Which Airport Am I? (Second wifi on home network)

[gobes]

Basically I can't pick up the wifi signal in my loft room from the other end of the house...

Our wireless router (some standard linksys one) is downstairs. Wireless is mostly used down there so need strongest signal. Then it's plugged into an ethernet point, which goes up to the loft in a box, where it feeds into a 16-port switch, then back out to ethernet points in each room of the house. (recently renovated the house and ran Cat-5e everywhere.)

Currently I have to connect via the ethernet point in my room with a network cable as I can't pick up the wireless signal. Which sucks a bit, being tied down when on a macbook pro...
Could I just plug an Airport Express into the ethernet point in my room and set it up as a second wireless point, which I can use in my room? Or is that not what it's for?
If not, what would do this for me?

Alternatively, if I decided to invest in a time capsule, would this do what I need it to do? And I'd be able to sync wirelessly?

Thanks for your help and I hope I made sense...

 

[skorpien]

You can use either for your needs. If you do not need a wireless backup solution, the Express is a cheaper alternative that will act as a wireless access point to your current network. All that you need to do for either is set it up in bridge mode to act as a WAP.

If you do purchase a Time Capsule, once it is set up in bridge mode, you will be able to access the hard drive from anywhere on your network, plugged into the switch or connected to any of the SSIDs/LAN ports of the main router or the TC.

 

[gobes]

Awesome, thanks.
Will probably go for the Time Capsule then.

What I intend to do is plug the TC into the network up in the loft, use it to connect to wireless up there, and as my Time Machine back up.
Then also if I was on the other wireless router downstairs, I could access any files on it too?
And the iMac downstairs (wired) and the Apple TV (wireless) could also access it?
I've never really made the most of the macs network capabilities, but if it does this, I'd be well impressed.

Also I know it's not Mac, but could I stream to my PS3 too?

Thanks for your advice.

 

[skorpien]

Yes, you should be able to access it from anywhere on your network as it will be on the same subnet as the router downstairs and merely acting as a wired to wireless bridge.

I am unsure if you will be able to access it from your Apple TV or from the PS3 however, though I suspect you may be able to access it using the Time Capsule's IP address from the PS3. I'm unsure if the Apple TV has the ability to access network attached storage however. If anyone else can elaborate please do so.

And just as a side note, you may not want to keep both your backups and media files on the internal drive of the Time Capsule. It would be a much better solution to use the internal for backups and connect a USB HDD to the TC's USB port to share media files.