Use Airport Express to Join a Wireless Network then bridge to AE

[knemonic]

Hello, curious if someone can confirm if this would work.

I currently live in a building where they provide good, free wifi. They are using linksys routers which are not capable of being extended wirelessly with my Airport Extreme.

I was able to get the older Airport Utility that allows me to Join a wireless network. The problem is currently I only have the Extreme not the Express.

I've read found that once you have the Express in Join Wireless Network mode, you can the plug anything into that ethernet port, to access the internet.

So what I am trying to confirm is if I buy an Express, change the mode to Join, then plug the ethernet port into the WAN port on my Extreme, will I be able to create my own secure wireless network using the Express internet connection provided to it wirelessly?

See, I could easily just jump onto the building wifi with all my devices, but there are thirty other tenants, and worse, the password they use has gotten on the the streets, so it is very insecure. I want to create my own personal network but still use their internet connection, with my own password and SSID.

Any help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Should work fine, but using an AirPort Express for that purpose is kind of overkill. You can get by with a "wifi gaming adapter" that simply converts wifi to Ethernet, then plug that into the WAN port on the Extreme. One example: http://amzn.com/B008CV8ST4

 

[knemonic]

Should work fine, but using an AirPort Express for that purpose is kind of overkill. You can get by with a "wifi gaming adapter" that simply converts wifi to Ethernet, then plug that into the WAN port on the Extreme. One example: http://amzn.com/B008CV8ST4

Thanks! I had a feeling it would work, just wanted some reassurance to avoid a drive for nothing.

I thought about the gaming adapters after I wrote the post. The problem I am having is I need to get it as soon as possibly, and locally there are basically no options. I think what I will do is stop by best buy, since they are the most likely to have something cheaper and if they don't I will go to the apple store for the Express.

Thanks again!