Extending range of Airport Extreme

fjon

I have two wireless routers - an AE, and a 3Com one.
I don't suppose I can use the 3Com one to extend the range?

If not, I know it can be done if I get myself an Airport Express.

By doing this, will I be diminishing the strength of the signal?
The internet connection isn't great to begin with (1MBPS or so), so hopefully it won't "dilute" it any further using AE and Airport Express.

SgtBob

I have a time capsule, and I use a linksys router, flashed with DD-WRT, to extend the coverage around blackspot areas of the house.

It really depends on the router you want to use, as to whether or not it has the capability to act as a wireless repeater.

fjon

Thanks!
Might be a stupid question - but does doing this "dilute" the signal in any way?
I mean sending the signal through two routers instead of 1?

SgtBob

To be honest, I couldn't be 100% sure. But in my experience with my current set up, I get the same internet speed regardless of which router I am connected to.

However, I would reckon you may lose some bandwidth on network transfers. E.g. transferring a file from laptop 1 which is connected to the extreme to laptop 2 which is connected to the repeater. But again, I could be wrong, as I only use my set up to extend the range for internet usage, not for networking machines.

SgtBob

Also, you may have problems with automatic service discovery, i.e. bonjour. But that shouldn't in any way affect internet usage. And if you have it all set up correctly you can get around this by having machines set up with a static i.p. and knowing the the addresses.

J-blk

fjon wrote: »

Might be a stupid question - but does doing this "dilute" the signal in any way?

No, it doesn't. I had this set up until recently (my Express recently died): Airport Extreme as my router, extended by an Airport Express in the bedroom. What happens is the Express creates a second network with the same SSID, so to all your devices, it looks like 1 network and they automatically connect to the strongest one. This isn't obvious from looking at your default wireless settings but if you use the excellent iStumbler:

http://www.istumbler.net/

You can "see" in my case that two SSIDs with the same name exist (or existed ) with different signal strengths, something like MyNetwork - 69% and MyNetwork - 100%. So no, extending the network does not dilute the signal, in fact, it should improve it (unless if the extender itself is too far from your router to start with).

fjon

That's great! I think I'll look into a refurb Express then. How long did it last before it died?

J-blk

fjon wrote: »

That's great! I think I'll look into a refurb Express then. How long did it last before it died?

I can't remember when I got it exactly but it was the older 802.11b/g model which was replaced in March 2008 so I must have bought it before that. So it seems it lasted about 2 years or so, not a bad run in the end. I'm thinking of picking up a refurb myself as well, since I miss it already .

SgtBob

J-blk wrote: »

No, it doesn't. I had this set up until recently (my Express recently died): Airport Extreme as my router, extended by an Airport Express in the bedroom. What happens is the Express creates a second network with the same SSID, so to all your devices, it looks like 1 network and they automatically connect to the strongest one. This isn't obvious from looking at your default wireless settings but if you use the excellent iStumbler:

http://www.istumbler.net/

You can "see" in my case that two SSIDs with the same name exist (or existed ) with different signal strengths, something like MyNetwork - 69% and MyNetwork - 100%. So no, extending the network does not dilute the signal, in fact, it should improve it (unless if the extender itself is too far from your router to start with).

I have mine with the linksys set up as a wireless repeater with a different SSID. Which while not ideal, works. I had it set up originally to act as a repeater bridge to create a roaming network, with the same SSID as the main network. But had issues on all my devices, basically they would only roam onto the new network about 20% of the time.

With the Express as your extender, do you have any problem roaming on your wireless network, between the two. As I would considering picking up an express myself, depending on how the roaming works.

J-blk

SgtBob wrote: »

With the Express as your extender, do you have any problem roaming on your wireless network, between the two. As I would considering picking up an express myself, depending on how the roaming works.

Nope, never noticed any problems - my iPhone & iPad seemed to seamlessly switch from one to the other and now that my Express is dead I am noticing a bit of a slow down on the iPad at times, which I believe is related to the weaker signal from the Airport Extreme which is clear on the other side of my place.

The only thing I found a bit disappointing was speeds on my Macbook, copying over my network, but this was probably down to the Express only supporting 802.11g and not 802.11n... I added a set of Homeplugs to the mix and don't have any problems there either, since my Macbook is mostly used as a desktop these days...

The other benefit to consider with an Express, if you have an iPhone or iPad is the Airtunes functionality, which coupled with the Apple Remote app is great to have.

SgtBob

Thanks for that. Might consider changing my setup. When I can afford to. :rolleyes:

fjon

Just received my Express today and set it up.
However, the signal still seems to be very weak. With my laptop right beside the Express iStumbler says my signal is only 43%. Surely it should be close to 100%?
Guess I might need to bring this up with Apple support.

brav

And if you unplug the Express does this change?

Make sure you didn't just set up the express to join the network, but to also extend it

fjon

With my laptop right next to the Express (and perhaps 15m away from the Extreme), I get this:
Express turned off - signal around 34%
Express turned on - signal around 56%

I guess there is a small difference, but it still seems pretty low.
I'm fairly sure I set it up to extend the network - how would I confirm this?

fjon

Actually, even right beside the Extreme unit I'm still only getting 81% signal at best. I guess closer to 100% isn't really achievable, or else iStumbler isn't all that exact?

J-blk

fjon wrote: »

Actually, even right beside the Extreme unit I'm still only getting 81% signal at best. I guess closer to 100% isn't really achievable, or else iStumbler isn't all that exact?

I think iStumbler is a lot more precise than the built-in WiFi network detector in Mac OS X, it picks up a lot more networks overall. 81% right next to the router seems a bit odd, is there anything near the Extreme itself that could be causing noise/interference?

And forgetting about the numbers for a minute, do you notice any improvement with the Express? Or was the room you were trying to reach completely out of reach anyway before adding it?

fjon

There is definitely a difference - a slight increase in speeds. It is working alright, but it's just much weaker than I expected.

Nothing near the Extreme that I would imagine would cause the interference. TV, DVD player, Xbox, modem.

On a previous router I was able to fix a similar problem by changing the channel on the router. There are quite a lot of other networks in my range (see attachment), perhaps they could be causing interference? I wonder would it be worth my while to play around with the channel?

J-blk

fjon wrote: »

I wonder would it be worth my while to play around with the channel?

It's worth a shot, though it might not be the cause. I have my Extreme on channel 5 simply because nobody else is using it (6 and 11 seem very popular around here too! ).