Steffen Hokland
Level 1 (24 points)
Wireless

Q: Extending wifi using an ethernet switch and two or more airports

Hi

 

I have a rather long house with my base station set at one end. I want to extend the wifi at two additional spots (middle and opposite end of the house) using ethernet. Rather than having two long ethernet cables with each airport extreme connected to the base station I'd like to use an ethernet switch (as depicted on one of Apples diagrams on network extension) connected to the base station and each of the expresses connected to the switch. However, when I try this setup more or less the entire network 'crashes'. Internet connectivity disappears and I can't connect to any of the stations with Airport Utility.

 

Any idea as to what I'm doing wrong? I've tried resetting each of the two express stations but to no avail.

 

Sincerely,

Steffen

Posted on Oct 1, 2016 7:07 AM

by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer
Bob Timmons Bob Timmons
Level 10 (105,433 points)
Wireless
A:

When the AirPort Express connects using Ethernet, the wireless mode must be set to "Create a wireless network".

 

Might be easier to simply reset the Expresses back to factory default settings and then set them up again using Apple's setup "wizard".......which will automatically provide the correct settings for the Expresses.

Posted on Oct 1, 2016 9:12 AM

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Steffen Hokland

Q: Extending wifi using an ethernet switch and two or more airports

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  • by Bob Timmons,Helpful

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Oct 1, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Steffen Hokland
    Level 10 (105,433 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 1, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Steffen Hokland

    However, when I try this setup more or less the entire network 'crashes'. Internet connectivity disappears and I can't connect to any of the stations with Airport Utility.

    This sounds as if you first had the two AirPort Express devices set up to "extend a wireless network"......meaning that that they were set up to connect to the "main" base station using a wireless connection.

     

    If this were the case, and you then added Ethernet connections to to the Express devices, this would create a massive feedback loop through the entire network and effectively cause the network to crash.......because the Expresses were setup to expect a wireless connection and they received both a wireless and wired connection.

     

    Possible?

  • by Steffen Hokland,

    Steffen Hokland Steffen Hokland Oct 1, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 1, 2016 8:31 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    That's certainly possible. I'll have to check again. Thanks for the heads up.

     

    Sincerely,

    Steffen

  • by Bob Timmons,Solvedanswer

    Bob Timmons Bob Timmons Oct 1, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Steffen Hokland
    Level 10 (105,433 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 1, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Steffen Hokland

    When the AirPort Express connects using Ethernet, the wireless mode must be set to "Create a wireless network".

     

    Might be easier to simply reset the Expresses back to factory default settings and then set them up again using Apple's setup "wizard".......which will automatically provide the correct settings for the Expresses.

  • by Steffen Hokland,

    Steffen Hokland Steffen Hokland Oct 1, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Bob Timmons
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Wireless
    Oct 1, 2016 9:12 AM in response to Bob Timmons

    Thanks. I'll give that a try.

     

    Sincerely,

    Steffen