Using spare routers to extend a network as AP's

[southafricanrob]

Hi, I have a Billion ADSL Modem / Router, Airport Extreme and Airport Express and I want to use the latter 2 to extend my network across my home and into the garage.

Currently the Billion is the DHCP server and the Airport Extreme is wired to the Billion, is in Bridge Mode and has identical SSID and security settings as the Billion and this works well.

My question is: In order to use the Airport Express to extend the network further - do I wire it to the Billion or to the bridged access point Extreme? Or does it not matter which one? It would be easier to wire to the Extreme as that would mean less cabling....

 

[ODTech]

Hi, I have a Billion ADSL Modem / Router, Airport Extreme and Airport Express and I want to use the latter 2 to extend my network across my home and into the garage.

Currently the Billion is the DHCP server and the Airport Extreme is wired to the Billion, is in Bridge Mode and has identical SSID and security settings as the Billion and this works well.

My question is: In order to use the Airport Express to extend the network further - do I wire it to the Billion or to the bridged access point Extreme? Or does it not matter which one? It would be easier to wire to the Extreme as that would mean less cabling....

If you are running cat5 cables between the devices you do not need to setup wireless bridges or repeaters. Just set each device as a independent access point. It will make you life much easier this way. Repeating signal with cross brand equipmant is sometimes problematic and a pain to set up.

 

[southafricanrob]

If you are running cat5 cables between the devices you do not need to setup wireless bridges or repeaters. Just set each device as a independent access point. It will make you life much easier this way. Repeating signal with cross brand equipmant is sometimes problematic and a pain to set up.

Thanks ODThech - yes I am running cat5. The Billion needs to stay in the study as thats where the phone line is so its the 2 apple routers that will be access points - from what I've seen on the limited configuration software there isn't an option for AP, only Bridge Mode.
Out of interest - would an AP use the same channel as the main router? What is the effective difference between bridge mode and an AP then in this case?

 

[Roman4604]

do I wire it to the Billion or to the bridged access point Extreme? Or does it not matter which one?

Shouldn't matter which one you (physically) connect to, both ways would work. But from an elegance perspective I'd prefer connecting it to the Billion (to act as the central node in tree type topology) instead of the chained bus type topology that would be created by connecting to the Airport Extreme.

 

[ODTech]

Thanks ODThech - yes I am running cat5. The Billion needs to stay in the study as thats where the phone line is so its the 2 apple routers that will be access points - from what I've seen on the limited configuration software there isn't an option for AP, only Bridge Mode.
Out of interest - would an AP use the same channel as the main router? What is the effective difference between bridge mode and an AP then in this case?

An AP is used to connect a wireless device like a laptop to your network

A bridge is used to connect two networks to each other wirelessly. So the bridge connects to an access point wirelessly and your laptop connects to the bridge with a cable.

As far as I can tell the airport extreme does act as a access point too when it is set to bridge mode. Easy way to test is set it up with a unique ssid and connect it to your router by cable and then try to browse through it using a phone or laptop.

Edit: To answer your question.
If you are linking multiple access points by cable you do not need to duplicate wifi settings, they can be totaly unique. You can also link access points wirelessly in which case you would need to duplicate wifi settings including channel but the problem with this type of repeating is for each device you add in the chain you halve your network bandwidth.

 

[flippakitten]

All the above is fair enough but then you need to connect to each access point as you walk around the house, which is why repeating is cool.

Although you're not able to use any encryption when setting up repeaters, so you need to filter by MAC, which is totally spoofable I know.

So if you don't care about loosing connection temporarily, just setup separate access points, it will save you a hell of a lot of time.

 

[AdrianH]

I use multiple router connected with CAT 5. I set the same wireless SSID, password and security on each router, but change the channel to unique channels. All my devices "hop" between the strongest wifi signal when I walk around now.