How to Setup Airport Express on AT&T DSL

UPDATE: As of February 16, 2009 ...you should read and implement the new method of achieving this effect. You can still do it via this old method but I recommend doing it the new way. Check it out here!

I love technological challenges because at the end of the day there is a lesson learned. Currently, I am transitioning from Cable Internet to DSL Internet. I had been a faithful customer of Time Warner Cable ever since Cable internet became available in Houston. To help some folks out that was 8 years ago or since 2000. Even when I went to college I opted for cable with Time Warner except for one year when my only recourse was Comcast.

Then . . . around June of last year, Time Warner sold their rights over to Comcast. My internet speed was a joke and their customer service was horrible.That relationship only lasted 9 months.

That being said . . . I was not too thrilled jumping into DSL but the switch was made and I am currently happy with the results. I own an Airport Express router that has followed me around since college. Other than being able to set it up pretty quickly, this trusty device gives me wireless access to my speakers via AirTunes within iTunes and wireless printing capabilities.

After setting up my wireless connection with AT&T DSL and ensuring that every computer and wireless devices was connecting to the new network, I proceeded to setup my Airport Express. Enter today's challenge!

Under Leopard, AirPort Utility was having trouble "Extending my Wireless Connection" that was distributed by the 2Wire router. After fiddling around with all the settings and researching for about 4 hours on the issue, I could not find a viable solution.

Here is my quick and easy dirty solution. This works with Cable Internet connections as well. Visit your Router settings . . . which if you happen to be on a 2Wire router the address is http://gateway.2wire.net/ and I vaguely remember Linksys was http://192.168.1.1/ (note these links will only work if you happen to have that router). You should find out what your router address is from the manufacturer.

AT&T DSL and 2Wire have schemed on the perfect idea of how to create a wireless network. The router does it by itself and with default network names and passwords. I always thought some tech from AT&T was going around setting up the same generic setup 2WIRE### but was I wrong. When I turned on the router and it received a DSL connection the signal was broad casted. This is the perfect option for those that do not know how to setup their own wireless network. I still recall the learning curve that Linksys provided. Nonetheless, it restrains people from customizing their network settings to a degree.

Here is what you have been waiting for . . . whatever router you use, the changes should be the same but the getting there will be slightly different. Visit http://gateway.2wire.net/ on your computer and click on "View the Home Network" and finally click on "Edit Wireless Settings" Enter your password (this should be the same one you created before you registered your account with AT&T for your email). That last step is only unique to AT&T customers.

Now comes the fun stuff! You should be in a Wireless Settings Configuration page. The Network Name is the name that you can customize,, by default it is 2WIRE### but you may rename it "Home" or "Office" etc. as long as the name is not being used by anyone near you.

The second step is to disable SSID Broadcast. This basically means that you do not want your Network to show up when people look for wireless networks. It hides the network name from letting others to join it unless they know how to spell it exactly. This just means that if your network is "Home" and people try to join it as "home" or "HOME" they will have trouble connecting it.

The last step is to disable Encryption aka password. Most of the times you can not join a wireless network because you do not know the password but because we do not publicize the network name due to Step 2, you do not have to worry about setting up a password since people have to know what the network is called to join it. Plus, it makes setting up your Airport Express that much easier if you do not have to mess with an encrypted password. Finally, just run Airport Utility and it should be a piece of cake after that. This whole process should take at the most 15 minutes seriously.

And that is how you set up your Airport Express via AT&T DSL or any other service provider when you are having issues with WPA/WEP encryption. If you have any questions, comments or concerns then feel free to let me know. If you know of a better way to achieve the end goal then do not hesitate in letting me know.