Help me go wireless

VooDooPope said:

I'm going to need 2 Airport Express's aren't I? 1 to plug into the wall by my cable modem for wireless net access and one to plug in behind my stereo in the living room to stream my iTunes to my surround sound.

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How far apart are your cable modem and your stereo? Can you plug the cablemodem into the one by the stereo? Hmmm...you could run a long ethernet cable from the Express by your stereo to your cable modem. Usually running long ethernet cables is not soo bad. Or you could run a long coax cable from the cable connection to the cablemodem, but I think a long ethernet cable is preferable.

I think the Express needs to be fairly close to the stereo, since I'm not sure how long the optical cable is.

I think you can also use Airport Extremes, if you come accross a used one or sumpin, but you can't bridge between an Airport and a non-Apple wireless gateway AFAIK.

VooDooPope said:

Am I right with this line of thinking? The cost is still substantially cheaper than before... well other than the cost of the new laptop but that cost nets me a new Mac.

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Not sure why you think wireless was expensive before, especially since you are considering 2 AE base stations @ 129 bones each.

Cheaper alternative (if you can't move the modem close to the stereo or run your own cable). Get a wireless router for your modem and an AE for your stereo. I know you can find linksys G routers for around $60, so you total cost is $189 + tax/shipping.

VooDooPope said:

I've thought about the linksys routers but it seems like I always her people complaing about them. Maybe my perception is wrong and they are quality products.

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I like my *non-wireless* Linksys router, FWIW. I think Netgear is pretty good too.

So anyway, now *I'm* confused about the airport relaying thing. You can't use an airport express to relay a signal from a linksys wireless router (i.e. the linksys gets the signal from the cable modem, the airport gets the signal wirelessly from the linksys, your computer gets the signal from the airport but cannot directly see the linksys cuz of range, etc).

But I guess you're not doing this exactly. You don't need the Express to see the internet at all. You just need to be able to push music to it.

I'm not sure if that would work or not.

Or am I just being an idiot and confusing myself?

mkrishnan said:

Or am I just being an idiot and confusing myself?

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Well you said it

Actually the Aiport Express will pass through internet connections if you really wanted your network setup this way. Its an access point so it would act just as if you connected a hub to your router.

I would suggest if you plan to use the internet wirelessly, then configure your pb to connect to the linksys wireless network and not the AE. Since the AE will be on the same network, your pb should "see" it for broadcasting music to.

One problem I have is that the regular base stations are nowhere near competitive with the so-called budget routers such as linksys, d-link, etc... I have been using linksys routers/hubs since 1999 and have not had a single problem either my PC or my mac. I do keep mine up to date with firmware updates and really enjoy their relative simplicity. Perhaps is just my good luck, but I would defintely recommend them if all you are doing is using it for its basic firewall (of course you should run a software firewall as well) and internet connection sharing.

VooDooPope said:

I just purchased a replacement for my beloved G3 Pismo Powerbook, a G4 15" 1.25 ghz. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is the built in airport card. I've been putting off going wireless due to the cost of the base station, and putting a card in my old laptop. Well looks like my timing is right with the release of airport express. Now here is my question.

I'm going to need 2 Airport Express's aren't I? 1 to plug into the wall by my cable modem for wireless net access and one to plug in behind my stereo in the living room to stream my iTunes to my surround sound.

Am I right with this line of thinking? The cost is still substantially cheaper than before... well other than the cost of the new laptop but that cost nets me a new Mac.

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Airport Express is way too expensive for a basic network; so is Airport Extreme. Get a 3rd party (Linksys, D-Link, and Netgear are my favorites) router. Get a refurb Airport Extreme Card ($79) from Apple or check eBay (you should be able to get one for under $50).

Routers can be had cheap. I picked up a wireless router (D-Link) which works excellently off eBay for $20. Just ignore Airport Express.

You're done!

The best thing to do is wait for a definative answer from Apple on whether the Airport Express will act as a signal extender for wireless routers other than the Airport Extreme.

My guess (read hope) is that it will be able to do so and that the AExp will extend my Netgear network.

I may hold off on getting that Keyspan USB Server if the AExp works with my printer and router.

Anyways, if the AExp works with 3rd party routers, the cheapest you could do would be to get (1) AExp $130, (1) Audio Kit $40, (1) wireless 11g router $40. That's $210. Why would you need an Airport card? The PB comes with it standard, right?

ftaok said:

The best thing to do is wait for a definative answer from Apple on whether the Airport Express will act as a signal extender for wireless routers other than the Airport Extreme.

My guess (read hope) is that it will be able to do so and that the AExp will extend my Netgear network.

I may hold off on getting that Keyspan USB Server if the AExp works with my printer and router.

Anyways, if the AExp works with 3rd party routers, the cheapest you could do would be to get (1) AExp $130, (1) Audio Kit $40, (1) wireless 11g router $40. That's $210. Why would you need an Airport card? The PB comes with it standard, right?

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I forgot about the fact that they're standard now.

kingjr3 said:

Well you said it

Actually the Aiport Express will pass through internet connections if you really wanted your network setup this way. Its an access point so it would act just as if you connected a hub to your router.

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Well, thanks for being so quick to agree with my in my self-assessment but...what I meant was, when you have the kind of setup he's describing, does the Express have to act as a WDS or not? If it does, then it might not WDS to the Linksys..... Then it's *not* an access point to anything but itself, because it isn't connected to the net by anything

But if the Express can receive audio streams without having to WDS the first router, you're golden.

See! It is confusing!