Love Apple Extreme but would like more reach

[Carnagerover]

Hi all,

After plenty of battles with Linksys, Netgear and Asus in regards to wifi stability I went with an Apple Extreme which currently has 171 days of uptime with zero drops. I have some range issues with phones and iPads at one end of my house so I was thinking of extending.

I see it is fairly easy to add an airport express, I could put one of these in my bedroom which is one level above the AirPort Extreme and gets full signal.

I do have a cat5e cable that runs upstairs to my PC in my bedroom, so I could also get a switch and then wire the express? Is this only a better solution only if I'm not getting full wifi from the extreme at the location?

New to extending sorry

 

[thiggins]

Connecting additional APs via Ethernet is always the best option. Put the Express in bridge or AP mode and assign it to different channels than the extreme using 1,6,11 in 2.4 and whatever you like in 5. Same or different SSID is up to you.

 

[sfx2000]

Sure, run an Ethernet cable upstairs, and put the AP Express into Bridge Mode (Airport Utility knows how to do this automatically actually).

Depending on your clients, running all as Same SSID works very well with Airports...

 

[sfx2000]

Couple of tips for you and the Airports... Apple calls this a "roaming" network, and they've got good guidance on how to set this up on their support website:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204616

Once you have the Airport configured as a bridge, you have the option to enable/disable wireless, and the other port is still active, albeit at 100Mbit/Sec (Fast Ethernet speed).

Stay away from the 11g Expresses, they're not supported any more, and the first Gen 11n models (looks like the 11g model) is getting pretty long in tooth, and only supports either 2.4GHz or 5GHz (not concurrent dual-band).

My recommendation is the 2012 version (looks like a white Apple TV). It also provided an AirPlay end-point, so you can pop a pair of powered speakers (line level input) or use the optical out to a receiver...

Check Craigslist for 11n Airport Extremes N's with Gigabit Ethernet (2011 model or later), those are concurrent dual band, and they're three stream N900 class, with the exception of Airplay, they're a better choice...

 

[Carnagerover]

Thank you for the detailed replies

I was surprised to find out that the Expresses do not have AC, that seems bizarre but then again it's Apple so you never know. I have quite a few AC devices.

I have two rooms in the house that have issues, two bedrooms next to each other. If you walk into the end bedroom you will lose connection on an iPhone, however if you disconnect and reconnect it does come back. It's better on iPads as I assume they have bigger antennas, they get full speed on 5ghz at two bars.

I could go for a different standalone extender with AC or I did briefly look at the TP Link Archer C2600 as a replacement for the Apple Extreme in the hope that it would be enough of a wifi boost not to need the extender. I haven't used a TP link product before so I don't know how stable they are.

I suppose if I did buy a new router and it didn't bridge the gap I could use it as an extender.

 

[stevech]

Hi all,

After plenty of battles with Linksys, Netgear and Asus in regards to wifi stability I went with an Apple Extreme which currently has 171 days of uptime with zero drops. I have some range issues with phones and iPads at one end of my house so I was thinking of extending.

I see it is fairly easy to add an airport express, I could put one of these in my bedroom which is one level above the AirPort Extreme and gets full signal.

I do have a cat5e cable that runs upstairs to my PC in my bedroom, so I could also get a switch and then wire the express? Is this only a better solution only if I'm not getting full wifi from the extreme at the location?

New to extending sorry

No matter the brand, weak signals are cured by relocating the
WiFi router or adding an Access Point.

 

[sfx2000]

I could go for a different standalone extender with AC or I did briefly look at the TP Link Archer C2600 as a replacement for the Apple Extreme in the hope that it would be enough of a wifi boost not to need the extender. I haven't used a TP link product before so I don't know how stable they are.

Can't really recommend going from Airport Extreme AC to a TP-Link Router/AP of any flavor - kind of like trading in a BMW for a Yugo, IMHO...

I've seen Airport Extreme AC's on Apple's refurb store for $129.00... full warranty, and if you have AppleCare on any of your other Apple devices, Airports are also covered under that contract...