Daily Archives: August 31, 2010

Wireless network extension

Apple really tries to make things simple, and it should have been a 10 minute job but it ended up taking an hour. I wanted to extend my home wireless network, as the coverage on the patio and porch has been weaker than I’d like to have. The porch in particular was weak. I use an Apple Airport Extreme (in the DMZ of my 2Wire Uverse router) and the Apple access points have network extension settings built into the setup dialog. I picked up an Airport Express from the Apple store. Power up the new Airport and set to extend the network. ‘cept it didn’t work! The Express connected to the Extreme, but it gave an error extending the network. Looked in the log, and the Express updated its time via NTP thru the Extreme but no extension of the network. Moved the Express to the same room as the Extreme, so there was not a range problem. No good. Checked and re-checked and retyped the helpfully copied SSID and password. No good. Then, as I poked around the Extreme configuration looking for clues, there it was…a checkbox that said “allow this network to be extended.” Clicked that, and suddenly all was happy, and my network is extended 🙂