I just recently moved into a new apartment which provides free wifi to all the residents. Previously I had an ethernet hooked up to my AirPort Express and everything ran wirelessly through that. Now my question is, how do I get it hooked up with the apartments wifi? I have had the AirPort up and running so I could print wirelessly and stream my music but I could not connect to the internet while I was connected to the AirPort. I don't have access to an ethernet cable and I have a feeling thats going to cause some issues... Any ideas?
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AirPort Express and Apartment Wi-Fi
- Thread starter cmy417
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if the apartment have everything setup as they should, It's not going to work well for you. Proper setup would have the different wireless clients not being able to see each other, chances are it's not this way.
Can you see a bunch of different computers in your finder window? then it will work for you, but unfortunately it will also work for everyone else in your building. you can password protect the speakers. although I don't think you can protect the printer, but I'm not sure.
If you can't see others in finder, then you building is setup like it should be and it won't work at all, you really don't want your neighbors having access to your computer.
you could get another router and have that act as a wireless bridge, not that hard to setup, but depending on your technical skills i would get a geek friend. It'll take maybe 30 minutes, and cost you a 6 pack.
Get a cheap router, and install dd-wrt on it (dd-wrt is a linux based firmware, adds more features)
you'll want to check compatibility with dd-wrt before you buy, but you should be able to find one for under $50.
Then set it up as a wireless bridge. That would get you an ethernet port that's connected to the building wifi. you would then take a cable and connect your express to that, and use the old setup.
so...
--building wi-fi--> DD-wrt --wired ethernet--> express --your wifi--> computer
Can you see a bunch of different computers in your finder window? then it will work for you, but unfortunately it will also work for everyone else in your building. you can password protect the speakers. although I don't think you can protect the printer, but I'm not sure.
If you can't see others in finder, then you building is setup like it should be and it won't work at all, you really don't want your neighbors having access to your computer.
you could get another router and have that act as a wireless bridge, not that hard to setup, but depending on your technical skills i would get a geek friend. It'll take maybe 30 minutes, and cost you a 6 pack.
Get a cheap router, and install dd-wrt on it (dd-wrt is a linux based firmware, adds more features)
you'll want to check compatibility with dd-wrt before you buy, but you should be able to find one for under $50.
Then set it up as a wireless bridge. That would get you an ethernet port that's connected to the building wifi. you would then take a cable and connect your express to that, and use the old setup.
so...
--building wi-fi--> DD-wrt --wired ethernet--> express --your wifi--> computer
I can see other computers in my finder and I can also see other password protected networks in my airport drop box. Right now it's set up to stream music and the speakers are password protected. I'm not sure what's going on with my printer right now, I haven't tested it yet. I just can't get an Internet connection through my Express. And if I can get the Internet to run through the Express, can't I just set up a password through that so anything that goes through there has to have the password?
the internet won't go through the express at all, you need to set it up to join the network in your building. so all the traffic will go through the building's system, and it will be available to all the others on the network.
the way i talked about setting it up would create your own network separate from the building.
The other networks you are seeing are probably people who get their own internet service and have set up their own networks.
the way i talked about setting it up would create your own network separate from the building.
The other networks you are seeing are probably people who get their own internet service and have set up their own networks.
So it sounds like the only way to achieve wifi, streamed music, and wireless printing all through the password protected AirPort Express is to join the existing wifi at the apartment with a cheap router, then start a new network off that with the Express... correct?
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