Matching AirPort Express to Third Party Routers

An anonymous reader submits "After purchasing AirPort Express yesterday, I found out that my existing Netgear router didn't work with it in WDS mode. After a lot of searching, I found scattered bits of information about what routers worked and which ones didn't. I decided to start a site that hopefully will become a definitive list of routers that work with AirPort Express. It's not big yet, which is why I am submitting this here. If you have attempted successfully or unsuccessfully to set up AirPort Express in WDS mode with a non-Apple router, please let me know so that future users can find the information more readily."

Re:Not so anonymous...

[Thing 1]

Sorry about the guilt, I was just pointing out that it's difficult to be anonymous and purchase a domain name at the same time. ;-)

'Course, the mods aren't really interested in what I have to say because I was modded off-topic for this; in fact:

50% Offtopic
30% Overrated
20% Informative

I'm not sure how that breaks down now that Slashcode has moved away from absolutes; I believe it's something like 2 Informative, 3 Overrated, and 5 Offtopic, but that seems like a ton of moderating to my stupid little

Re:Not so anonymous...

[AHumbleOpinion]

... the mods aren't really interested in what I have to say because I was modded off-topic ...

Keep in mind that /.'s labels do not provide good coverage for all situations. If there had been a "-1, posting someone's home address to slashdot" you probably would have gotten a bunch of those instead of the "offtopic" and "overrated" labels. Seriously, was the guy's home address really necessary, was simply pointing out that the domain registration identified the poster insufficient? My first reaction was "

Re:Not so anonymous...

[Ohreally_factor]

That's a pretty rude thing to do to someone without provocation, even if they are a Real Basic developer.

Shameless

[I_Love_Pocky!]

This isn't even the begining of a definitive list, and yet the author already feels warranted in displaying adverstising.

Re:Shameless

[DAldredge]

IOW, it's /. with better html? ;->

Re:Shameless

[I_Love_Pocky!]

I see that the google ads were removed already. I was just kidding around, if you want to milk it, feel free.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[Anonymous Coward]

You're using IE6 == -1 troll

You run a Dell, Dude == -1 Offtopic

You're using 800x600 == -1 Overrated.

You're heading for the Karma dump, methinks.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[jonjohnson]

It passes all CSS and XHTML validation. What browser are you using? It works as intended in Safari in OS X, Firefox on Windows, and Internet Explorer 6.0 on Windows.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[jonjohnson]

Bah, didn't see "IE6sp2". That's what I'm using, and it looks fine to me.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[jonjohnson]

Actually, I changed it just a moment ago, probably between your switches ;) It should fit on an 800 pixel wide screen now.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[clarkcox3]

It does look a bit funky at 800x600. The text doesn't wrap, and the "Supported routers:" text intrudes into the second paragraph.

Re:Insensitive clod comment

[bean_pop]

[sig reply] Thanks for the gmail invite - another geek girl signed up :)

Mine Works

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know what it is, but it's white and round. Seems to work well.

Buffalo Routers

[Googo]

The buffalo line of routers would probably work with it since they support the WDS mode but I don't have one so I can't tell you definitively.

O'Reilly references

[jabex]

Here's a much more detailed O'Reilly article (err... an O'Reilly link to other articles) concerning Airport Express compatibility.

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5024

Follow this [gizmodo.com] link for the full analysis.

Netgear WGT624 works for me

[AgentOJ]

This setup has worked for me:

- Netgear WGT624 and Airport Express w/same name,
- Latest update for Netgear firmware (V4.1.11_1.0.1 worked for me)
- *might* need to set channel to something other than 11. I found problems when working on 11, so I switched it, and it's been fine since.
- Also, I found that making sure I had the Airport Card Update 2004-08-31 worked wonders as far as sound quality went...it was choppy before the update, and fine afterwards.

Re:Netgear WGT624 works for me - HELP?

[cpeterso]

Agent OJ, I have the same setup (Netgear WGT624 router and neighbor has Airport Express), but we can't get them to work. When connecting your Netgear router and your Airport Express, which is your bridge and which is your access point? When you say they should have "same name", do you mean the same SSID and channel #?

From what I've read, the Airport Express requires WDS (Wireless Distribution System), but the Netgear WGT624 does not support WDS. A firmware upgrade scheduled for November will supposedly add

Dunno if this means anything but...

[unclethursday]

I use the LinkSys WRT54G wih my Airport Extreme card in my iBook (I also have a Windows PC hooked into the router by Ethernet, since it is mere inches from it), and I use the drivers/firmware that came with the router on it.

I don't know if the Airport Express would need something different than the Airport Extreme card.

HomePortal HW1000

[easter1916]

The AE works in WDS mode with the 2Wire HomePortal HW1000. This is a wireless router / ADSL modem distributed with SBC Southwestern Bell's Expert Plus DSL package.

Not that surprising?

[zors]

All the power to making your list of compatible hardware, but is it all that surprising that you Apple product doesn't play well with others? Back home my dad has an old airport, snow or graphite, and while his Mac laptop and now desktop always get a full strength signal, my desktop (across the hall), his tablet PC, and my friends' laptops usually get signals that are slow or drop often. Now, thats not the same thing thats going on in this instance, but i think its indicative of apple wifi in particular, and apple products in general.

Re:Not that surprising?

[easter1916]

It's probably more indicative of crappy antennas in those other PCs. My wife uses a work-supplied Compaq POS laptop with our Airport Extreme with no problems, using a Netgear 802.11b card I bought for her. Gets signal strength as good as she gets with her iBook, and better than with my Powerbook G4 17".

Re:Not that surprising?

[unclethursday]

If this were true with Apple WiFI, then my iBook's Airport Extreme card would be dropping/have crap signal with my non-Apple wireless router, no?

You seem to be implying that Apple products only play nice with other Apple products.

Anywhere in my house I am normally at 3-4 bars of signal strength, and my wireless router is a LinkSys WRT54G, which is definitley not made by Apple. When I go to other areas with WiFi networks, as well, most probably not using Airport base stations, my signals are also 3-4 ba

Re:Not that surprising (about Netgear)

[cipher chort]

Netgear is notorious for not interoperating with other WiFi vendors. If I recall, they're not even allowed to use the WiFi logo because they're not compliant.

I've got three...

[CptTripps]

...but they are all connected to an AirportExtreme.

Seriously, these are about the coolest invention ever. I've gon one on the 2nd, and 3rd floor of my house, and another on the patio streaming to the stereo out there. The range is outstanding, and the ability to stream music, and plop a printer almost anywhere make these little buggers WELL worth the $120.

I didn't answer your question....but hope others do.

previous /. article

[grrrl]

considering the apple airport express website *specifically* says "AirPort Express can extend the range only of an AirPort Extreme or AirPort Express wireless network." its really not surprising it didnt like your netgear router

ok so maybe you want it to work anyway. if you had read this previous slashdot article [slashdot.org] you would have had some idea why - from the article [arstechnica.com]

"Sure, Apple says the Express will only do bridging with AirPort Base Stations. That's because WDS is not a standardized part of the 802.11g spec. " (not to mention as posted somewhere in this discussion netgear has some spec-meeting issues)

never the less, it seems it is possible (again from the article)

"We can report that it will work with the Linksys WRT54G 802.11g router. The procedure for getting it working involves using the open source firmware and is fairly straightforward. But it's not for the faint of heart: keep in mind that if you do update using the open source firmware, you will find your router outside the tender embrace of Linksys customer support."

i do think its a good idea to have a list of (ideally) cheaper routers that work with AE - but I still think ill save up for a perdy apple base station instead.

PS - again, from the ars article, you should note that there are some security issues

"One note: when using the AirPort Express as a WDS, you are limited to either using 128-bit WEP or turning off security altogether. This was not mentioned on the AirPort Express pages on apple.com, although it is addressed in the manual. WPA is generally not supported over bridged connections on WiFi products due to the fact that WPA encrypts the MAC addresses which WDS relies on for communication. Keep this limitation in mind when using the Express as a bridge."

Netgear doesn't support WDS

[PierceLabs]

So while you can use the AE for many things, you cannot use it to extend the network.

...site?

[omahajim]

I decided to start a site

Is a single web page really a site?