[donny31]

What is the best way to bridge two base stations and can you do it with a graphite and a snow or do they have to be the same? Is that the best way to get better reception in my house? antenna seems to be out of the question because there is no plug on the snow or graphite models.

[ghporter]

It's kind of hard to tell what exactly your coverage issue is, but I don't think you can wirelessly bridge two base stations, no matter what type they are. Further, I'm not certain you can use more than one base station to establish an extended service set that would allow roaming from the coverage of one to another.

The good news is that there is hardware you can do this with, and it's not nearly as expensive as buying two (or more) AirPort Base Stations. I just need a little more detail before I can start to spout off with advice. What kind of broadband connection do you have? How many computers are you considering connecting wirelessly, and would some of them do better (i.e. PowerMacs and other desktop-type computers) wired instead? Also, what do you expect to do with the network-share an Internet connection, share files and printers, something else?

[donny31]

Originally posted by GHPorter:
It's kind of hard to tell what exactly your coverage issue is, but I don't think you can wirelessly bridge two base stations, no matter what type they are. Further, I'm not certain you can use more than one base station to establish an extended service set that would allow roaming from the coverage of one to another.

The good news is that there is hardware you can do this with, and it's not nearly as expensive as buying two (or more) AirPort Base Stations. I just need a little more detail before I can start to spout off with advice. What kind of broadband connection do you have? How many computers are you considering connecting wirelessly, and would some of them do better (i.e. PowerMacs and other desktop-type computers) wired instead? Also, what do you expect to do with the network-share an Internet connection, share files and printers, something else?

Thanks for your thought -- all I have is a PC desktop which is routed through the current snow base through the LAN port and I use my laptop around the house --I pay for cable modem hook up --no sharing or anything at this time --just want bettrer connection throughout the house.

[aaanorton]

The new AE bases support wireless bridging, but only between more AE's (as far as I know). This is definitely a cool feature.

[iDriveX]

If you have two Airport Extreme Base Stations you name the base stations the same name, and in the Airport Config you make the one connected to the internet your main base and then just plug the other one in and name it the same name and it will create what Apple calls a "Wireless Distribution Network". That's what I'm gonna be doing in a few days. I'll have a full report on it in a few days.

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by iDriveX:
...and then just plug the other one in and name it the same name and it will create what Apple calls a "Wireless Distribution Network".

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you also have to tell the 2nd AEBS to not distribute IPs. Makes sense to me.

[ghporter]

I concur with aaanorton on the "distribute IPs" issue. Your network should have only one server for automatic IP addresses-"there can be only one!" as it were.

[Camelot]

One thing that you're forgetting is that you CAN use multiple AirPort Base Stations (Snow or Graphite) to extend your coverage area.

The restriction is that they HAVE to be physically wired together.

One will not relay the wireless signal from another base station, but if you have one base station at one end of your house and another one at the end of an ethernet cable at the other, you'll be able to roam between the two, connecting to whichever has the strongest signal.

The AirPort Extreme Base Stations don't have this limit.