EXTENDING ASUS WIRELESS NETWORK WITH AIRPORT EXTREME

......can I use one of my old Airport Extremes (6th generation) to connect wirelessly to the Asus and extend the wi-fi?

Sorry, but no. Apple used a proprietary "wireless extend" technology that would only allow AirPorts to wirelessly extend the network provided by another Apple AirPort router or AirPort Time Capsule. Pretty sneaky.

Many have tried, but none have succeeded in trying to outsmart the Apple engineers.

If so, I would then connect the Airport to the TV.

IF....the AirPort Extreme could wirelessly extend the signal from the Asus router.....(it can't).....you would connect the TV to the wireless network extended by the AirPort Extreme.....or.....better yet connect the TV using an Ethernet cable to the AirPort Extreme.

Wired is always preferred to wireless.

I'm not fond of Ethernet over power line adapters, but if there is no way to run an Ethernet cable from the Asus router to the AirPort Extreme, you might consider trying a pair of Ethernet over power line adapters.

The idea here is that you already have the wiring in place.....you just need an adapter near the Asus router plugged into the wall AC socket and another adapter plugged into the wall AC socket near the AirPort Extreme. Then, connect a short Ethernet cable from the Asus router to the nearby power line adapter and do the same at the AirPort Extreme end.

Downside......There is going to some signal speed loss with power line adapters, no matter what the specifications might claim and the adapters can sometimes pick up "noise" over the AC wiring in the house.

You won't know how well......or if.....a pair of power line adapters will work in your home until you actually try them out in your home. Make sure that you understand the store's return policy before you buy if you decide to try the power line adapter option.

Nice work. Glad that you decided to run the CAT 6 cable, since nothing beats a wired Ethernet connection.

You do have the option to use the same SSID on both AirPort Extremes to create what is known as a "roaming network".

That is a network where all of the wireless access points connect using Ethernet and all of the access points are set up to use the same wireless network name, same security and same password.

So Wi-Fi devices that are connected to the closest AirPort Extreme can "roam" to another area near the other AirPort Extreme, connect to the stronger signal from the closest AirPort Extreme and stay on the same network.

Open AirPort Utility

Click on the AirPort that you want to modify

Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Wireless tab at the top of the next window

Wireless Network Name......Edit the name of the network so that it uses the exact same wireless network name as your other AirPort Extreme

Wireless Password......Edit the password so that it uses the exact same wireless network password as the other AirPort Extreme

Verify Password....Enter the same password to confirm

Click Update at the lower right of the screen and give the AirPort a minute to restart again.

but it occurs to me if I can connect the Asus in one room and the AirPort in the second room and configure it as a different SSID, will that work?

Yes, but your Wi-Fi devices will not "switch" from one Wi-Fi network to another. You will have to manually log on to the Asus or AirPort network that you want to use at the time.

Suppose I connect a gigabit switch to the modem and connect the two routers, the Asus and the AirPort, to the switch will that work

No. The modem can only deliver one valid IP address to a router and it will be a matter of chance as to which router receives the valid address. The "other" router will not be able to connect to the Internet. Here, I am assuming that your "modem" is just that.....a simple modem that has only one Ethernet port.

Your network needs to look like this: Modem > Asus > AirPorts.

You can have both AirPorts connect to the Asus router using an Ethernet connection, or you can have one AirPort connect to the Asus router using an Ethernet connection and then connect the second AirPort to the first AirPort using an Ethernet connection if that makes Ethernet wiring easier.

Ideally, both AirPorts would connect to the Asus router, if possible. But, the network will run just fine if this is not possible.

Happy to help. Good luck.