Can I use a second Airport extreme wired to extend wireless?

[funstuie]

My current setup is Cable -> Cable Modem (Modem only mode) -> Airport Base Station -> 4x Airport Express (newest models) around the house.

I don't know what it is the wifi connection is absolutely rubbish in my house to the extent that I have had to put in 4 Express' to get full coverage everywhere. This works quite well but I want to extend wifi out to the garage.

I bought a second hand Extreme (5th Gen) and put in the garage as an extender but it's no use the wifi signal constantly drops and it doesn't extend anywhere beyond the door. So I ran a cat6 cable out there. Can I connect this to the extreme to then extend the wifi? Also in this scenario can I use the other ports on the extreme for wired connections out there?

 

[drsox]

Yes, but I suggest you configure the second AE to act as part of a Roaming network joined to the first.
That way you won't be dependant on the WiFi connection between the two. All data will go by wired LAN instead.

I have 3 AE units all joined by wired LAN and that's how they are setup. If you don't know how to do that just ask.

 

[funstuie]

Yes, but I suggest you configure the second AE to act as part of a Roaming network joined to the first.
That way you won't be dependant on the WiFi connection between the two. All data will go by wired LAN instead.

I have 3 AE units all joined by wired LAN and that's how they are setup. If you don't know how to do that just ask.

Thanks

quickly how do I set it up as part of the roaming network?

 

[drsox]

OK.

You need to setup the second AE to be creating exactly the same WiFi network as the first. Same name, same security, etc.

AE 2 needs to have Router mode set to Off (Bridge Mode) and Internet set to DHCP. AE 2 will then get an IP address from AE 1. Connect AE 1 to the WAN port of AE 2. All the other LAN ports of AE 2 will be useable for other devices local to AE 2.

 

[funstuie]

OK.

You need to setup the second AE to be creating exactly the same WiFi network as the first. Same name, same security, etc.

AE 2 needs to have Router mode set to Off (Bridge Mode) and Internet set to DHCP. AE 2 will then get an IP address from AE 1. Connect AE 1 to the WAN port of AE 2. All the other LAN ports of AE 2 will be useable for other devices local to AE 2.

Thanks Mate, I will give it a try.

 

[DaveGee]

Thanks Mate, I will give it a try.

It's really important that you set the bride-mode if you use the ez config and chose 'extend existing wireless network' it will cause all sorts of issues once you plug it in.

I had a real time with this since I too went from an unwired config to a hardwired one and figured all I needed to do was plug in the ethernet ... until I did a lot of googling.

 

[davidoloan]

Here is the Apple guide.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4260

 

[jeffnebraska]

This is now automated in the Airport Utility

FWIW, I just decided to pull my Airport Extreme out of storage and use it to enhance the wireless network being given off by my Time Capsule.

I did a bunch of reading on the options and decided to go with Ethernet to my AE. When I started following the steps in this thread (i.e., plugged the WAN port on the AE into a LAN port on the TC), the utility prompted me to "extend my wireless network using Ethernet." I said yes, and it cloned the network name and password, and set the AE to bridged mode.

Pretty simple.

 

[drsox]

FWIW, I just decided to pull my Airport Extreme out of storage and use it to enhance the wireless network being given off by my Time Capsule.

I did a bunch of reading on the options and decided to go with Ethernet to my AE. When I started following the steps in this thread (i.e., plugged the WAN port on the AE into a LAN port on the TC), the utility prompted me to "extend my wireless network using Ethernet." I said yes, and it cloned the network name and password, and set the AE to bridged mode.

Pretty simple.

Glad to see it's even simpler now.