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Airport Express...how good is your range?

S

supafly1703

macrumors member
Original poster
Hey,

I am considering setting up a home wireless network in a two story 3500 sq. foot house...how many should I get? What kind of range through floors/walls have you guys experienced? Thanks!
 
I have a 2900 square foot 2-story home also. The airport express is in my room ( the corner of the house - upstairs) and it will reach the entire distance of the house, and have 4 bars still. I don't know if mine is abnormal, but you will have similar results. (an amazing buy i might add)

kyle
 
I have one with apparently similar range. Of course, where you locate your base stations can have an enormous impact on the range - sometimes moving them just a few feet makes all the difference.
 
the range is good but not great compared to other base stations iv used. but for its size and capabilities its great
 
depends on what your house is made of

if it has concrete and reinforced steel then the range really suffers
 
I think range varies because of walls and such. I have a Dell G router and my imac has the extreme card in it and the range is awful. My iMac is 50 feet from the router and i have 2 bars. I blame this on the Dell router, its cheap and I had to go through 3 before I found one that would work with my isp.
I have Airport Exprees but only for streaming music and not for routing. The range on it is great!
 
Just to emphasize what's been said: while the AE has good range (but not exceptional compared to something with external antennae), what is by far most important is its position relative to you. Signal strength varies inversely proportionally to distance and somewhere between linearly and inversely proportional to the amount of non-radio-transparent material between you and it. Air produces almost no reduction. Wood and drywall produce a fair amount. Concrete produces a lot. Metal often essentially blocks the signal completely. Of course, signals often bounce around a bit, which can be helpful.

So... an AE can't compete with, say, a Linksys WRT54G with the latest signal-boosting hack installed. But it should be fine for you - as long as it's placed properly.

Edit: to answer your question, unless your house is build more solidly than most, 1-2 properly placed AE's should work just fine for you. 2 will almost definitely work, and 1 very well might be fine.
 
I have a Netgear router in the middle of my house on the main floor (2 story with basement - 3000 total square feet with finished basement). I have no problems getting great signal to the entire house.
 
Thanks guys...and if I get multiple AE's, do all of them have to be connected to an ethernet port? Also, how well does it operate with XP...Dad has a Dell 😱
 
supafly1703 said:
Thanks guys...and if I get multiple AE's, do all of them have to be connected to an ethernet port? Also, how well does it operate with XP...Dad has a Dell 😱
Click to expand...
No, one has to be plugged in, the other will 'extend' the others range. You can plug in speakers throughout the house to have wireless music at all times, and It works well with XP.

kyle
 
supafly1703 said:
Thanks guys...and if I get multiple AE's, do all of them have to be connected to an ethernet port? Also, how well does it operate with XP...Dad has a Dell 😱
Click to expand...
Should connect just fine to the Dell. Also, no, only one needs an ethernet port connection (to the broadband modem or your router). Any additional ones can be configured to extend the range of the first and can actually be set up as a bridge - meaning you can plug ethernet into it to connect to a non-wireless device, like a computer, hub, or Xbox.
 
jsw said:
...actually be set up as a bridge - meaning you can plug ethernet into it to connect to a non-wireless device, like a computer, hub, or Xbox.
Click to expand...
I was thinking about doing this in order to connect my PS2 to the internet. Has anyone had success with this type of configuration?

As to the original post, we use two Airport Express Base Stations, with WDS, and the range is great for where we need it. However, we might purchase a third for the other end of our house in the future.
 
MacUser1 said:
I was thinking about doing this in order to connect my PS2 to the internet. Has anyone had success with this type of configuration?
Click to expand...
I got it to work with a Linksys/AE duo - perhaps some of what I did might help. Here's an earlier post:

jsw said:
Just got it to work for me. Linksys WRT54G and Airport Express, linked via WDS. I had to update the Linksys firmware using this site. That worked quite well - and I can boost the signal strength as well (I jacked it up slightly, not all the way, and saw better reception). I then set up the AE and, after some tweaking, all was well.

Key sites:

http://troyandgay.com/index.php?p=2888 (esp. comments below)
http://weblogs.java.net/blog/inder/archive/2004/10/using_airport_e_1.html

A couple of caveats:

(1) Be sure to use the correct Linksys MAC address when configuring WDS on the AE - you need to use the wireless MAC, not the router MAC. (On the Linksys, go to Status->Wireless to get the correct MAC address).

(2) Be sure to use the correct AE MAC address - or, if in doubt, use both the addresses on the AE.

Basics:
On the Linksys...
  • Fetch the Sveasoft firmware upgrade and, using the WRT54G's Administration->Firmware Upgrade panel, upload it to the Linksys. Fear not - it looks just like the original firmware with a few more options.
  • Under Wireless->WDS, add two LAN entries (one for each listed AE MAC address, so you don't need to bother deciding which one is the right one), disable Lazy WDS, and disable "WDS subnet"
  • Make note of the channel used under Wireless->Basic Settings
  • Make note of the wireless MAC listed in Status->Wireless

On the AE (or more precisely, using Airport Admin Utility)...
  • On Airport tab:
    • Set Base station name, contact, and location to anything you want.
    • set wireless mode to "Create a Wireless Network (Home Router)"
    • Name the network whatever you want - same or different as WRT54G's SSID
    • Set the channel to the one used by the WRT54G
  • On the Internet tab:
    • Connect using AirPort (WDS)
    • Set the MAC address to the WRT54G's wireless MAC
    • Configure using DHCP
  • On the Network tab:disable everything
  • On the WDS tab:
    • Enable as a WDS remote base station
    • Select "allow wireless clients on this base station"
    • Enter (or verify - it should be there by now) the Linksys wireless MAC

You can now use the AE as a wireless extender and plug an ethernet cable into it (not crossover/patch, just a standard cable) and plug non-wireless devices (like, say, an Xbox) directly into it.

Best of luck!

BTW, to completely reset the AE, should you muck it up, unplug it, use a paperclip, etc., to press the small reset button prior to plugging it in, keep it pressed as you plug in and for a dozen seconds or so until it blinks gree 4 times - this let up on the reset button and wait a minute or two. Then it's completely reset to factory specs. And, when intially setting it up, skip the internet connection portion of the setup (don't specify Cable/DSL modem, etc.).
Click to expand...
 
How about in reverse?

How could i do this in reverse? Is it possible?
Extending airport with the WRT54G?
 
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