Boosting Your Wifi Range With Apple Airport

If you're looking to increase your Wi-Fi coverage, you can do so by adding an extra AirPort Base Station to your existing Wi-Fi network. This can be done using AirPort Utility on your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. You'll want to ensure that you have as few walls and floors as possible between your devices and Base Stations, and you can also use the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station to get better connectivity if you're dealing with many walls or doors.

Set up an extra AirPort Base Station

To set up an extra AirPort Base Station, you'll first need to have your primary AirPort Base Station set up with a Wi-Fi network. Then, plug in your new AirPort Base Station and start the AirPort Utility on your Mac. You can also use AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

After that, verify that the power cord is connected to the Power port on the primary base station and plugged into a wall outlet. Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the WAN port on the base station you’re adding to the network, and the other end into a LAN port on the primary base station.

You'll want to place your AirPort Base Stations in areas with the least amount of walls and floors between your devices and the stations. For example, if you have a three-storey home, you may want to place one in the basement and one on the top floor to spread out coverage.

If you're dealing with many walls or doors, you'll get better connectivity by using the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station. 5GHz radios are more easily blocked by those obstructions but are less prone to interference from other Wi-Fi routers.

Use the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station

If you have a lot of walls or doors in your home, you can get better connectivity by using the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station. 5GHz radios are more easily blocked by obstructions but are less prone to interference from other Wi-Fi routers.

To get the best possible Wi-Fi connectivity, you can follow a Wi-Fi diagnostics guide to find out which Wi-Fi Channel you should be using for your area. You'll want to get the best coverage of your home or office while avoiding anything that will cause interference to your Wi-Fi radio signals.

If you want to extend your existing Wi-Fi network, you can do so with an additional base station using AirPort Utility on your Mac or AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. After extending your Wi-Fi network, your network uses the existing network settings and broadcasts to a larger area.

To set up your primary AirPort Base Station with a Wi-Fi network, plug in your new Airport Base Station. On your Mac, start the AirPort Utility.

Use AirPort Utility on your Mac or AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

You can extend your existing Wi-Fi network with an additional base station using AirPort Utility on your Mac or AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. To do this, you'll need to make sure that your primary AirPort Base Station is set up with a Wi-Fi network. Once that's done, plug in your new AirPort Base Station. You can then use AirPort Utility to extend your network.

If you're using a Mac, start the AirPort Utility. Verify that the power cord is connected to the Power port on the primary base station and plugged into a wall outlet. Plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the WAN port on the base station you’re adding to the network, and the other end into a LAN port on the primary base station.

If you're using an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can also use AirPort Utility to extend your Wi-Fi network. This will allow your network to use the existing network settings and broadcast to a larger area.

When placing your AirPort Base Stations, you'll want to have as few walls and floors between your devices and the stations as possible. If you have a three-storey home, for example, you might want to place one station in the basement and one on the top floor to spread out coverage. If you're dealing with a lot of walls or doors, you can get better connectivity by using the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station. 5GHz radios are more easily blocked by obstructions but are less prone to interference from other Wi-Fi routers.

Place your AirPort Base Stations in a location with the least amount of walls and floors between your devices and the Base Stations

To increase your Wi-Fi coverage with an AirPort Base Station, you'll want to place your AirPort Base Stations in a location with the least amount of walls and floors between your devices and the Base Stations.

In a perfect world, you'd have line-of-sight access between Base Stations and between your devices that will connect to Wi-Fi and the Base Stations. That is rarely the case, but you can still optimise your Wi-Fi coverage by reducing the number of walls and floors between your devices and the Base Stations. For example, if you have a three-storey home, you'll want to spread out your Base Stations across the house. So, instead of having both Base Stations in the basement, you could have one in the basement and one on the top floor. This will give you better coverage throughout your home.

If you are dealing with many walls or doors, you'll get better connectivity by using the 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station. 5GHz radios are more easily blocked by those obstructions but are less prone to interference from other Wi-Fi routers. You can also use a Wi-Fi diagnostics guide to find out which Wi-Fi Channel you should be using for your area. This will help you get the best coverage of your home or office while avoiding anything that will cause interference to your Wi-Fi radio signals.

You can also extend your Wi-Fi network with an additional base station using AirPort Utility on your Mac or AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. After extending your Wi-Fi network, your network will use the existing network settings and broadcast to a larger area.

Use the 5GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station to reduce interference from other Wi-Fi routers

If you want to increase your Wi-Fi coverage with an AirPort Base Station, you can use the 5GHz Wi-Fi radio in your AirPort Base Station to reduce interference from other Wi-Fi routers. This is because 5GHz radios are less prone to interference from other Wi-Fi routers, although they are more easily blocked by walls and floors. To get the best coverage, you should place your AirPort Base Stations in areas with the least amount of walls and floors between your devices and the Base Stations. For example, if you have a three-storey home, you could place one Base Station in the basement and one on the top floor to spread out coverage.

You can also extend your existing Wi-Fi network with an additional base station using AirPort Utility on your Mac or AirPort Utility for iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. To do this, you need to connect the power cord to the Power port on the primary base station and plug it into a wall outlet. Then, plug one end of an Ethernet cable into the WAN port on the base station you’re adding to the network, and the other end into a LAN port on the primary base station.

If you are setting up your main AirPort Base Station and Wi-Fi network, you can follow a how-to guide to do so. You can also follow a guide to set timed limits on internet access with your AirPort Base Station. To get the best possible Wi-Fi connectivity, you can follow a Wi-Fi diagnostics guide to find out which Wi-Fi Channel you should be using for your area. This will help you get the best coverage of your home or office while avoiding anything that will cause interference to your Wi-Fi radio signals.

In an ideal world, you would have line of sight access between Base Stations and between your devices that will connect to Wi-Fi and the Base Stations. However, this is rarely the case, so you can use the tips above to increase your Wi-Fi coverage with an AirPort Base Station.

Frequently asked questions