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mconk

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 10, 2009
371
69
Virginia
I have just recently moved into a new apartment complex that uses WiFiFee (www.wififee.com) to broadcast free WiFi service throughout the entire community (even at the pool! :p). Although the service is great, I have run into two problems.

1.) I have an AirPort Express base station connected to a computer and a printer in the living room. I initially wanted to have the Express rebroadcast its own secure wifi network, so that I could set up my own littl enetwork for all of my devices in my apartment. I quickly found out that the Express will only rebroadcast if it is linked with an AirPort Extreme that is already connected to the internet. Unfortunately, I no longer have the Extreme, as I thought I would no longer need it. The apartments do not have ethernet hook ups in them so I cannot out and buy a new Extreme, plug it up, and rebroadcast my own private, secore network with the Express. So with that said, does anyone know of anothe rmethod I could go about. Keep in mind, buying a cable modem and a router, or an AirPort Extreme is out of the question, as there is not a built in ethernet port, and Time Warner Cable will not run one to the apartment. I do not believe the Extreme will connect to the WiFiFee network in client mode, and then allow me to link the Express so that I can set up my own network. So again, with that said...any ideas??

2.) In addition to th Express, I also have an AppleTV connected to my 42" Vizio in the living room. In my bedroom, I have a MacBook Pro with an external HDD connected. The HDD stores a pretty good amount of movies, which I stream to my Apple TV in the living room on a regular basis via iTunes. Now, it appears that the connection is not strong enough to stream video video from my macbook in the bedroom, to the apple tv in the living room. I tried last night and it was a very, very slow process. All of my computers, and devices pick up about 3-4 different signals from any part of my apartment. So I tinkered around, and I ended up isolating the strongest signal, switched everything to that one network, and still nothing. I ended up doing a simple file transfer from the computer to apple tv instead, and it was CRAWLING! Interestingly enough, however, when downloading a movie form the iTunes store on AppleTV directly - its pretty snippy . In addition, while downloading any file on any of my computers/devices its pretty snippy in general. So I am not quite sure what my options would be at this point. I guess, in the end, I would like to be able to set up my own private WAP in the apartment, off of the existing WiFiFee network in my community, with the ability to stream movies from anywhere in the apartment, via AppleTV. Any ideas? Would love to hear some feedback...Thanks!
 
The only thing I can think of is buying DSL/Cable internet from your local provider and setting it up that way (phone line/coaxial cable > modem > Airport Express > ATV/Mac/etc.).
 
Get service on a usb aircard from a cellular provider and one of these. This is the setup I have, works perfect with appletv and itunes.
 
The only thing I can think of is to just use your Airport to set up a local, non-Internet network for file sharing. Then, switch to your community's wifi network when you want to surf the web, email, etc.

As for the slow file transfer speeds, it sounds like you may have been trying to share files across the Internet, rather than just across your local network.
 
Interesting ... I would have never even thought of this idea....are you saying that the internet service from your cell carrier is fast enough to stream music/video files across your lan, with the mini router you linked to? Thats a very interesting idea...and I am looking into it now. Very cost effective as well...

On a side note, I have a BlackBerry with a BIS data plan...I am able to tether my BlackBerry to my MacBook Pro, and browse the web at a pretty good clip. I do not think, however, that the connection would be anywhere near fast enough to stream music or video....even if I connected the BlackBerry via USB.

Now wih that said, how fast are the wireless options that the major cell carriers offer these days? Ive never really looked into that, as I have BIS on my berry, and simply connect that way when I am on the go with my MacBook (if i am not in a wifi hotspot). I would imagine they are what, like 3MBPS-5MBPS connections? I currently have Sprint. What cell network are you using, and hoe much are you paying monthly for the plan?

Thanks - and thanks everyone for the input this far!

Get service on a usb aircard from a cellular provider and one of these. This is the setup I have, works perfect with appletv and itunes.
 
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