Walking the lanes of Costco, I noticed a new pack of Netgear’s Orbi wireless networking devices. Instead of the three-unit pack I had seen previously, Costco carries a two pack (one base and one satellite), and the cost is good, right under $200. While a single Wifi router has been working in my household, speeds have been down and coverage was sufficient.

So far so good with this Orbi setup. Speeds (as measured by Speedtest) have been very good, and configuration was easy (a little too easy). Compared to other NetGear products, configuration of the gear seems too simple. Where’s all the “advanced” settings that I’m used to seeing? I can’t even assign IP addresses to specific devices. The settings must be there, I just gotta do some research. I think the Orbi is a keeper.

Since when did the Google Starbucks Wi-Fi service start this authentication system? I’m used to selecting the Wi-Fi network then surfing the Internet.

I’m not really sure how this works as well. At a different location, I didn’t see this screen, but I still had to pick the network (same behavior as before). More of a security measure?

NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS

Initially, I had been using the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS without issue. Okay, there was that one time I needed to reflash one unit, but after that, it’s been dependable. Setup is easy if not too basic. But once set, these worked (and continue to work). I can’t complain about wifi speed and range. Would like to have the power adapter use some kind of USB connection (to the device) rather than that tiny connector. But, but, but NetGear no longer makes these, and old stock online is super duper expensive.

So I went looking for a replacement…

IOGear GWU627

First up was IOGear’s GWU627. Easy to setup but too unreliable. Sometimes I can’t ping the device, sometimes, I can’t connect to its web interface. Speaking of its web management interface, it’s horrible. It’s overly simplified, geared for a single purpose bridge configuration without any options unless you find its secret menu at:

192.168.1.252/menu.asp

From this link with a minimal UI, you can change some settings including the hardcoded IP address of 192.168.1.252. I’ll give the GWU627 credit though, once configured it booted up quickly and got to work. But then it didn’t work so good. Ping tests were all over the place – less than 10 ms, greater than 100 ms, timeouts. Wow. When actually used in its use case, this bridge just couldn’t handle the network demands and stalled out, never allowing the bridged wired device to finish its updates. Not good.

TP-Link TL-WR802N

Next up, a coworker had a TP-Link Nanorouter, the TL-WR802N. This inexpensive, tiny white box is very flexible can can function in many networking scenarios like a traditional wireless router, a hotspot router, a range extender, and as a client (client mode is essentially a wifi bridge). The web interface of the WR802N is very thorough with all the options exposed. It took me an extra try to set up Client mode with a static IP, not the default DHCP setting. But then the WR802N didn’t bridge. I could ping the static IP given to the bridge but could not ping or connect to the bridged device. I tried and tried. I even saw posts online describing similar issues but with a fix in the form of beta firmware. After contacting technical support, I was sent an updated beta firmware the next day. Sadly, this didn’t fix my problem. I’m pretty sure I’m configuring the WR802N correctly also testing DHCP settings and connecting to different wifi networks, but no matter what, I couldn’t connect through the device’s wired Ethernet.

Apple AirPort Express

Lastly, I brought in my second generation Apple AirPort Express. To cut this short, it worked. The wired device connected wirelessly. The wifi connection was reliable and performance was consistent and stable. Unfortunately, the AirPort Express is the most expensive device out of the three.

So where does that leave me? I probably need a few of these wireless bridges and while the NetGear WNCE2001-100NAS fits my needs perfectly with respect to cost, performance, and setup, this device is simply too hard to get at a good price. So barring any other discoveries, the Apple AirPort Express is it.

The biggest gotcha is joining the correct wifi network name. For me, my reset AirPort Express was advertising a network of “Apple Network”. But if you follow steps 6 and 7, you have to change the name to “Apple Network” and append the last 6 characters of the AirPortID to “Apple Network” so it looks something like “Apple Network 1a2b3c”. Once that’s done, your Mac should be talking with the AirPort Express.

Now fire up the AirPort Utility 5.6.1 Launcher (skip the update notification) and you should see your AirPort Express available for configuration. Made a mistake? Reset the AirPort Express and start over.

On a related note, the original 802.11g version of the AirPort Express does not support bridge (aka client) mode according to Apple.

Well, I guess this solution has been out there for some time, but I only stumbled upon it yesterday. You can still run the older Airport Utility v5.6.1 that can configure the older Express, but you need to use this special launcher. This “app” makes the needed changes so that v5.6.1 can launch on newer Mac OS versions including Ep Capitan 10.11.6.

Word of warning though. If your Express is previously configured, DO NOT factory reset it. This makes things much more difficult. If you do so, the Express goes into a configuration mode with a brand new, generic Wifi network. You need to connect to this temporary Wifi network in order to configure the Express, but when you attempt to do so, the newer version of Airport Utility launches, and of course, this version is incompatible. If you try to launch v5.6.1 simultaneously, it won’t connect with the Express. So if the Express was previously configured, you could connect and make any necessary changes. But if reset, you need to connect via wired Ethernet. Not hard but a hassle, especially if you don’t have all the pieces and parts handy (like a Lightning to Ethernet adapter for a MacBook Air).

I configured my old Express to simply serve as an AirPlay relay with connected speakers. Good enough use for this aged hardware. And yes, it works! I can stream music from an iPhone 7 running iOS 10 via this older Express.

Additionally, the small Starbucks inside of Windward Mall is also Google connected. Oddly, the third and seemingly busiest Starbucks location in Kaneohe, the one with the first 24-hour drive thru in Hawaii, is still not Google-fied. Here’s a SpeedTest comparison of Google Wifi versus attwifi.

The top two lines are from the Kaneohe drive thru location while the bottom line is from the Windward Mall location. Two out of three ain’t bad I guess.

Starbucks explorer Wayne’s World also reports that the Kapolei location has been Googlified but not the one at Kauai Kukui Grove.

Yup, you are connected to a legit Wifi network.

Speedy, speedy!!

Thanks to Wayne’s World for the screen shots while walking around different Starbucks downtown locations.

Apple does not support this although it may work. This article is the most referenced source regarding this unsupported setup.

Umm, yeah… At least they’re all locked and protected networks.