Old(g) and New(n) Airport Express compatibility

[j-a-x]

Hi,

I have an old 802.11g Airport Express and I just moved into a bigger apartment and I want to setup a second set of speakers here in a different room.

I was wondering - could I buy the new 802.11n Airport Express router and set that up as my primary router with the internet connection and then set up the old 802.11 g router in another room with speakers attached and have them on the SAME network, or would they be incompatible because of the g/n difference in the wifi protocol? Would I lose any of the advantages of 802.11n if I used the old g router?

 

[kolax]

You can set up the N Airport Extreme to run a N network with G compatibility.

However, that'll bring everything on the network to G speeds. Not a big deal though.

 

[DoubleDutyG4]

Kilamite,

I assume using an older (G) AirPort express with a newer (N) AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule would also slow down the whole network to G speeds then?

 

[kolax]

Kilamite,

I assume using an older (G) AirPort express with a newer (N) AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule would also slow down the whole network to G speeds then?

Yep - if you have them set to "N with G compatibility".

 

[mooty]

will it bring the n network down all the time, or only when the g devices are in use?

 

[kolax]

will it bring the n network down all the time, or only when the g devices are in use?

Only when G devices are in use on the network.

 

[mooty]

will you still get full n capacity over just having a complete n wireless network?

 

[Bambeezer]

Hi,

I have an old 802.11g Airport Express and I just moved into a bigger apartment and I want to setup a second set of speakers here in a different room.

I was wondering - could I buy the new 802.11n Airport Express router and set that up as my primary router with the internet connection and then set up the old 802.11 g router in another room with speakers attached and have them on the SAME network, or would they be incompatible because of the g/n difference in the wifi protocol? Would I lose any of the advantages of 802.11n if I used the old g router?

I just configured the exact setup last night. The part that gave me problems (I did it all manually without the wizard) was configuring the new N for WDS. I didn't realize I had to set the N router up to participate in WDS. I was only setting up the G for WDS. The N is the main router and the G is a relay. Once I clued in to that fact, everything worked great.

 

[j-a-x]

Thanks for the comments. I got the n router and I have it setup with the g compatibility mode and it seems ot be working great so far. Even if the network speed is compromised with the compatibility mode I can still take advantage of the increased range, and my internet connection is only 3 megabit anyways.

Does the router revert to g mode only when I am playing music through the old g express, or is it any time the old g express is plugged in?

 

[coren542]

I am having problems with my older (g) express not showing up. This happened when Upgraded to 10.5.6. What OS are you running. I just want to set of the (g) express to play airtunes.