I've got an Apple wireless network running (base station is an Airport Express, 2nd generation), and I'd like to extend to it a nearby apartment.
I've got an AT&T modem/router hybrid, a Netgear device. Is it at all possible to extend an Apple wireless network with a non-Apple router such as this?
I can connect to the Netgear box via Ethernet to configure settings, but I'm curious first if this kind of wireless extending is even possible.
Unfortunately Apple based networks cannot be extended using non-Apple devices. Even though in theory it should work without any problems, Apple has restricted using 3rd party routers to extended wireless network, and vice versa, non-Apple based wireless networks cannot be extended using Apple routers.
The workaround is to connect both, your Airport Express and your Netgear using Ethernet cable and enabling bridge mode in your Netgear settings page. Bridge mode disables creating second sub-network in your LAN, making Airport Express your default DHCP server.
The short answer is yes. The brand of the hardware doesn't matter, as long as it has the capabilities you're looking for. They all use the same 802.11n (or maybe g, not sure about which generation is which) networking protocol, so as long as you set the new one up to rebroadcast you should be all set.
Really, it depends if the router in question supports extending a wireless network. If your router doesn't support this feature, you could use the AT&T device as the main router and use the Airport Extreme to extend the network.
