# AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11n?



## Richard Cranium (Mar 28, 2010)

I would love to use this as a bridge to my wireless internet connection, but before I buy one...

Can I use this instead of the TIVO branded dongle (wireless g) that I already bought?

Will it be a PITA to set up through the TIVO? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Terbor (Jan 26, 2009)

As long as you have a regular AirPort Base Station and are extending the wireless with the Express, the set-up on the TiVo itself should be pretty straight-forward. Just assign it an IP address that matches the network with the base as the gateway.

The only issue I can see is that extending your network with the Express can sometimes be a little more difficult that it seems like it should.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

I've used one of my TiVos on a AEBS for a long time. It will work on any device that has a ethernet port. I've only used it to extend a Airport Extreme though. What router are you using?


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## Richard Cranium (Mar 28, 2010)

rainwater said:


> I've used one of my TiVos on a AEBS for a long time. It will work on any device that has a ethernet port. I've only used it to extend a Airport Extreme though. What router are you using?


Thanks guys. Yes, I'm using an Airport Extreme for my internet router so the Express will be used as an "extender".

Anyone want to buy a TiVo branded wireless g adapater? Cheap. Never used! 

PS: This board is awesome for help. Can't tell you how much I've learned just lurking.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

I use the Dlink DAP1522 units. They can be set to be used as an accesss point or a wireless Bridge. They also have gigabit ports. For 100mbs devices, they have speeds identical to wired connection. For my PCs with 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz N. I easily get 150mbs througput using it as a wireless bridge or connecting wirelessly through it as an access point


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## Richard Cranium (Mar 28, 2010)

aaronwt said:


> I use the Dlink DAP1522 units. They can be set to be used as an accesss point or a wireless Bridge. They also have gigabit ports. For 100mbs devices, they have speeds identical to wired connection. For my PCs with 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz N. I easily get 150mbs througput using it as a wireless bridge or connecting wirelessly through it as an access point


Thanks for the tip. Just checked Amazon and it's out of stock. The reason why I think I want to go with the AE is that I can hide it, as I'ts going in our bedroom and really don't want to see blinking lights, etc...


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## SoBayJake (Feb 6, 2002)

The Airport Express *should* bridge a wireless signal to wired clients.
Item #2 at http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1515 states:
Question: Can AirPort Express act as a bridge?
Answer: AirPort Express can act as a bridge in three different ways:
- If you have an existing wired network, it can bridge this network to wireless clients.
*- If it is set up as a WDS remote or relay station, it can bridge the wireless network to wired clients.*
- If it is set up as a WDS remote or relay station, it can bridge the wireless network to wireless clients (or "wirelessly extend" the range of the network).


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

I used an airport express hooked up to a five port switch for over a year for my tivos and PS3. It worked great. Very fast throughput and easy to set up. It was also nice to use to play music from itunes through my stereo. I still use it in my garage for music, but ran ethernet in the new house so I don't need it any more for the tivo.


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## slude (Feb 9, 2008)

E. Norma Stitz said:


> The reason why I think I want to go with the AE is that I can hide it, as I'ts going in our bedroom and really don't want to see blinking lights, etc...


The Airport Express does have a status light.

A couple of comments:
The Airport Express, like Apple's Time Machine but unlike the Airport Extreme, uses an internal power supply and the heat confinement inside the case has posed long-term reliability problems for the devices. The first couple revisions of both the Airport Express and Time Machine could pretty much be counted on to die after about a year of use; the 802.11n-version of the Airport Express seems to be much improved, but it can still be an issue. Since you want to put this in your bedroom, you're probably better off living with the reduced long-term reliability to avoid having to hide a power brick.

If you're Airport Extreme is also an 802.11n version, make sure you use the "Extend a network" option rather thananythe setup options labeled as setting up a "WDS" network. Apple Airports have to use part of the network bandwidth just for management overhead when they're handling the older 802.11g/b WDS networks.

I recently changed my TivoHD from connecting via the TiVo-brand 802.11g USB dongle to connecting via an older 802.11g Airport Extreme over WDS and I've found that the TiVo is noticeably more responsive when navigating menus. This struck me as odd considering that (in the days of the Series 2), THE selling point for the TiVo-branded USB adapter was that it is specially designed to offload network communication processing from the TiVo.


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## SoBayJake (Feb 6, 2002)

slude said:


> The Airport Express does have a status light.
> 
> A couple of comments:
> The Airport Express, like Apple's Time Machine but unlike the Airport Extreme, uses an internal power supply and the heat confinement inside the case has posed long-term reliability problems for the devices. The first couple revisions of both the Airport Express and Time Machine could pretty much be counted on to die after about a year of use; the 802.11n-version of the Airport Express seems to be much improved, but it can still be an issue. Since you want to put this in your bedroom, you're probably better off living with the reduced long-term reliability to avoid having to hide a power brick.
> ...


Some Time Capsule's did have issues with the power supply. I'm afraid mine will die soon, as it's a first gen, but has been going strong for some time now. But mine is sitting out in the room, not enclosed, etc. so maybe that will help.


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## Phantom Gremlin (Jun 20, 2002)

E. Norma Stitz said:


> Thanks guys. Yes, I'm using an Airport Extreme for my internet router so the Express will be used as an "extender".
> 
> Anyone want to buy a TiVo branded wireless g adapater? Cheap. Never used!


Are you *sure* you don't want to use the TiVo adapter? I use one, it works fine. The Express 11n is kind of slow, I don't think you'll get appreciably faster transfer rates with it than with the TiVo adapter. Do you really want to use the Express to "extend" your network (in terms of allowing wireless clients to connect to it) in addition to using its Ethernet to connect to a TiVo?

I just spent a bunch of time configuring my network. Here are some details of how I handle all this. They might be useful to searchers in the future, maybe not to the people currently discussing things. Everything works for me, but it may not work if you have a different setup.

I have:


Airport Extreme Base Station, latest 802.11n, all below talk to it wirelessly

TiVo 802.11g wireless USB, connected via USB to a TiVo HD

Airport Express, older 802.11g variety, talking 802.11g at 2.4 GHz, connected via Cat 5e to a TiVo HD

Airport Express, brand new 802.11n variety, talking 802.11n at 5 GHz, connected via Cat 5e to a TiVo HD

All Apple products configured in Airport Utility using Manual Setup. Some hints below.

All Apple products, including AEBS, configured in Bridge mode. All IP address statically assigned. Using a LAN port, not the WAN port, on AEBS to connect to the Internet through a different router.

Configuration for AEBS:
I needed to use Wireless/Wireless Mode: Participate in a WDS network
You may need to option-click on the Wireless Mode dropdown in order to get that option. This mode is necessary to allow the Express 11g to connect properly.
I have two different network names, one at 5 GHz, other at 2.4 GHz. In order to have maximum flexibility you can option-click on Radio Mode to get more choices. I am using 802.11a/n at 5 GHz, 802.11g at 2.4 GHz.
WDS/WDS Mode: WDS main
Check box to allow wireless clients, needed for TiVo 11g adapter to connect.
WDS remotes: you need to enter the MAC address (aka airport id) of the Express 11g to allow it join the party.

Configuration for Express 11g:
Wireless/Wireless Mode: Participate in a WDS network.
I couldn't get it to pass packets to the Ethernet interface until I set it up for WDS.
WDS/WDS Mode: WDS remote
WDS/WDS Main: MAC address, aka airport id of AEBS

Configuration for Express 11n:
Wireless/Wireless Mode: Join a wireless network.
Check box to allow Ethernet clients.

Note that the older Express 11g and newer Express 11n operate totally differently. I had to figure this out the hard way. If you don't have an Express 11g you may be better off sticking with the simpler AEBS configuration of not activating WDS. I think that's much cleaner, and the Express 11n seems to work just fine in that mode.

YMMV.


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