Can I mix Linksys and an Airport Express?

[Chuchichan]

I'm having trouble with my current wifi network consisting of two Airport Expresses (a "G" and an "N"). So, I want to take one of them out and use a Linksys as the main wifi router and one airport express as a remote station (to connect to the stereo and extend the network).

Is this possible to do? Recommended?


Thanks...

 

[JediMeister]

The Express will function as a client of the Linksys if you want to use AirTunes. I don't believe however that you can set it up to extend the network like you could if the Linksys was, say, another Express, an Extreme, or a Time Capsule. See the answer to question 1 on this FAQ page.

 

[Alfihar]

I have a Linksys WRT54GL and a couple of Airport Expresses, so far I've had no luck in using the Airport Expresses to extend the Linksys's network. It almost works for me in that the Express is detected however there is some incompatibility with the WDS in the devices. So devices connected to the Airport can't access the internet of devices connected to the Linksys, even thought he Linksys claims that it is working with the Airport in a WDS.

Some non-Apple wireless routers will work this way, however it might be a bit hit and miss.

What trouble are you having with your current network?

 

[Chuchichan]

I have a Linksys WRT54GL and a couple of Airport Expresses, so far I've had no luck in using the Airport Expresses to extend the Linksys's network. It almost works for me in that the Express is detected however there is some incompatibility with the WDS in the devices. So devices connected to the Airport can't access the internet of devices connected to the Linksys, even thought he Linksys claims that it is working with the Airport in a WDS.

Some non-Apple wireless routers will work this way, however it might be a bit hit and miss.

What trouble are you having with your current network?

Thanks for the replies. The speed of my wifi network is very slow. I have a fiberoptic line. I use my n express as my main router. I have it plugged into the router from my provider. My g router is setup as a remote and I have it plugged into my stereo. I think it is setup to extend my network. Either way though, even if I have my iPod touch or PowerBook g4 next to my n router the speed is very slow. If I bring these devices to a friend's network (which is next door) they are much faster. My friend's network consists of two g airport expresses.

So, I think I either haven't setup my two airports properly or one is defective. One thing I do notice is that occassionally my n router goes orange then back to green. That's why I thought of replacing my n router with a linksys or some other brand. It doesn't have to be a linksys.

So, I suppose it should be ok if I'm not able to extend the wifi network because I'm not even sure if I'm doing it now.

Any ideas on how I should proceed?

Thanks...

 

[Alfihar]

Have you tried changing the channel?
It might be there's interference on the one you are currently using.

Also with the setup you have you may be double NAT'ed, if the providers router has DHCP (it hands out internal IP addresses to machines which connect to it) then you might want to check that your Airport Expresses are set to use Bridge Mode in Internet > Internet Sharing. The 802.11g one will probably already be set this way.

You might want to make a copy of the Airport Expresses profiles before you start changing any settings, so it's easier to go back.

If you connect your PowerBook directly to your providers router via an ethernet cable is the speed good?

For testing it might be worth turning off the 802.11g Airport Express, and just use the 802.11n one on it's own.

As a side note that the network will run at the speed of the slowest device currently communicating on the network. So having an 802.11n (2.4GHZ) network with 802.11g or even worse 802.11b devices will cause a slowdown. That said you seem to be using 802.11g devices mostly anyway.