So I currently have a pretty rubbish set up.

The fibreoptic modem is in the living room (den) and my mac pro is in the attic / loft with my macbook pro and apple tv in the bedroom (directly under the attic).

I have hardware wise Airport Express N, Airport Express G & Airport N.

My current plan is to use the Express N to connect to the modem and send wifi to attic, then drop 3 or 4 x cat5e down to my bedroom from the attic to bedroom to singular patch panels surface mounted for my various devices then connecting them all up and the mac pro to the extreme

OR as above but connecting everything to a switch and then to airport (gives me expansion options later)

I will then use the express G to create a G network for the older devices on the network (connected directly to modem, not Extreme)

Question is, how hard are switches to set up? Is it worth it?

I would love to run cat5e from the router to the attic but I don't fancy ripping up ALL the carpets in the house and chanelling out walls (im going for surface mounted trunking for the bedroom drops.

If anybody has any modifications to this setup im open to them

Iggy

Extending a wireless network using multiple wireless base stations can be a bit problematic, especially if they are not all the same model. Apple seems to change the functionality of Airport Utility with every revision. I would definitely experiment with it before running cables.

I sincerely hope that my experience with the Airport Express is an anomaly. I have four of them, and not one will run more than a few days without locking up. I now have an Airport Extreme base station on each floor of the house, connected with Cat5e.

i used to have the locking up issue, I don't remember when it went away or what made it go away but I did.

If I absolutely have to I might be able to go out the side of the house and up into the attic, would rather not though. I'm thinking I'm going with 'Join Wireless Network' for the ApEx as none of my devices will be wired

So I simplified the setup a bit - router in my room. This meant less drops from the attic/loft

However, Michael you're right the wireless option is a joke. Internet has dropped from 40mbps to 0.16mbps. However I suspect there is more at play here.

Drop from the attic to front room it is

Is cat5e ok outside unprotected?

after lots of swearing and many attacks of cramp from being all twisted up in the roof i managed to get my cable routed.

I now get 37mbps (which will fluctuate between that and 40mbps) and a crazy 14ms ping

You can buy cable made specifically for this purpose. The sheathing is UV-resistant.

oops haha

well if it degrades I will have to replace the drop. I haven't clipped it to the exterior wall so will just pull a new cable through if I have to