How to us 2 Airport Extremes to extend WiFi network...

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@Dogblue2 wrote:

I have both AEs connected (at opposite ends of the house) to the router via Ethernet. All have the same Network name and password. The AE are currently set as "Create a wireless network", shouldn't they be "Extend a wireless network". I noticed they all have different IP address. Thought they need to be the same.

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No, that's the way it should be. The "Extend" option is to extend an existing Airport's network. You can't extend a network that's not on an Airport (i.e. whatever your current router is). Every device on your LAN needs to have different local IP addresses so your router can properly manage data going through. 

Are you having connectivity issues otherwise? 

Thanks @darkangelic. So if I'm using an Airport Express to extend my Xfinity network, choosing the option to "extend an existing network" in Airport Utility won't work? Can you confirm that my Airport Express should be set to "Join an existing network" in order to extend my existing wifi signal?

For context, I'm trying to expand my Xfinity wifi coverage into a dead zone in my house, and I'm hoping my old Airport Express will allow me to do that. Thanks in advance for your help.

Yes, one of AE seems to randomly drop connections to phones, ipads (all apple devices) and then when you try to log back onto to the wi-fi says, "wrong-password" and seems to work occasionally when you use an old password. I have used the AirPort Utility to ensure the password is correct and the same across both the AEs and the ARRIS Gateway. I used to run two passwords, one for a guest network and then one for the household, but consolidated to one. Can't understand where the old password could be stored and popping up again. With the configuration of the house I need to extend the network. I also have the xfinity pods through out the house, but they don't seem to cut it.

@Dogblue2 wrote:

Yes, one of AE seems to randomly drop connections to phones, ipads (all apple devices) and then when you try to log back onto to the wi-fi says, "wrong-password" and seems to work occasionally when you use an old password. I have used the AirPort Utility to ensure the password is correct and the same across both the AEs and the ARRIS Gateway. I used to run two passwords, one for a guest network and then one for the household, but consolidated to one. Can't understand where the old password could be stored and popping up again. With the configuration of the house I need to extend the network. I also have the xfinity pods through out the house, but they don't seem to cut it.

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There's possibly oversaturation of your WiFi network given you have 2 AEs plus xFi Pods. You're probably better off just going with the AEs for now since you're running an ethernet backhaul from the AEs to your Xfinity gateway. You're also dealing possibly with issues with iCloud Keychain on some iOS devices conflicting with any other stored passwords in the system. 

Before doing any wholesale changes though, I would at this point first perform Reset Network Settings on any of your affected iOS devices.

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@markvwald wrote:

Thanks @darkangelic. So if I'm using an Airport Express to extend my Xfinity network, choosing the option to "extend an existing network" in Airport Utility won't work? Can you confirm that my Airport Express should be set to "Join an existing network" in order to extend my existing wifi signal?

 

For context, I'm trying to expand my Xfinity wifi coverage into a dead zone in my house, and I'm hoping my old Airport Express will allow me to do that. Thanks in advance for your help.

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You should let Airport Utility manage that setting, but a lot depends on how you have that AE set up.   You might find this  Apple support article useful :

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202056