[wrambro]

So I'm going to be expanding my home network soon (both the number of simultaneous users and the coverage area). I have an AirPort Extreme and two Airport Expresses and plan on using the Extreme as the main base station and using the Expresses as remote stations in WDS mode.

In my current setup, the most simultaneous users I ever have is 7 (5 computers and two game consoles). However, when I move, I have the potential of having 14 simultaneous users (7 computers, 3 game consoles, and 4 mobile devices). I know that the the Express allows up to 10 simultaneous connections and the Extreme allows for 50, but I'm not sure if the Expresses will limit the connection capacity of the Extreme. And if so, would it be 10 to each remote station? Or 10 total? And also, I'm not sure if a wired connection counts against the 50 that the Extreme can provide.

The best way might be to test it out myself, but I may not be able to do that until I make the move, and I would like to know beforehand so I can be prepared if I need to adapt. So any help is greatly appreciated!

[Fishticky]

Hey,

My network is described in the other thread you commented in, and it works perfectly fine for 16 users, 1 game console, and probably about 4 mobile devices. I've never had problems with capacity. There is a chance that only a fraction of the users are able to get reception from the airport express (it's located in the basement, and about half the users live two floors above this), but in the year I've had this setup there has been no difficulties in this area.

[Sherman Homan]

That is a great question, I don't know how the Express limits its connections in WDS mode. My guess is that it will rely on the Extreme, because that is the concept behind a repeater. The primary does the heavy lifting of DHCP, NAT, mapping etc. and the repeaters simply follow orders.

[wrambro]

Thats kind of what I was thinking too, but I wasn't too sure about how the Express might limit the network. I mean, if it was capable of handling 50 simultaneous users in WDS mode, why can it only handle 10 as the main base station? Thanks guys.

Sherman, you made me think of another point. I currently have MAC address filtering on in my network and because I wasn't too sure when I set it up, I entered the MACs into all 3 devices. Was this necessary or would doing it in the Extreme be enough (if it does indeed do the heavy lifting)?

[Sherman Homan]

The limit to the Express is built into its little tiny brain, but that only has to do with its ability to control network users. In WDS mode, it doesn't do anything of the sort, it simply sends info back to the primary for the primary.
That is definitely the case with MAC address filtering, all filtering is done by the primary, regardless of what is in the Express.

[wrambro]

Good to know about the Express. That makes sense, seeing as it's not an actual hardware limitation.

So to sum it up, the Expresses are just peons of the Extreme

Thanks for the info Sherman!