Adding an Airport extreme

Discussion in 'Mac Accessories' started by andy5000, Jul 3, 2007.

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  1. andy5000, Jul 3, 2007

    andy5000 macrumors regular

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    Sep 17, 2006
    #1
    Hi,
    I am currently living in a household of pcs apart from my mbp. We have in the study a belkin wireless 54mbp adsl router. Upstairs signal is a bit on the slow side on my mbp.
    I want to get an airport extreme for upstairs to connect my lacie 250gb usb hd to it so i can use the hd wirelessly.
    Can i use the airport extreme to boost signal?
    On second thoughts would an airport express work the same?
    Thanks for the help. Any questions please ask.
    Andrew
     
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  2. kolax, Jul 3, 2007

    kolax macrumors G3

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    Mar 20, 2007
    #2
    You can use the Airport Extreme (n) to extend an existing wireless network. However, it is only the Airport Extreme (n) and not the Airport Express that offers the ability to connect an external hard drive.

    The Airport Express's USB port is strictly for printers only.
     
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  3. andy5000, Jul 3, 2007

    andy5000 thread starter macrumors regular

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    Sep 17, 2006
    #3
    right so its the extreme i want then. If i connected my mbp via lan cable to the airport extreme would that mean i would get faster access to the hard drive, faster the wireless?
     
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  4. kolax, Jul 3, 2007

    kolax macrumors G3

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    Mar 20, 2007
    #4
    You won't notice a single bit difference between ethernet and wireless for internet browsing in terms of speed.

    But to answer your question - the wireless is actually faster than the ethernet on the Airport Extreme (if you use "N") since the ethernet ports are only 10/100 speeds, not 10/100/1000 (Gigabit).

    But even then, since the hard drive is only USB you won't notice any difference between the speeds.
     
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  5. russell.h, Jul 3, 2007

    russell.h macrumors regular

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    Jul 2, 2007
    #5
    I seriously doubt you will ever (at least with current firmware) get a wirelees N connection to an Airport Extreme (or most any N router) over 100Mb/s, but on the other hand ethernet isn't usually as fast in reality as it is in theory either...

    What I would recommend doing is getting an Airport Extreme Base Station, putting it on 5GHZ N only mode, and using it with your laptop only (unless your other computers have N capability). You should be able to turn off DHCP, run an ethernet cable from the WAN port on the base station to one of the LAN ports on your existing router, and the base station will become just an extension of your existing network and all your computers should be able to see each other (note that I haven't actually tried this).
     
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  6. aristobrat, Jul 3, 2007

    aristobrat macrumors G5

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    Oct 14, 2005
    #6
    I thought that Apple Extremes/Expresses can only extend the range of networks powered by other Apple Extremes/Expresses?

    If his other WiFi router is a Belkin, I don't think an Apple anything can extend it (using WDS).
     
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  7. andy5000, Jul 3, 2007

    andy5000 thread starter macrumors regular

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    Sep 17, 2006
    #7
    Well i need the external hard drive in my room. so thats where i was going to put the airport. The only reason i though of connecting it to my mbp via ethernet was cause i read somewhere that videos and sound have playback issues.
    My mbp is pre n wireless.bought last july, nearly a year old now:(
    that was one of the main reasons i posted, wanting to know if it would extend if i was using my old belkin router downstairs.
     
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