Problems with wireless connection of Airport Express and MacMini

[acarroll123]

I'm using a macmini as a music server which is located downstairs. I have attempted to connect wirelessly to Airport Express upstairs. When I set up the Airport close to the macmini, all works fine. However once I move it upstairs, the signal is too weak to reach. Can anyone suggest a wireless method of connecting the powered speakers upstairs to the mac mini downstairs? Any way to increase the signal strength to the Airport? Should I consider a Logitech setup ? All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

THANKS

 

[Paul R]

And what is between them? A concrete floor, sheetrock walls, solid oak?

There are a lot of reasons why the Airport might have a weak signal, but the most common is just distance.

 

Be sure you are Extending the wireless network as well - which makes the Airport Express act like a wireless releater.

 

 

 

[wgscott]

If you have something like the Airport Extreme as well, position it physically between the other two units (or even as another vertex of a triangle) and set it up in bridge mode.

 

Remember, the signal decays as 1/R^2 (R being the distance between them).

 

[acarroll123]

Thanks for your comment. The units are approximately 50 - 60 feet apart. Almost directly above each other, just on two different floors. The walls are sheetrock. The router (Cisco) is set up in the channel 1 position - longest distance. Someone suggested getting rid of the Cisco for the Extreme, stating that they were "made for each other". Just wanted to avoid that added expense. Also suggestion to get another Express and position it somewhere within the path of the macmini and the existing express. Comments ?

 

[acarroll123]

Just trying to avoid the expense of purchasing another unit (router), although this was a previous suggestion. The existing location of the current router (Cisco) and the location of the macmini would almost make it impossible to position another unit in a triangle. Also, if I have to spend additional money, do you think a Logitech would be a better choice?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Paul R]

I hate to say this, but it is worth the expense to either put two airport express unit in or better yet, put in an Airport Extreme and the airport express.

 

I have several Cisco units, and I have NEVER had good luck with in terms of interoperation with anything but Windows. My TV won't even talk reliably to the

Cisco's we tried.

 

The Apples will almost effortlessly extend the base network, avoiding settings hassles, and other mysterious issues.

 

Better, the Airport Extreme is VERY good at handling multiple signals and has very decent range. To look at PC Mags reviews, you would think the Cisco is tops, but the Apple can reliably and continuously pump out data streams, including HD video and Music with much many less "hiccups."

 

Obviously, I like Apple, but I also like Cisco. I built our corporate network with Cisco gear. But we use Apple gear for reliable wireless connections.

 

-Paul

 

 

[Mister Wednesday]

acarroll123,

 

I agree with the other comments above about using an Airport Extreme as your base station and incorporating you Airport Express as a range extender in your situation.

 

Here's a link to an article on the Macworld website looking at some common Wi-Fi problems and solutions that may help you out (take special note of which 5 GHz channels to use to obtain higher power outputs):

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/140685/2009/05/wifi_spectrumbands.html

 

I'm using that Airport Extreme/Express 5 GHz frequency/"century series" channels set-up and it works flawlessly.

 

Here are two other somewhat related Wi-Fi articles on the Macworld website:

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/151509/2010/05/speedupwirelessnetwork.html

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/151796/2010/06/wifispeed.html

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Mister Wednesday

 

[acarroll123]

Thanks for all your help and comments. OK, so it looks like I'll be purchasing the Extreme and pairing it with the Express. It will be a couple of weeks, but I'm looking forward to a successful connection! I'll post what happens after I set it up. Again THANKS for all the help and links to the articles! I'll definitely check them out ! Should you come across anything else, please don't hesitate to let me know.

 

[acarroll123]

Thanks for your comments and the information. As stated below, I plan to go with the Extreme/Express pairing. Will post what happens after the set up.

THANKS for your comments and help.

 

[Mister Wednesday]

acarroll123,

 

Here's one more somewhat related article on the Macworld website that might be useful to you:

 

http://www.macworld.com/article/142918/2009/09/signalstrength.html

 

Regards,

 

Mister Wednesday

 

[acarroll123]

Thanks again for all your support. The more I think about this the more confusing it seems to get. The router (cisco) is not in line (being used or connected) for what I am trying to do. The router is being used in the office upstairs strictly for the mac in the office (ethernet connected) for the internet. I was just thinking: can I use two airport express units to get the signal to the powered speakers. Configuration: one of the express units located downstairs using USB to the macmini (server) location; the second express unit wll go upstairs connected to the powered speakers. Can the units be 'bridged' to work with each other to increase signal strength? Is that making any sense ?

 

[Mister Wednesday]

acarroll123,

 

It appears that you can use two Airport Express units in the way you've described above. One would be configured as the Base Station and the other as the Repeater.

 

Here is a link to the Apple Airport Express user support forum answering this very question (you might also want to click on the "View All Questions" hyperlink in the top right corner of this page to see other Airport Express user questions and answers)

 

http://store.apple.com/us/question/answers/product/MB321LL/A?mco=MTQzMzA4NTI&pqid=QY4CAJJC7KFTTDKYH72DKPXF4CAUA9D4J

 

Here's the corresponding Apple Airport Extreme user support forum site to give you a perspective on that unit:

 

http://store.apple.com/us/questions/product/MC340LL/A?aid=www-naus-qa-airportextreme-aos00001&cp=qa-airportextreme-aos00001

 

Hope this helps.

 

Regards,

 

Mister Wednesday

 

[wgscott]

I have almost the identical setup, except in my case I have an airport extreme instead of the cisco router. It cost a lot, but frankly was worth it. If you can use the cisco router somewhere else, so much the better.

 

In my case, the most direct line from my music server (2010 mac mini) to my bedroom, where I have an old express plugged into my Zeppelin), actually goes through two exterior walls (the house is roughly L-shaped), and it works reasonably well. The airport extreme is on the other side of the living room from the 2010 mini, but again the most direct path goes through a bunch of walls and other stuff.

 

Having said that, I am somewhat surprised your current setup isn't good enough. Have you tried changing the channels? Sometimes a neighbor or something might be interfering with your signal.

 

[tne]

I have an Airport Extreme router as well as an Airport Express

that is one-floor removed and connected to the secondary sound system. The Extreme serves as a wireless hub for four laptops and two iPods. The headless Mac Mini music server has a wired Ethernet connection with Airport turned off. The point-to-point distance is ~ 8-10 meters through the wood/sheetrock ceiling/floor.

 

This has all worked flawlessly and with near effortless setup. Thanks, Apple!

 

[Bob Stern]

iStumbler will list all wireless routers in your vicinity and what channels they are using:

http://istumbler.net/index.html

 

[avta]

I recently replaced an older Netgear wireless g router with a Cisco E3000 n wireless router. The unit is located about 75 ft. away from and on a different floor in my house to where my computer is. I connect to a Mac Mini and a Squeezebox Touch. I have had no problems at all with connections or streaming music to the Touch. I use Comcast ISP.