Extended network with Airport

[noixe]

hey guys...

i subscribed to elife's 16mbps package... it was working great... then, i installed 2 airport express base stations to extend my network.. however, ever since i did, the speed has MASSIVELY decreased... from 16mbps to 4mbps... however, i'm not sure if this is due to the airport express and the network extension, or because it's a friday night and the internet in the UAE normally drops quite a bit at these times... any feedback? is it normal?

[michl]

Are your 2 Airport Express stations recent models? at 802.11n?

I ran an extended Airport network myself for about 18 months, using only 2 Airport Express stations. But one of them was an old 802.11g model so I was using WDS, and unfortunately every WDS link cuts the available wireless bandwidth in half(!) So from a max bandwidth of 54 Mbps I was only getting a maximum of 27 Mbps, much less in practice.

With the more recent 802.11n models you can use the new "extend network" feature, which works like WDS except at 802.11n and also it does not seem to have nearly the bandwidth penalty as WDS... So you start at data rates nominally over 100 Mbps, should see a drop in performance but still get well over 50Mbps, I think.

[noixe]

yeah they 802.11 n... but i think i'm running them on b/g cuz thats what the default settings were.. should i change em to n? and there were a few other options too... compatibility mode... and something else... any idea on what settings i should use for optimum speed? thnx! really appreciate it

cheers!

[michl]

i think i'm running them on b/g cuz thats what the default settings were.. should i change em to n?

Like I said 802.11g has a max bandwidth of 54 Mbps while 802.11n is well over 100 Mbps so...

In fact 80211n.com claims 802.11n is up to 160 Mbps or 7 times faster.

BareFeat's AirPort Extreme 802.11g versus 802.11n Shootout shows 'n' is 5 times faster.

So, well, you decide... ;D

(Also, you might want to check speedtest.net before/after any change you make...)

any idea on what settings i should use for optimum speed?

Not right now but, there are many tutorials online that cover the topic, like this one from cnet, etc.

Watch esp. for interferences with other devices in range (some stick to the 5GHz band for that reason) and also with obstacles / signal strength (location of your base station vs computers...)

[michl]

I took out my old Airport Express base station out of the attic to test it against the latest model...

AirPort Express 802.11g -> AirPort Express 802.11n -> TX Ethernet
download: 16.67 -> 59.28 -> 60.78 Mb/s
upload: 4.04 -> 14.11 -> 16.27 Mb/s

(All speeds as measured by speedtest.net.)

So my AirPort Express network with 802.11n is 3.5 times faster than with 802.11g.

[noixe]

yeah, i noticed the change in speeds myself... i had the old one and the new one... thanks! the set up was correct, it was just etisalat acting up on the night

[demera]

Just the right topic. I was about to buy Airport to extend the network at my home. I have a Belkin N1 Router. But I am not sure whether it would work. I have one Etisalat socket. Any idea...

[michl]

Just the right topic. I was about to buy Airport to extend the network at my home. I have a Belkin N1 Router. But I am not sure whether it would work. I have one Etisalat socket. Any idea...

According to Apple Support FAQ on the topic, the official answer is "no". The APX can only "extend the range of a WDS network."

However, Mac OS X Hints and other sites provide information to the contrary i.e., tips and hints about "how to add an Airport express to extend (WDS) an Airport network that uses some other (wired) host (e.g. a broadband router) to provide DHCP and NAT." As usual, Google is your friend...

BTW, what is an "Etisalat socket"?

[noixe]

the official stance is no, and even if you do manage to, i'm not sure what the effects on the overall performance will be... you can give it a shot if oyu want to, but i would advice against it.... and michl, etisalat socket, i think, mean's FTTH... you know, the etisalat box?

[michl]

Thanks noixe, I didn't know about FTTH but now I'm clear.

Demera, although Apple does not officially support it there are indeed reports from people who managed to use an Airport Express as repeater / wireless bridge with a third-party router. BTW, apparently it's not Apple's fault, rather the industry as a whole, as every vendor uses their own implementation of WDS et al - so one would have the same trouble combining, say, Linksys and Belkin together...

Some got it working out of the box, while some needed manual configuration (and I guess some never got it working at all):
"For apple users I imagine installation is a breeze... Well, I use XP and I have got this puppy hooked up to a Linksys wrt54g 1.1 router. Installation in this setting wasn't such a nice experience. Since the Apple Express Assistant will only automatically detect Apple wireless networks, you have to install the device initially (using an Ethernet cable from your router) as its own network. Once you have done that you can step back in using the Apple Admin Utility to join your current network (you will need to type the name of the network in manually)."

Other, detailed setup instructions are found e.g. at dd-wrt here, for example. The Belkin N1 uses an Atheros chipset so it should work.