Wireless to Wired using Airport Express

Posted by: Gavin B on 07 September 2017

My son's about to return to Uni. His room in a shard house has wifi access but no wired points. Could he use an Apple Airport Express to connect to the wifi, and then hang a wired switch off that? He'd then have his Qute, his Pi / USB storage and computer wired to the switch.

Is there something more suitable to achieve this?

(Most uses of the Express seem to be about extending the wifi network - this isn't what he needs.) 

Posted on: 07 September 2017 by Richard Dane

Gavin, I've moved this thread to the Streaming Audio room where more of our resident experts might see it.

Posted on: 07 September 2017 by ChrisSU

I'm not so sure about being a resident expert, but what you want to do is possible, although I don't know if you can connect more than one device to the AE via a switch. Also, I never had much success getting a WiFi connection to a non-Apple router. My own router has an Airport Extreme wired to it, and an Airport Express connected wirelessly to that, which works well as a wireless range extender. You could consider doing this, but it would mean attaching your own AE to the communal router, which would require an element of trust.

Posted on: 07 September 2017 by DrPo

@Gavin: 

I had this procise set up working nicely for a while, but after my ISP switched to VDSL and provided me with a different modem/router I had issues with the NAIM app finding the NDX. I ended up restricting the router/modem to modem only duties and attach an AE(1) as wifi "generator" with the AE(2) as repeater, as Chrissy describes (caveat included). 

Posted on: 07 September 2017 by banditk

I'm using Ethernet Powerline which is working well. 

Posted on: 07 September 2017 by Kevin Richardson
Gavin B posted:

My son's about to return to Uni. His room in a shard house has wifi access but no wired points. Could he use an Apple Airport Express to connect to the wifi, and then hang a wired switch off that? He'd then have his Qute, his Pi / USB storage and computer wired to the switch.

Is there something more suitable to achieve this?

(Most uses of the Express seem to be about extending the wifi network - this isn't what he needs.) 

It should work... Can't imagine why it wouldn't. I used an AExpress to connect my NDX -> my server over wifi and it worked fine.  Of course I have a 100% Apple home so I can not account for various deficiencies related to mixing with non Apple equipment. 

Posted on: 08 September 2017 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Gavin B posted:

My son's about to return to Uni. His room in a shard house has wifi access but no wired points. Could he use an Apple Airport Express to connect to the wifi, and then hang a wired switch off that? He'd then have his Qute, his Pi / USB storage and computer wired to the switch.

Is there something more suitable to achieve this?

(Most uses of the Express seem to be about extending the wifi network - this isn't what he needs.) 

Yes, absolutely.. for better  performance see if he can run the airport express in adhoc mode with another dedicated wifi access point also in adhoc mode... this effectively provides an efficient point to point Wifi bridge... I can't remember if the Apple AirPort Express can run in this mode... anyway if not run as normal and it should still work.. though you might have a few side effects with some specialised Ethernet applications but for the most part he should be fine .. and should certainly work better than proprietary bridges like powerline adapters etc

Posted on: 08 September 2017 by Gavin B

Thanks for your replies, folks. It sounds like we'll need to give it a go!

Other options seem to be some of the Netgear extenders which have an ethernet socket. I suppose these might be less fussy about what the main router is.

Posted on: 08 September 2017 by sjbabbey
Gavin B posted:

Thanks for your replies, folks. It sounds like we'll need to give it a go!

Other options seem to be some of the Netgear extenders which have an ethernet socket. I suppose these might be less fussy about what the main router is.

This is what I use to connect the UQ2 in an upstairs bedroom using a Netgear AC1200 WiFi range extender and a Netgear ProSafe GS108 switch. It has been completely reliable and can stream 24/192 files with no dropouts.

Posted on: 08 September 2017 by spurrier sucks

I've used an AE to have a wired connection to a Uniti Qute 2 that I couldn't hardwire. It worked great. 

Posted on: 09 September 2017 by Gavin B

Thanks, SJB

SS - what type of router was this with? Apple or not?

Posted on: 09 September 2017 by alan33

I have both an AE and Linksys RE200 used as wireless bridges, neither connected to Apple routers. Works fine. Only issue might be the need for a temporary wired connection to do the setup, but with the Linksys you can connect directly to a laptop and enter the wifi credentials you want to use, which go into effect after a power cycle. Both have a single Ethernet port and can attach that to a local switch.  I've also used an asus router in this capacity; these have a"use as wifi bridge" setting and have a built-in 4 port switch. So if you have an old router with a decent wifi spec, you could give that a go as well. My main advice would be to play withsetup and settings at home to learn how the interface works, then it's easy and familiar for your son to use the same procedure to connect to the unit one he gets there. Best wishes and good luck at school!

Regards alan

Posted on: 09 September 2017 by PG

I have an Airport Express operating wirelessly with an Extreme. The Express is then wired to a Netgear hub (8 ports), does streaming to my Yamaha Music Cast, Sony TV and Humax PVR. Works very nicely.