Inderjeet Singh's Blog

Using Airport Express as a range extender/repeater for Linksys Cable/DSL router WRT54G

If you have a wireless network at home, then I am sure this sounds familiar. Even though the advertised range for these products is quite large, in reality, the range does not extend beyond one or two rooms. In the past, I tried using signal boosters, but they did not make much difference. When Apple announced Airport Express, its wireless repeating feature was one of the big draws for me. However, I did not want to buy the expensive Airport Extreme Base Station when equivalent wireless routers can be had for under 50 dollars. Moreover, most of these other routers include a four-port 100mbps switch, which is quite important for big file transfers because in my experience the 802.11g data rates are nowhere close to the claimed 54mbps. A google search revealed that Airport Express uses WDS (Wireless Distribution System) protocol and hence it is possible to use it as a repeater for Linksys WRT54G. This article has the needed information, though probably too terse. It is quite easy in theory, but you need to understand a little bit about how WDS works, and what all you need to do.

Note that the article incorrectly lists that you need to turn off firewall, and "ignore anonymous requests" on WRT54G. Both of which will be bad moves for security reasons anyway. Also, note that you need to setup Airport Express through the airport admin utility, not through the airport express setup tool.

So, here are the steps:

1. Upgrade WRT54G to use the open-source firmware Sveasoft Satori v4.0 WRT54G.
2. login to WRT54G admin tool and enable WDS. In the Wireless WDS section, enter the MAC Address of Airort Express and choose its type as LAN. Turn lazy WDS and WDS subnet to off. Ensure that your newly setup wireless connection is working by accessing the Web.
3. Plug-in Airport Express in a room where you know that you get adequate wireless signal from WRT54G.
4. Do NOT setup Airport Express to join your main network. Set it up as an independent wireless station, on the same channel that WRT54G is using. Note that if you want to use encryption, you can only use WEP. If you want to enter your WEP key in HEX, do not forget to put a "$" before the key (thanks kp_nine for the tip).
5. Initially choose a different SSID (say "MyAENet") for Airport Express. This will help in debugging, and ensuring that the Airport Express is correctly working as a repeater. Later, you can use the same SSID as WRT54G for seamless wireless repeating.
6. Turn off firewall and NAT on Airport Express.
7. Setup Airport Express as a WDS Remote Station, and make it connect to the internet through WDS provided by the WRT54G. You will need to use the ethernet address of the wireless side (not WAN side) of WRT54G.
8. Enable the Airport Express to provide music streaming (this was probably the reason you bought Airport Express in the first place). The name chosen here has nothing to do with the wireless setup, so choose whatever name you like.
9. Use your laptop to first test that your wireless network is up. Then select the SSID of Airport Express (MyAENet), and see if you can still access internet. If so, congratulations. If not, retry all the steps after resetting Airport Express. I discuss some ways to reset Airport Express in another weblog.
10. Login to the airport admin tool, and change the SSID of Airport Express to the SSID of WRT54G. This will enable a laptop to automatically select WRT54G or Airport Express based on the strength of the signal. Note that the Airport Express will not be accessible through airport admin utility anymore. In future, if you need to access it for reconfiguring, connect it directly through its ethernet port.
11. Now go out on your patio, and browse the web to your heart's content. You have earned it! applimobile

Comments

• Excellent! I can't wait to try this...

  Posted by: jonbruce on October 12, 2004 at 01:08 PM

• A big thank you - now have my Airport Express acting as a range extender/repeater for my Netgear WG602v2 Wireless Access Point that links to the Internet via our home Netgear Rp614 v2 Cable/DSL Router. Was having trouble getting adequate signal strength to a new iMacG5 in daughter

  Posted by: sinwards on January 01, 2005 at 10:53 PM

• Inder - finally got round to get this working.... and am enjoying my tunes, per your recommendation on the back deck.

  Posted by: jonbruce on April 09, 2005 at 05:04 PM

• Thank you for all this, I'm not sure I would ever have figured this out on my own. But now I'm up and running, with the Express upstairs connecting my iMac G5 to the net and the WRT54G downstairs with my Westell 2200 modem where the phone line enters the house. I don't use the Express for streaming music; I just needed to boost the signal strength for the computer upstairs, and I've also hooked up my printer (HP 2210) so that I can print wirelessly throughout the house.

  I have a couple of additional pieces of wisdom that took me some time to come up with--perhaps they would be obvious to those more savvy than I, but for the sake of the uninitiated masses like myself, here they are.

  * The Express will never be able to hook up with the WRT54G unless you change the range of its IP addresses or give it its IP address manually. The Express is set to take an address in the 10.10.x.x range, and the WRT54G hands out addresses in the 192.168.x.x range. You can do this through the AirPort admin utility, but not, as far as I could tell, with the Setup Assistant.

  * I had another IP address problem between the modem and the router; they were both trying to use 192.168.1.1, so I had to change the WRT54G's address.

  * If you're using WEP encryption, you have to put a $ before the key when you enter it for the Apple elements of your system (in my case, the Express and the AirPort card in the iMac). (Probably everyone in the universe except me already knew this.)

  Finally--I have never been able to get the Express to continue working after doing step 10 (changing the SSID to that of the WRT54G to create one network). Every time I do that, the Express disappears completely from every utility and has to be reset (and I mean completely, factory reset) in order for the Mac to find it again. If anyone out there has any fix for that, I'd be glad to get it. I've had to simply leave the Express as its own network on the same channel as the WRT54G. But all in all, having to choose the network manually is a pretty small bug.

  Posted by: kp_nine on June 02, 2005 at 09:19 AM

• kp_nine, to access Airport Express after changing its SSID to that of WRT54G, try connecting it directly through the ethernet port of your laptop.

  Posted by: inder on June 02, 2005 at 11:39 AM

• Hi, I tried it several times but maybe there is simple misunderstanding as I am using the german version of the Airport Admin Client... 1. Upgrade WRT54G to use the open-source firmware Sveasoft Satori v4.0 WRT54G. -> done 2. login to WRT54G admin tool and enable WDS. In the Wireless WDS section, enter the MAC Address of Airort Express and choose its type as LAN. Turn lazy WDS and WDS subnet to off. Ensure that your newly setup wireless connection is working by accessing the Web. -> There is no button to enable WDS. Think that entering the apporpriate information is enough 3. Plug-in Airport Express in a room where you know that you get adequate wireless signal from WRT54G. -> no problem 4. Do NOT setup Airport Express to join your main network. Set it up as an independent wireless station, on the same channel that WRT54G is using. Note that if you want to use encryption, you can only use WEP. If you want to enter your WEP key in HEX, do not forget to put a "$" before the key (thanks kp_nine for the tip). -> OK, I setup the AX as a normal Router, right? 5. Initially choose a different SSID (say "MyAENet") for Airport Express. This will help in debugging, and ensuring that the Airport Express is correctly working as a repeater. Later, you can use the same SSID as WRT54G for seamless wireless repeating. -> What about the channel? By default its automatic? Better use the same as the WRT54G? 6. Turn off firewall and NAT on Airport Express. -> I cant find any firewall or NAT function to turn off. NAT can be found in "Network" where I selected the latter funtion, so that the AX would distribute via dhcp. Correct? 7. Setup Airport Express as a WDS Remote Station, and make it connect to the internet through WDS provided by the WRT54G. You will need to use the ethernet address of the wireless side (not WAN side) of WRT54G. -> MAC address can be found under "status" in the web interface. But I have to put it under "network" and "WDS". And I also have to put in a static IP for the AX... If I leave it on DHCP I get an error when trying to update the AX 8. Enable the Airport Express to provide music streaming (this was probably the reason you bought Airport Express in the first place). The name chosen here has nothing to do with the wireless setup, so choose whatever name you like. -> Thats easy 9. Use your laptop to first test that your wireless network is up. Then select the SSID of Airport Express (MyAENet), and see if you can still access internet. If so, congratulations. If not, retry all the steps after resetting Airport Express. I discuss some ways to reset Airport Express in another weblog. -> Any time I get the blinking orange light and I also have to use a static IP for the connecting computer as otherwise there is no IP distributed via dhcp 10. Login to the airport admin tool, and change the SSID of Airport Express to the SSID of WRT54G. This will enable a laptop to automatically select WRT54G or Airport Express based on the strength of the signal. Note that the Airport Express will not be accessible through airport admin utility anymore. In future, if you need to access it for reconfiguring, connect it directly through its ethernet port. 11. Now go out on your patio, and browse the web to your heart's content. You have earned it! So, what is wrong? Any idea?

  Posted by: wladimir80 on November 28, 2005 at 04:40 AM

• ups... I didnt use the html...

  Hi, I tried it several times but maybe there is simple misunderstanding as I am using the german version of the Airport Admin Client...

  1. Upgrade WRT54G to use the open-source firmware Sveasoft Satori v4.0 WRT54G.

  -> done

  2. login to WRT54G admin tool and enable WDS. In the Wireless WDS section, enter the MAC Address of Airort Express and choose its type as LAN. Turn lazy WDS and WDS subnet to off. Ensure that your newly setup wireless connection is working by accessing the Web.

  -> There is no button to enable WDS. Think that entering the apporpriate information is enough

  3. Plug-in Airport Express in a room where you know that you get adequate wireless signal from WRT54G.

  -> no problem

  4. Do NOT setup Airport Express to join your main network. Set it up as an independent wireless station, on the same channel that WRT54G is using. Note that if you want to use encryption, you can only use WEP. If you want to enter your WEP key in HEX, do not forget to put a "$" before the key (thanks kp_nine for the tip).

  -> OK, I setup the AX as a normal Router, right?

  5. Initially choose a different SSID (say "MyAENet") for Airport Express. This will help in debugging, and ensuring that the Airport Express is correctly working as a repeater. Later, you can use the same SSID as WRT54G for seamless wireless repeating.

  -> What about the channel? By default its automatic? Better use the same as the WRT54G?

  6. Turn off firewall and NAT on Airport Express.

  -> I cant find any firewall or NAT function to turn off. NAT can be found in "Network" where I selected the latter funtion, so that the AX would distribute via dhcp. Correct?

  7. Setup Airport Express as a WDS Remote Station, and make it connect to the internet through WDS provided by the WRT54G. You will need to use the ethernet address of the wireless side (not WAN side) of WRT54G.

  -> MAC address can be found under "status" in the web interface. But I have to put it under "network" and "WDS". And I also have to put in a static IP for the AX... If I leave it on DHCP I get an error when trying to update the AX

  8. Enable the Airport Express to provide music streaming (this was probably the reason you bought Airport Express in the first place). The name chosen here has nothing to do with the wireless setup, so choose whatever name you like.

  -> Thats easy

  9. Use your laptop to first test that your wireless network is up. Then select the SSID of Airport Express (MyAENet), and see if you can still access internet. If so, congratulations. If not, retry all the steps after resetting Airport Express. I discuss some ways to reset Airport Express in another weblog.

  -> Any time I get the blinking orange light and I also have to use a static IP for the connecting computer as otherwise there is no IP distributed via dhcp

  So, what is wrong? Any idea? Thanks for your help

  Posted by: wladimir80 on November 28, 2005 at 04:45 AM

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