Using Airport Express to extend Wifi from Time Capsule?

[bleumax]

Sorry if this question has been asked many times before - I tried running numerous searches, but it's been difficult to find a straightforward answer to my predicament.

I have a time capsule and an airport express. I would like to extend the range of my wifi network as my modem (attached to the time capsule) is on the third floor of my home and I'd like to improve the strength of my internet connection to the lower floors. I've tried to set-up airport express (located on the 2nd floor, but initially set-up near my time capsule) and the time capsule with the extend range options, but my airport express doesn't seem to improve the range of the wifi. I tested my internet speed by running the test away from airport express, near airport express and with my laptop connected to airport express via ethernet. In fact, connecting the laptop to airport express seems to produce the slowest download speed and being near airport express does not seem to provide faster download speeds.

Can someone point me to straightforward instructions where I can setup airport express to extend the range of my wifi network that uses time capsule? Also, how will I know that airport express is extending my range? When I view my wireless networks, should I see my airport express as one of the wireless networks that I can connect to?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[mangrove]

I don't have this setup, but did you get any response after using "extend" in Airport Utility?

Also, maybe you have done this, but often I've found the Apple "Community" has good answers. Apparently, they have moderators who seem to be specialized in their advice which seems to get you a quicker reply.

Maybe you have a bad unit.

 

[cadillac1234]

I just did this setup with my airport extreme and an airport express that I got today.

Long story short, don't trust an internet speed test to figure out the speed. Per apple's tech support the bridge will give a false reading as to the speed due to the way the data is processed in WDS mode. I was getting under .1 mb/s readings d/l while showing 3+ uploads which were obviously wrong.

This thread is a pretty good guide on how to set it up. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/349864/

I did activate the interference robustness feature which seemed to help.

I also noticed that going through the express is slower than if I am hooked directly through the extreme. You can have the express flash green when data is going through it by changing the option in the manual setup screen. Otherwise there is no way to tell which router or bridge is carrying the data to your device.