Airport Extreme as network extension

[tommy060289]

Hey Everyone,

I currently have a fritz box 7390 that sits down stairs in the lounge and acts as my modem/router but I could do with some more ethernet ports and probably boosting the wireless signal upstairs.

Im thinking of getting an airport extreme and using an ethernet cable to link it to the fritz box but what I want is a set up where the AE is basically acting as a switch and wireless extender.

So, if I set the fritz as master and just plug it in, is it possible to set the AE so that:

a) it sits on the same network so a computer connected via ethernet to the fritz will see a NAS attached by ethernet to the AE
b) act as a wireless extender for the fritz wireless network so I dont needlessly create more wireless networks.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[skorpien]

Yup! Just connect the Ethernet cable from your modem/router to the Extreme's WAN port and use AirPort Utility to disable DHCP by setting Connections Sharing to "Off (Bridge mode)"

As for the wireless extender, you can give the SSID from your Extreme the same name and password as your original network and devices should switch between the two seamlessly (note: I've never attempted this but from my research this is how it's supposed to work).

The only downside is you lose the ability to create a guest network.