Airport Express extending Netgear router?

[dannewell15]

Ok. here is the situation. My lovely Macbook (first Mac ever) is arriving soon and I am wondering about networking. I currently have a Netgear wireless router that provides internet access for two other PCs as well as the piece of crap I am typing on now. Would it be possible for me to buy an Airport Express with Airtunes and for that to connect wirelessly to the netgear router and extend the signal? Basically, my dad doesn't think he wants to get rid of the netgear router.

Thanks for any help and sorry if this is a dumb question. :D

[Kermy]

Ok. here is the situation. My lovely Macbook (first Mac ever) is arriving soon and I am wondering about networking. I currently have a Netgear wireless router that provides internet access for two other PCs as well as the piece of crap I am typing on now. Would it be possible for me to buy an Airport Express with Airtunes and for that to connect wirelessly to the netgear router and extend the signal? Basically, my dad doesn't think he wants to get rid of the netgear router.

Thanks for any help and sorry if this is a dumb question. :D

First check to see if your Netgear router supports WDS.

[mad jew]

Not possible. The AirPort will connect to the Netgear and it will allow you to stream music nicely, however it will not extend your range.

[dannewell15]

What is WDS? I looked on the Netgear website on the router that I have and it didn't seem to mention WDS. Oh yeah, the router is a Netgear dg834g v2. Thanks

[mad jew]

WDS stands for Wireless Distribution System. Unfortunately it's not a standardised term, so getting routers from different manufacturers to connect via WDS is nearly impossible. FWIW, the AirPort range will not connect to a Netgear router via WDS. They may connect to certain Linksys (http://www.maclive.net/page/Tips/Airport/wds.html) and Buffalo-based routers this way, but not Netgear. Sorry. :o

This doesn't mean the AirPort can't still join the Netgear network though. It just won't ever extend its range.

[dannewell15]

SO. If i keep the netgear router and buy an Airport express station, It won't extend the reaches of the network but it will join the network wirelessly and allow me to stream music to it. Thats how i understand your help but please correct me if i'm wrong. Thanks for all of the help! :D

[mad jew]

Yep, that's exactly right. :)

[dannewell15]

OK. Thanks very much Mad Jew! :D

[mad jew]

No worries mate. :)

[JonathanRB]

Hi guys,

Just about to get Sky Broadband, which apparently includes a Netgear Wireless router. I also have two airport expresses and was hoping to extend the signal across the whole of the house using WDS.

Apparently the router can also be used as a wired router, so would I be able to connect this to one of the airports, then have the airport broadcast the signal and get that extended by the other airport? I've done this with other routers in the past, and not had any trouble, but they've not been wireless. Is there something additional I'd need to do to get this to work?

Thanks,

Jonathan

[mad jew]

Disable the wireless broadcasting on the Netgear router and use one of the AirPorts as the primary base station. You'll then be able to extend the network via WDS with the second AirPort. It's quite easy to set up, but feel free to ask more specific questions once your hardware arrives. :)

[dirtleg]

I've got an Airport Express problem.

I have Yahoo DSL through my at&t phone line. I have purchased an Airport Express for my daughter to hook up wirelessly at home on her G4 Macbook. I have run the wire from my router (supplied by phone company two or three years ago with service), plugged it into the Express and get a blinking yellow light, no signal from router.

My question: could this be the router? The router works fine if wired directly in to the ethernet connection on her G4 and on my G3 iMac. But no signal is gettint to the Express, or at least that is the indication by the blinking light. Any suggestions for a different router, or could it be the Express?

Thanks in advance for any ideas or suggestions.

[mad jew]

It might be a silly question, but have you set the Express up? Run the AirPort Setup Assistant and see if that helps. :)