A little help with Airport Express and Extreme?

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I am seriously technologically challenged, though surrounded by several Apple devices. I currently have a Netgear router which doesn't have enough range in the house, so I'm contemplating getting the Airport Extreme and Express, have some basic questions:

1. Extreme is a wireless router and will replace the Netgear router I currently have
a. Correct?
b. Is it easy to set up?
c. When I connect it to the Comcast modem, I need to set it up using my Mac? Does it come with a standard default password or will I have to create one? What if I get locked out?

2. Set up Airport Express to connect to Extreme and place it in a different part of the house. This will give me better wifi signal in that part of the house. Is this accurate too?

I'm not sure if Express is just a device that lets me stream music wirelessly from the iPhone or iPad or if it acts as a WiFi booster as well. I've read "WiFi Repeater" on several posts but I have no idea what that means.

I apologize if these questions are too basic, but I'm very nervous about this and don't want to mess up the existing configuration I have just in case I can't set up correctly.

Any help with these basic questions would be very much appreciated!
 

Raz0rEdge

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Correct on all counts. You plug the Apple Extreme to the cable modem and use airport utility to configure your network. The airport utility will nicely guide you through the process of setting up the wireless network with necessary passwords.

Once you have that setup, you bring the Airport Express up and have it extend the network created by the AirPort Extreme. Now move the Express to another part of the house and it will boost your wifi signal.

This is exactly the setup I have right now. The Extreme is in the basement next to the cable modem and the Express is on the 1st floor right in the middle of the house..
 
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Awesome! Will set it up this weekend. Thank you so much for your help!
 

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Unless the home is very large (3500+ square feet), more than one wireless access point should not be necessary. In most cases, simply positioning the wireless router properly is enough to create decent range.

This is important, because if you don't address the underlying problems and simply throw more hardware at it, you're going to have spent a lot of money to accomplish what could have otherwise been done with a few common sense changes to your existing hardware.

First and foremost, in a multiple story home, the best place for a wireless router is up high (second story). The WORST possible place is in a basement - which is more often than not - the place chosen by folks who have signal issues. NO wireless router, no matter how good, can compete with concrete walls, steel beams, furnaces, hot water heaters, etc. Yes, it can be a pain to move a router/modem to a different spot, but it can and should be done if possible.

Additionally, make sure the wireless device is NOWHERE NEAR a microwave oven, cordless phone base, baby monitor or any other device that emits radio signals. These can inhibit the router's radio.

The AirPort Extreme is a decent enough wireless router, but it's middling in terms of range and it lacks some important security features like an SPI firewall - not to mention that it can only be configured by special, proprietary software, rather than a web page like most routers. For the price, it's simply not all that competitive. It IS easy to configure, and if that's key for you, then it might be worth the money.

I haven't been a big fan of Netgear routers in the past, but given its stellar reviews, I recently picked up a Netgear N900 (WNDR4500) at Costco for $139 and I couldn't be more pleased. I am now getting strong signal in every corner of my home, including problem spots like my deck and garage. For the money, it bests the AirPort Extreme in nearly every conceivable way - it's even very easy to setup (no CD needed, everything is done by going to a web page).
 
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The N900 is exactly what I have but the signal doesn't carry through the house. It's located on the second floor and I get no signal on several first floor rooms and nothing in the basement (house is larger than 3200 sqft). That said, I have a cordless phone base (connected to Vonage device) and an AT&T Microcell kept right next to it, maybe that is affecting the signal? But I need to have both these hardwired into the modem or router, so I guess I have no choice but to leave it there?
 

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The N900 is exactly what I have but the signal doesn't carry through the house. It's located on the second floor and I get no signal on several first floor rooms and nothing in the basement (house is larger than 3200 sqft).

You may benefit from the AirPort Express as a range extender on the first floor. Is the room where the N900 is located at an extreme end (laterally) of the house? It's best to put it in a central location if possible - the goal being to keep the signal inside the confines of your home, and not projecting outward, away from the bulk of your square footage.

The N900 has one of the most powerful radios on the market, I highly doubt you'd see better performance with an AirPort Extreme. For those rooms where you get no signal - is that both on the 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks?

That said, I have a cordless phone base (connected to Vonage device) and an AT&T Microcell kept right next to it, maybe that is affecting the signal? But I need to have both these hardwired into the modem or router, so I guess I have no choice but to leave it there?

That might be part of it. I would separate them as far from the router as possible. You may need to get longer Ethernet (network) cables to get them away from each other. You may also consider putting the N900 on a shelf higher up and away from the other devices.

As an experiment, you may also try powering off the other two devices temporarily just to see if conditions improve.
 

cwa107


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Another thought - I'm kind of surprised that Vonage has you hooking the phone up directly to the Vonage box. Most VoIP solutions that I've seen will have you connect a phone cord to a phone jack within your home. At that point, all your phone jacks (assuming the telco's wiring has been disconnected outside) should be "hot" for phone service through the box. In this way, you can connect your phone to any jack in the house.
 
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I'll try playing around with the Vonage device and Microcell, maybe that is causing the issue. For the modem, I can't have it in any other room coz the ISP cable comes in that one room (to the corner of the house). Changing that to a centrally located room will require extensive wiring and will be expensive.

For Vonage, their device needs to be hardwired into the modem or router, and the base phone needs to be connected into the device. I have an expandable cordless set so that I can have a handset in different parts of the house.

Another quick question - I was ordering the Airport Extreme,and came across the Time Capsule. It appears other than backing up devices, it also works as a router? I am so confused, not sure what the best option is. Will probably stop by the Apple store tomorrow and try to figure this out better.
 

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I'll try playing around with the Vonage device and Microcell, maybe that is causing the issue. For the modem, I can't have it in any other room coz the ISP cable comes in that one room (to the corner of the house). Changing that to a centrally located room will require extensive wiring and will be expensive.

What kind of ISP? Cable? DSL? FiOS (Fiber-optic to the premises)? Many times your ISP will run a direct line to one particular room, rather than messing with splitters. But in many homes, there's usually a master splitter at the feed for the cable. Simply identifying the run to one of your jacks (at the feed site) and putting a dedicated two-way splitter at that feed (one end goes to the desired line, the other to the master splitter) can serve to replicate the dedicated line.

For Vonage, their device needs to be hardwired into the modem or router, and the base phone needs to be connected into the device. I have an expandable cordless set so that I can have a handset in different parts of the house.

Another quick question - I was ordering the Airport Extreme,and came across the Time Capsule. It appears other than backing up devices, it also works as a router? I am so confused, not sure what the best option is. Will probably stop by the Apple store tomorrow and try to figure this out better.

The Time Capsule is pretty much an AirPort Extreme with a hard drive tucked inside.
 
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Thank you guys so much for your help! I finally went with the Time Capsule and 2 Airport Express stations. Couldn't have been easier to set up! It took maybe 15-20 minutes to get everything running! Strong wifi signal throughout the house!

One question - I now want to back up my Mac to the Time Capsule. Previously I had been using a different hard drive (Western Digital) to back up the Mac. Now when I plug in the TC using an ethernet cable to the Mac, it does nothing. It asks me which date I want to view the Time Machine at (previously saved). I don't want to view any previous dates, I simply want to set up TC as the new backup device so that it can back up wirelessly over time. Any pointers on what I'm doing wrong?
 
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If im remembering correctly then you will have to remove that 'other' TM BackUp from the Preferences to force TM to use your TC as the BU Disk.

Also ill try and find the Article/Forum reply but unless TC is set up as a Extension of your Network then the Ethernet Cable hooked wont find your TC to use. Turn off Airport to confirm this, but i had this trouble and had to do first backup over night because even though the little green light was on, my ethernet cable would for the lit of me see my TC. Something to do with Apple being tight asses.. . . . . .
Make sense ?? lol

Look at point 3 from Slydude. Thats what i was trying to explain :)

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/switcher-hangout/269863-can-time-capsule-work-ethernet-instead-wifi.html
 

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