3 questions about Apple Airport Express

[NazgulRR]

Hi. I have some questions about Apple Airport Express to which I can't seem to find any answers online:

1.) Is it a wireless router or just a wireless access point?
(I would need a router in order to make a small wireless home network. I connect to the internet through a switch, which has no home network capabilities)

2.) Can you run it in b/g/n mixed mode?
(I need it to run in full speed N mode, but also connect a b/g laptop at the same time)

3.) Does it support multicast so that I can stream IPTV wirelessly to my Macbook?

Thanks.

 

[mathcolo]

1. Yes, it is a router.
2. Yes, it works with N devices and B/G devices concurrently (but as flopticalcube notes below, not at full speed. Forgot that! )
3. Yes, any protocol that works over IP should work on an AirPort Express.

Good luck!

 

[flopticalcube]

Mixed mode will not bring full speed n. The best you can do is 130mbps in mixed mode vs 300mbps in pure n.

 

[ssmed]

> 2.) Can you run it in b/g/n mixed mode?

Yes

> 3.) Does it support multicast so that I can stream IPTV wirelessly to my Macbook?

You can change the multicast rate if necessary but have little experience of this

see
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/AirPort_Express_Setup_Guide.pdf

 

[Primejimbo]

Mixed mode will not bring full speed n. The best you can do is 130mbps in mixed mode vs 300mbps in pure n.

So if I switched to "N" only I can have faster speeds?

 

[flopticalcube]

So if I switched to "N" only I can have faster speeds?

Using wide channels at 5ghz you can achieve nearly 300mbps. Range will be limited, however.

 

[Primejimbo]

Using wide channels at 5ghz you can achieve nearly 300mbps. Range will be limited, however.

What kind of range am I looking at?

 

[NazgulRR]

Mixed mode will not bring full speed n. The best you can do is 130mbps in mixed mode vs 300mbps in pure n.

Oh, that's ok for me - I have 100mbps internet connection anyway.

>
> 3.) Does it support multicast so that I can stream IPTV wirelessly to my Macbook?

You can change the multicast rate if necessary but have little experience of this

see
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/AirPort_Express_Setup_Guide.pdf

Hmm..I can't find anything about changing the multicast rate in the manual?

 

[flopticalcube]

I found I could get full speed up to 20 feet in the same room. It drops down if you move to another room to about 170mbps. 2 rooms and 40 or 50 feet and you might get 130mbps. This was on my old MacBook. If you have that kind of home, an Extreme might work better.

 

[ssmed]

You're right the manual doesn't mention the multicast rate - pretty useless. There has been some previous discussion.

Higher multicast rate = more speed, less range
Lower multicast rate = less speed, more range

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/382603/

 

[shaun319]

wireless access point.
N