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jbischke · Feb 18, 2009, 02:08 AM

I have a unibody MBP which has been a little touchy with wi-fi (I can get it to work with my AEBs but only if I set the AEBs to N-only/5 Ghz). I moved into a new place and am planning to use the MBP in a room that will position it about 40 feet from the AEBs. I'm wondering what the best way is to make sure it will have a consistent and fast connection. Two questions:

#1 - What are my best options for extending the wi-fi range? I think I could buy an Airport Express right? Or what about third-party wi-fi extenders? Any recommendations?

#2 - Are there any options for actually having a wired connection is a separate room? I thought I read something about the ability to run Ethernet over the electrical wires. If I could wire in from the other room that would be great but it's not feasible to run an Ethernet cable there from the AEBs.

Thanks for any help!

ibook_steve · Feb 18, 2009, 02:36 AM

Welcome to our forums!

40 ft is within the range for 802.11n, so you shouldn't have any problems with what you have. If your wireless is "touchy", you should get it checked at an Apple store. Your machine is still new, so it would be covered if there was a problem.

Steve

Simon · Feb 18, 2009, 03:23 AM

I concur with ibook_steve. 40ft is no problem for an AP Extreme base station. It depends on what's between those 40ft. Reinforced walls? Cordless cell phones? Microwave ovens?

What about channel settings? Automatic or manual? Have you checked out what other networks are around and might be interfering? iStumbler is free and will help you do that.

Assuming your MBP is ok (have you tried Apple Hardware Test?) and you are just having trouble with interference you could actually consider extending the signal. WDS is one possibility, but it's not really great performance-wise. Powerline adapters (Ethernet over electrical wiring) isn't expensive and would allow you to hook up a second AP base station to the primary without extensive cabling. Since even 802.11n won't deliver anything beyond 100Mbps in real world conditions powerline networking shouldn't be the bottleneck.

ChrisF · Feb 18, 2009, 07:23 AM

Originally Posted by jbischke

I have a unibody MBP which has been a little touchy with wi-fi (I can get it to work with my AEBs but only if I set the AEBs to N-only/5 Ghz).

Usually, the 5GHz signal is more prone to blocking by walls and the like. If you haven't investigated changing channels when it's set to 2.4GHz, try that first as you may be experiencing interference from other nearby networks or cordless phones. That said, I just leave my main network on 5GHz as I have a separate Airport Express I set to b/g/n at 2.4GHz for other devices.

jbischke · Feb 18, 2009, 11:06 AM

I've tried a bazillion thing to troubleshoot. I've switch channels, turned on robust interference, talked to AppleCare, etc. I'm running AirRadar (same as iStumbler?) and I'm not picking up any signal in that other room. There are several walls between where the MBP is positioned and the AEBs so that could be part of the problem.

The idea of an Airport Express on B/G/N actually is pretty appealing. Right now in N-only mode I'm not able to connect my iPhone to my network via wi-fi. So what you are saying is that I could have an AExpress set up in that room extending the orginal AEBs and simply set it to B/G/N even though the AEBs is set to N-only? I might have to try that.

Also, the Powerline adapter thing is interesting because if I could have a wired connected in there that would be ideal. Are there any devices that Apple sells and/or devices that are recommended for use with Apple products?

ChrisF · Feb 19, 2009, 01:11 AM

Originally Posted by jbischke

So what you are saying is that I could have an AExpress set up in that room extending the orginal AEBs and simply set it to B/G/N even though the AEBs is set to N-only? I might have to try that.

I personally have my Express wired to the Time capsule and both are running their own wireless networks- the Time Capsule is on 5GHz, while the Express is doing 2.4GHz B/G/N. The only B/G devices I'm running currently are an iPhone and an occasional visiting computer which isn't N compatible and I use the TC for wireless backup so didn't want that to be slowed with G devices. The Time Capsule is doing all the DHCP so the Express is just working in bridge mode.

Simon · Feb 19, 2009, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by jbischke

The idea of an Airport Express on B/G/N actually is pretty appealing. Right now in N-only mode I'm not able to connect my iPhone to my network via wi-fi. So what you are saying is that I could have an AExpress set up in that room extending the orginal AEBs and simply set it to B/G/N even though the AEBs is set to N-only? I might have to try that.

That's the idea. Set up the Extreme BS as an n-only wireless host. Plug an Express into one of the Extreme's LAN ports. Set up the Express for b/g traffic and put it into bridge mode. All the devices will connect at their maximum speeds and see each other.

Also, the Powerline adapter thing is interesting because if I could have a wired connected in there that would be ideal. Are there any devices that Apple sells and/or devices that are recommended for use with Apple products?

They should be pretty much plug and play. I'd read customer reviews and make sure to get a pair rated for 200 Mbps. Real world speed will be less and depends heavily on your wiring, but with good wiring you should definitely exceed the AP's ~100 Mbps.

Eug · Feb 21, 2009, 10:23 PM

Actually, it's more the norm to get well under 100 Mbps with powerline networking (with the "200 Mbps" equipment), although it is possible to hit 100 Mbps and over if you're lucky.

More importantly though, the lag is usually reasonably low and the speeds are usually decent, and of course the stability is usually much better than wireless at a distance. It's a great way to extend a wireless network. Just stick an access point at the other end, enter a few settings, and you're good to go.

I use powerline networking to extend my wireless network (as above), and currently have 3 wireless access points in my setup. (I actually have 4 in the summer, cuz I put the 4th one in the backyard.) However, I also use powerline networking to send data to my Airport Express for AirTunes via its Ethernet port. Interestingly the Airport Express is in a room with very strong 802.11g signal (full bars on my iBook and MacBook), but the Airport Express is too unreliable to function as a wireless bridge and do AirTunes at the same time. It sometimes loses the connection, and unfortunately Apple's Airport Utility software is total crap. A "wired" network (which in my case is powerline) makes for much, much more reliable AirTunes support. I plug my powerline network adapter into a switch. One port goes to my Airport Express, and other ports provide network access to two other clients nearby.