning. The new Express seems to have much better results. The issue with the Extreme could be due to at least two things:

    • Some form of Wi-Fi interference. Some examples would be:
      • Metallic objects near the Extreme that reflect or scatter the Wi-Fi signal, and/or
      • Other competing Wi-Fis or other interference sources operating nearby.
    • The Extreme if faulty.

  • by Morat,

    Morat Morat Sep 8, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 8, 2016 12:17 PM in response to Tesserax

    I still don't understand why the extended network doesn't really extend beyond the range of the Extreme alone, even if it is faulty as you suggest it might be.

    The Extreme seems to be located pretty well in the centre of the house, with no obvious signal blocks - the walls are brick and the signal only has to go through 2 to reach the garden, or 3 walls to exploit the older Extreme. I've tested almost every combination of channels, with no major gains so I guess the Extreme is faulty as you say. It'd just be good to actually know this would fix the problem before dropping that sort of money on one straight after the new Express.

     

    I really appreciate your time and effort with this Tesserax, many thanks indeed.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Sep 8, 2016 3:30 PM in response to Morat
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 8, 2016 3:30 PM in response to Morat

    The Extreme seems to be located pretty well in the centre of the house, with no obvious signal blocks - the walls are brick and the signal only has to go through 2 to reach the garden, or 3 walls to exploit the older Extreme.

    It still may be possible that there is nothing amiss with the Extreme from the above except of your post. The following table is taken directly from the following Apple Support article on Wi-Fi Interference.

    CapturFiles.png

    You'll notice that brick is in the middle range for potential signal interference. Each additional brick wall will degrade the signal even more and your test results did indicate that ... so I wouldn't find it surprising that trying to extend your Extreme has not worked out for you so far.

     

    Typically when we see this type of issue we recommend using wired connections between base stations. Where Ethernet is not desired or possible, the alternative would be to use power-line adapters instead. These adapter create a pseudo Ethernet one using your home's electrical circuit.

     

    Is there any way that you can borrow a Mac laptop for a bit? If so, we can perform some additional testing to hopefully get this resolved for you.

  • by Morat,

    Morat Morat Sep 8, 2016 11:30 PM in response to Tesserax
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 8, 2016 11:30 PM in response to Tesserax

    I'll see if I can borrow a MacBook Air this evening.

     

    Still can't get past the fact that I've had 2 previous routers (Netgear & BiPac) sat in the same location as the Extreme, unextended, but with far superior WiFi range, which should eliminate physical barriers being any part of this problem.

  • by Tesserax,

    Tesserax Tesserax Sep 9, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Morat
    Level 9 (54,050 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 9, 2016 9:31 AM in response to Morat

    When you do get the laptop, I will ask that you refer to this AirPort User tip for how to make SNR measurements.

     

    Similar to what you have done with your iOS device, I would like for you to make the SNR measurements with the following conditions:

    • With just the Extreme operating.
      • Take the measurement near the Extreme.
      • Take measurements at each of the locations that you will have the Express base stations located.

     

    At this point, you do not need to take any additional measurements. If the findings are positive, that is, SNR > 25 dB at all of the locations, we can try a few other things. If you are not getting at least 25 dB near the Extreme, then there is something amiss with the base station itself.

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