Airport Express network topology issue

Recall that we said that Apple's "extend" feature works on wireless signal strength.

In your latest screenshot, the Kitchen AirPort Express is picking up a stronger signal from the Bedroom AirPort Express than it is from David's AirPort Extreme.

The Kitchen AirPort Express needs to be physically closer to David's AirPort Extreme than it is to the Bedroom AirPort Express.

When you see that both AirPort Expresses are connected directly to the AirPort Extreme, the network will be operating correctly.

Is there any other way other than the "extend a wireless network" method

No, unless you are able to connect at least one of the AirPort Express devices to David's AirPort Extreme using a permanent, wired Ethernet cable connection. Things would be even better if you could connect both AirPort Express devices using Ethernet cabling back to the AirPort Extreme.

If you cannot run the Ethernet cable, then you might be able to use Ethernet over Powerline adapters to send the signal over the existing AC wiring in your home. In other words, the theory with these devices is that you already have the wiring in place, you just need the adapters.

Connect a short spare Ethernet cable that you know is working to one of the three LAN <--> ports on the AirPort Extreme

Connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Express

Power up the Express and let it run a minute or two

Hold in the reset button on the back of the Express for 7-8 seconds and release

Allow a full minute for the Express to restart to a slow, blinking amber light status

Click the WiFi menu on your Mac and look for a listing of New AirPort Base Station

Just below that, click directly on AirPort Express

When you click on AirPort Express, that will get the setup "wizard" up and running. After a few seconds, it will display a screen that looks like this except that you will see your devices pictured and the name of your wireless network displayed

Type in a device name that you want to call the AirPort Express

Click Next

Watch the next screen very carefully to see that the Airport Express is being set up to "extend using Ethernet". This will confirm that the setup wizard has picked up the Ethernet connection between the Airports and the correct settings will automatically be applied to the Airport Express

When you see the message of Setup Complete, click Done

Move the Express back to the location where it will be used and connect the Ethernet cable to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Express

If your Ethernet cabling is working correctly and the powerline adapters are working correctly, then so too will the AirPort Express be working correctly.

So I guess the question is how do I configure my 2 Airport Expresses to always connect to the AirPort Extreme and not to each other?

Apple's "extend a wireless network" feature works on signal strength, so in order to do what you want.....

1) Both AirPort Express devices need to be about the same distance from the AirPort Extreme

2) Both AirPort Express devices need to be closer to the AirPort Extreme than they are to each other

When this setup is implemented, then both AirPort Expresses will be receiving about the same signal strength, and the signal from the "main" Airport Extreme will be stronger than the signal from another Express.

Another way to say the same thing is that in order to "extend" the network, both AirPort Express devices must connect directly to the "main" base station, in your case, the AirPort Extreme. So, the third screenshot shows a correct setup.

In the first screenshot, the "bottom" Bedroom AirPort Express is not extending the network at all. Wireless clients cannot connect to the Bedroom AirPort Express, although the Express could be used for AirPlay or to connect a remote USB printer.

As you know, whenever you "extend" a network using a wireless connection between AirPorts, you will always lose about half of the potential speed on the network. You are trying to use two devices to both extend, so the loss is even more significant......even when the network is working correctly.

If you want maximum performance from your extended network, the only way that this can be achieved is with a permanent, wired Ethernet cable connection between the AirPort Express devices and the AirPort Extreme.

although considering the time these devices have been around surely they would have done this already if they were going to?!

I followed the same advice Bob has given.. wired the system as far as possible.. and the one remaining extend wireless is far enough and the two routers are very close.. just to extend from downstairs to upstairs.. that it never has issues..

In the past, when I was fixing or testing an airport I would always get screams from upstairs that the link was down.. even moving the main airport to a better position still would not run for more than a few hours without issues. I would say apple knows full well that is a problem but has done nothing to fix it.

I did try and fix it with using different SSID for 2.4ghz and 5ghz.. so each airport was then running its own extend.. that helped somewhat. The result was better but still not perfect. I even opened the airports and connected up more directional antennas.. and still could not fix it properly. In the end ethernet (or as bob suggests powerline adapters) is a much better way to go.

Hopefully this is something that Apple will address at some stage, although considering the time these devices have been around surely they would have done this already if they were going to?!

If you think about it, you are asking for an option to allow an AirPort to choose a poor quality signal over a stronger faster signal. I doubt that this type of feature addition is even on Apple's radar.

As you know, the "extend" feature has been with us for 9+ years, and it has always operated the same way, so I doubt that this is going to change.....my opinion.

Sometimes, there are situations where wireless just won't do what you need to do. There are a number of different ways that you can set things up to work, but it is going to require Ethernet cabling or Ethernet over Powerline adapters to do it.

Post back if you want to go over some different methods.