I found a great tutorial on the Apple Discussions regarding setting up a WDS using Airport Extreme. I have a slightly different situation and before I start resetting all my wifi settings I was hoping to get some feedback on this issue. I posted to the forum at Apple as well, but have not heard back.
I have Airport Extreme 802.11n as my internet distribution point
I have hard wired Airport Express and an AppleTV via ethernet
There is a strange dead spot in the same room as both the AE and ATV. I want to try to use the WDS option to see if the AE can get rid of this wireless dead spot.
Is there anything different I need to do from these instructions?
In order to enable the Ethernet port on the 802.11b/g AirPort Express Base Station (AX), you will need to configure a Wireless Distribution System (WDS) with both the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBSn) and the AX.
Here are the basic steps to do so ...
(Note: To facilitate the WDS set up, place the base stations within near proximity of each other during the set up phase, and then relocate them to their desired locations when complete. Also, jot down the AirPort IDs (MAC addresses) for each of the base stations to be used in the WDS. The AirPort ID and is printed on the label on the bottom/side of the base station.)
Main Base Station Setup - AEBSn
o Click the AirPort status menu in the menu bar and choose the AEBSn.
o Open AirPort Utility.
o Select the AEBSn, and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu.
o Click Wireless in the toolbar, and then choose “Participate in a WDS network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu.
o Click WDS and then choose “WDS main” from the WDS Mode pop-up menu.
o Select the “Allow wireless clients” checkbox if you want client computer to connect to this base station.
o Click the Add "+" button and enter the AirPort ID of the AX.
o Click Update to send the new settings to the base stations in the WDS.
Remote Base Station Setup - AX
o Click the AirPort status menu in the menu bar and choose the wireless network created by the AX.
o Open AirPort Utility.
o Select the AX, and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu.
o Click AirPort in the toolbar and click Wireless. Choose “Participate in a WDS network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and choose the same channel as the AEBSn from the Channel pop-up menu.
o Click WDS and choose “WDS remote” from the pop-up menu.
o Enter the AirPort ID of the AEBSn in the WDS Main field.
o Click Update to transfer the settings to the AX.
Thanks so much,
Henry Cline
(as back ground. I was using the AE just for Airtunes, but realized now that I have an ATV in the same cabinet I do not need to use the AE for Airtunes, thus I have an extra AE. The dead spot in the same room has perplexed me as long as I have lived in this house. I tried two non-apple wifi routers and both barely gave me a signal at all in this area. I went to a Airport Extreme and the signal is much better, but not nearly what it is in the rest of the house. Something is jamming it in this room. I used iStumbler to take a look, but all I could tell is that the signal is weak in that area)
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