Extending a wireless network

Recently, I was facing a problem with my internet connection at home. The problem was (and is) that the modem is in the office, and the XBox is in the living room, hooked to the television. To get the XBox onto XBox Live, it needs an internet connection – and Microsoft’s wireless adapter retails for $99 USD. I almost purchased it, until I realized there was a better way: a $99 USD Airport Express. I already have an Airport Extreme handing my internet connection, and using Apple’s implementation of WDS, I was able to extend my wired network across a house without running any cables. I also setup AirTunes on the Airport Express, and connected it to my stereo, to provide superior sound for playing back my music.

To extend the network, you need to setup a WDS relationship between the two Airport devices. This is really the only tricky part to the setup, and it does take a few minutes, and at least two reboots (one for each Airport). Plug the Airport Express into the wall and connect the network jack to the Airport Extreme, and then open the Airport Utility (found in the Utilities folder in your Applications folder), and make sure you can see both devices. On the summary screen for both, you will see an ‘Airport ID’ – you can use the mouse to select the text, then copy and paste it somewhere safe. You will need both addresses, and you will need to know which one is which! I have blurred out my address, but this is what you are looking for:

Once you have both Airport ID’s, go into the configuration for both Airports. Under the Wireless tab in each, change the “Wireless Mode” to “Participate in a WDS network”:

A tab will appear when you make this change, for WDS. Go to this tab, and on the Airport Express, select “WDS remote”, and enter the Airport ID for the Airport Extreme in the text field:

For the Airport Extreme, set the WDS mode to “WDS main”, and click the small ‘+’ icon under the “WDS Remotes” box that will appear. Enter the Airport ID for the Airport Express here. If you want to have a wireless network for laptops and iPhones once this is done, also check the box for “Allow wireless clients”:

Save changes on both, and reboot each of them. They will take a minute or two to come back up and be visible by the Airport Utility. Once they are, they should be participating in a WDS network. Go back into the configuration tab for the Airport Express, and make sure the “Connection Sharing” setting is set to “Off (Bridge Mode)”:

That’s it. You can now take your Airport Express to the TV, and run an ethernet cable from it to the back of your game console. A few moments after you connect, you should be able to use the network on the console itself. If you have more than one console to connect, or are trying to connect networked media player or another computer, you can get a small Ethernet switch for less than 100 AED these days, and attach all the computers or consoles you need to it.

A final note – the idea of extending a network is possible with wireless devices from other manufacturers. Look for their logos for WDS (sometimes it’s called ‘mesh networking’). In almost all cases, you cannot mix and match the WDS devices – an Apple device won’t extend a Linksys network, and neither of them will extend any other network devices. There are even cases where older Linksys devices won’t extend newer ones. I chose Apple devices, though they cost a little more, because I know they are going to work.