Will Airport express extend a non extreme base station range

[patrean]

I recently purchased an Airport Express and have had problems extending the range of my Airport base station (non-extreme). I'm getting conflicting reports whether the Airport Express will extend the range of a non-extreme base station. Can someone please confirm this one way or the other so I can eliminate this issue and get on with solving the problem.

Many thanks

Ric

 

[garymum4d]

I purchased an Airport extreme with the understanding that it would extend my wireless network (netgear). But it will NOT. I have run a cable from my router to the AE and then created a new network on the AE. It's not what I wanted but it works. even a USB printer connected to the AE can be seen as a rendezvous printer on the Netgear network. I have set all our wireless devices to pick up automatically rather that a specific network and so far no one has complained.

 

[bobw]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108038

Question: Can AirPort Express wirelessly extend ("repeat" or "rebroadcast") the network of a third-party access point?

Answer: No. But it can wirelessly extend the range of a WDS network that is being hosted by an AirPort Extreme Base Station or another AirPort Express.

 

[libertyb4]

This might help: http://arstechnica.com/reviews/004/airportexpress/airportexpress-4.html

 

[robjs]

Patrean,

The range of your network can also be extended somewhat by using an external antenna for the Airport. There are some in the Apple store (online). The Omni directional antenna extends the signal in all directions whereas the directional will allow a point-to-point link.

Rob