Airport Express Advice

[sanspoof]

I am looking to buying a Airport Express.....

I have a 802.11g network at home running from a speedtouch wireless modem thing.......there is a windows PC connected to it.

I have a macbook which i use to connect to the speedtouch modem too (this is what i use the most).....

I just want a bit of advice.......

If i buy an airport express and just plug it in in my bedroom upstairs and then plug my speakers into the airport express, will this extend my network from my speedtouch modem in the living room and then let me stream music fom my macbook through my speakers??? Is it as easy as this? or am i missing a vital part of the chain??

Thanks.

 

[belvdr]

You're missing a piece. Your existing wireless router will need to support WDS (Wireless Distribution System) in order for this to work. More often than not, cheaper wireless routers tend not to have this feature available.

 

[sanspoof]

Ahh excellent, I thought this might be the case......

Thanks for your help, much appreciated......

 

[willieva]

You don't need WDS to stream music to your express. itunes will work, or you can use Airfoil to stream from other sources.

WDS lets your express act as a network access point. Great for plugging non wireless devices(xbox) into your network without running cables. In fact some people have found a problem streaming music with their network setup as WDS. Music can drop out sometimes for several seconds. I stopped running my network as WDS because of this. Running non WDS works great.

 

[belvdr]

If i buy an airport express and just plug it in in my bedroom upstairs and then plug my speakers into the airport express, will this extend my network from my speedtouch modem in the living room and then let me stream music fom my macbook through my speakers??? Is it as easy as this? or am i missing a vital part of the chain??

Thanks.

You don't need WDS to stream music to your express. itunes will work, or you can use Airfoil to stream from other sources.

You're missing the emphasis above. Sure you can install the AE and stream music straight to it, but it won't necessarily extend your wireless network.

WDS lets your express act as a network access point.

WDS is associated with APs, but is not a function of all of them. WDS allows you to extend a wireless network wirelessly. For example, if ROUTER1 and AP2 are participating in WDS, and CLIENT_A connects to AP2, the signal will be accepted by AP2 and wirelessly transmitted to ROUTER1.

The reason you may experience drops is due to the bandwidth being halved for each additional AP which acts as part of a WDS-enabled network. For example, assuming theoretical 54Mbps is obtained, enabling WDS and adding one more AP drops that to 27Mbps. Add another, and it's down to 13.5Mbps.

 

[sanspoof]

Thanks chaps!!!

Great help!!!