Airport Extreme / VZ FIOS

[Porkchop Sandwich]

Considering we are living in a rural area, my wife and I have been suffering poor interweb service, for a good while. The most reliable, and sometimes decent connection we’ve had, has been with VZ mobile wifi using a VZ supplied router. (i.e, a hotspot) I have an Airport Extreme (recently acquired) but all I have used it for to this point is wireless storage. The AP signal is pretty good throughout the house. Our current VZ supplied router, not so much. I’ve not set the AP up as a bridge with the VZ supplied router, yet.

Luckily, VZ beat me to it and has finally made FIOS available in our neighborhood. Clearly, we ordered it the day it became available : )

We are scheduled to have gigabit service installed this week and with it will come a new router. I’ve done a fare degree of diligence and the router that they are going to supply is (supposedly) not a horrible performer with respect to signal strength. It appears to be an upgrade to our current router. (I am going to buy the router in order to forego the monthly rental, fwiw). My question is this: Once the FIOS router is installed, do I simply bridge it to the AP via ethernet cable - like, simple as that? Once bridged via ethernet cable, I’m guessing that I’ll get the full signal strength that the FIOS router supplies through the AP as well, yes?

Sorry if this is a lame question, I’m not much of a techie and the inability to get the service prior, leaves me with no experience with this sort of setup.

 

[Brian33]

... I’ve not set the AP up as a bridge with the VZ supplied router, yet.
...
My question is this: Once the FIOS router is installed, do I simply bridge it to the AP via ethernet cable - like, simple as that? Once bridged via ethernet cable, I’m guessing that I’ll get the full signal strength that the FIOS router supplies through the AP as well, yes?

Yes, I think you've got the right idea. Run an Ethernet cable from one of the four (typically) LAN ports on the FIOS router to the WAN/Internet port (it has a circle symbol near it) of the AP Extreme. (I'm pretty sure it should be the WAN port of the AP.)

Use Airport Utility to configure the AP device in bridge mode. You will probably want to turn off the wireless network of the AP, too. (Or, you can leave it on, if for some reason you want to have two wireless networks -- but that just makes things more complicated.) You can even use the three LAN ports on the AP as a switch to connect other devices with Ethernet cables, if you wish. With this setup they are functionally equivalent now to the four LAN ports on the FIOS router.

Your Mac will connect via WiFi to the FIOS router, and you will be able to access the AP storage via WiFi too, because the AP (and anything connected to it) is now part of your local network.

 

[Fishrrman]

You didn't tell us the square footage of your home.

These days, I wouldn't bother with an Airport any more -- they're discontinued and "old tech".

I'd be looking at a "mesh solution". Netgear Orbi comes to mind, along with the Linksys "Velop", eero, google wifi, Amplifi, luma, etc.

 

[davidmartindale]

You didn't tell us the square footage of your home.

These days, I wouldn't bother with an Airport any more -- they're discontinued and "old tech".

I'd be looking at a "mesh solution". Netgear Orbi comes to mind, along with the Linksys "Velop", eero, google wifi, Amplifi, luma, etc.

They're not discontinued and 802.11ac is still what is used in most routers. Granted there is a new WiFi type, I forget what it is (802.11ad maybe?)

 

[Fishrrman]

david wrote:
"They're not discontinued"

They're still selling them, but the development team -has- been disbanded and it looks like no further updates are planned.

Again, for better coverage, I'd suggest one of the mesh systems.

Aside:
Still using an old, "flat" Airport Extreme here (in a small 1400sq.ft. home). Even though the AE has run fine for about 7 years, when it's time for a replacement I won't get an AE (or any other mfr's router, for that matter) -- I'll get "mesh" instead.
I'm surprised Apple hasn't jumped into this market.

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

Thanks to all who have responded.

FIOS is now installed and we're loving it. The installer did not place the router where it would be optimized for all around coverage so it looks like I may have a bit of work to do.

House is just under 2500 sq ft (2 levels) + attached 2 car garage and I have a separate shop about 50 ft from the house where I'd like good coverage.

As installed using Quantum router, we have decent coverage everywhere. Seeing d-load speeds of 2-300 mbps (wirelessly) in the "hot zone". Shop & front porch (large front porch) is seeing anywhere from 25-45 mbps.

I appreciate the introduction of the triband routers into this discussion. As indicated, I do intend to replace the Quantum router in order to forego VZ's monthly rental. Frankly, the VZ router is not as good as I had hoped so I am receptive to an Orbi, or other, triband router which may bring our weak spots up to perhaps 100 mbps download. (future proofing) Would the orbi router be a suitable, simple plug in, replacement for the VZ supplied router? (I would have no issue acquiring a satellite orbi to pair with the orbi router for the shop).

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd suggest you continue to investigate the Orbi.
Check the reviews on amazon…

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

I'd suggest you continue to investigate the Orbi.
Check the reviews on amazon…

Some of the reviews say that the Orbi doesn't play nice w/Apple..all that we have are Apple devices..

Anyone using Apple products/Orbi care to comment?

 

[jaybar]

OP, do you have Fios TV? If so, you must use the VZ router. The easiest way to set things up is to have the Apple AE in bridge mode.

The question then becomes, which router provides better wifi? If the Quantum does then why retain the AE? If the AE provides better wifi, then turn of wifi on the VZ.

Also from what I read, mesh may not play nicely with VZ. For example if you got the Netgear Orbi, the router part needs to be setup as an access point, which may limit what can be done with the other Orbi modules.

I too would be interested in how Orbi plays with Apple gear.

 

[Porkchop Sandwich]

Jaybar - please accept my apology for the slow response.

I do in fact have FIOS TV, for now. With the recent installation and the huge upgrade in interweb speeds, we are using the thirty day window to see if cutting the cord is something we are prepared to do.

I ended up setting the AP up in bridge mode w/the Quantum router. That alone increased our wifi speeds a good deal (approx 50%) and the AP is not yet in the ideal spot, pending an ethernet cable of proper length. My slowest connection (in my shop - separate building) is around 75/80 down. Of course that’s slow as compared to the service that’s at our fingertips but in practical use, that’s plenty fast + it’s consistent. For now, that seems to work out fine. The upside is that as technology grows, my wifi can also by investing into the Orbi or the like. I’m satisfied for now and happy to not spend more $$. Now, do we cut the cord on the TV and effectively halve our monthly bill is the question..

Q: If I cut the cord..do I get to eliminate the Quantum router altogether?

*Jaybar..you can buy the Quantum router at Amazon for $115.00 and save the $10.00 per mo.