Can Airport Express extend non-apple network?

[dmelgar]

Can Airport Express extend the range of a non-apple network?

 

[chasemac]

Can Airport Express extend the range of a non-apple network?

If you mean wirelessly then usually the answer is no. You would need an airport extreme to achieve this. More info about your network setup is needed.

 

[brand]

If you mean wirelessly then usually the answer is no. You would need an airport extreme to achieve this. More info about your network setup is needed.

I have never done it but for some reason I thought it was possible. Guess I may have been thinking wrong.

 

[SpinalTap]

The Airport Express is capable of working alongside non Apple routers.

My daughter is at home from university during the summer months, and I had little difficulty in getting her Airport Express to join our existing home network - which has a Netgear DG834N at its core.

All I did was to use the Airport Utility, chose the join existing network option, entered the password for my network, and the two paired.

I did not have to turn 'wifi on' on my Mac Mini either.

 

[rogersmj]

Yes, it's possible. I'm using it with a Netgear router now.

 

[marzer]

There's a difference between joining and extending a wireless network. An AE will join any standard compliance wireless network. Extending a wireless network with another device (such as an AE) permits clients to be farther away than the original access point (such as an AEBS) transmit range can reach. But to extend a wireless network, an Apple device needs to wirelessly connect with other devices that implement Wireless Distribution System.

But by my experience and research, Apple is one of the few manufacturers that implement WDS in their devices. There are third party firmware upgrades that may enable it in Netgear and Linksys products but its not normally implemented by those (or other) manufacturers, yet.