Take Control of Your 802.11n AirPort Extreme Network

Chapter . Connect Multiple Base Stations

Wi-Fi is described as reaching “only” about 150 feet, which is a very rough estimate of the radius of older 802.11b and g devices. With an Extreme N, the distance is much farther. But you can also extend the covered area by adding more base stations with overlapping signals.

As a Wi-Fi adapter in a laptop or handheld moves across overlapping areas, it can automatically switch base stations while maintaining a continuous network connection—as long as you’ve set the network up right.

While it’s always critical to follow instructions exactly when setting up any kind of network gear—or almost anything computer related— extending a network with more base stations is particularly rough because a failure to check ...