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AirPort Extreme Base Station

Does Airport Extreme provide a greater range than Airport Express?

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7 Answers from the Community

  • Best Answer

    Technically no, but for certain customers, their environments may make it seem so. Wireless interference is one of the main causes for certain customers having a bad experience with the Airport products. Take note of how many other wireless networks are around and what devices are in the same area that utilize similar wireless technology. The Airport devices use same wireless technology and consist of the same hardware. With the Airport Extreme, you get the Dual-band feature and the extra ethernet ports.

    Hope this helps.

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  • The Express is plugged into an electrical socket. The Extreme can be mounted on a wall or ceiling. That makes a big difference as to how your Macs can receive the signal. Where they are located makes a big difference in range.

    Apple keeps improving the antenna layout on both so one would expect similar signal strength on both. But given that the Extreme has separate receivers and transmitters for B/G and N, it should always do better. The problem being, the Extreme will downshift to the lowest common denominator.. so if you have anyone connecting with a B or G card, that is what it will go to, unless you set it to only accept N. The Extreme can handle both independently. I have an older Extreme that I run only in N, and a second AP running G/B to emulate what it can do.

    The newest version of Extreme has even better antenna positioning, which makes for an even better reception. It is the premier Access Point out there right now.

    I'd go with an Extreme.

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  • No it does not when using 802.11n only.

    But on the other hand it does provide you dual-band antenna, so when computers with 802.11g connect to the Airport Extreme it still provides 802.11n signal to computers supporting it. Therefore you get a greater range on 802.11n cards when 802.11a/b/g are connected to it.

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  • In my experience, yes. And you get faster throughput at the farther distances too (if your laptop supports 802.11n).

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  • Yes, it does. I am not sure if its significant enough though.

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  • Yes, it will provide greater range than an Airport Express due to the MIMO technology found in the latest model. This features multiple antennas which can allow for multiple data streams meaning higher speeds and greater range. As always, interference and the layout of your home will affect the overall range but ultimately it will best an Airport Express for features, range and speed.

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  • DEFIANTLY!!

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