Community Support
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6.7K Messages
AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender - AirTies 4920
Accessing your Wi-Fi in every part of your house is no longer a problem with the The AirTies 4920! The AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender helps get a wireless signal to more areas of your home, giving you a better Wi-Fi experience to do what you want, where you want.
Interested? Order the AT&T Smart Wi-Fi Extender Now! Wondering how it works? Check out our information below!
How it Works
The AirTies connects to a compatible modem, 5268AC or BGW210, and expands the range of your Wi-Fi connection through all areas in your home using Band Steering. Wondering what Band Steering is? We have you covered, just read below!
What is band steering?
Band Steering is a technology that detects devices capable of the 5GHz and 'steers' them to that frequency, leaving the more congested 2.4GHz band and joining the higher capacity 5GHz band.
In a standard environment, most devices just connect to the optimal connection at the time, and stay on that connection. With band steering, compatible devices connect to the frequency providing the highest speed and best connection which minimizes network congestion and frees up the air waves, giving you the fastest connection available.The network name and password must match on the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz network.
What is needed for band steering to work?
- An AT&T compatible gateway:
- BGW210
- 5268AC
- Single SSID: The SSID name, security type, and settings must match on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz connection
Reasons to use band steering
- Forces connection over to the less congested 5GHz network. 2.4GHz connection is the primary band for most older devices
- Faster connections over the 5GHz connection
- 5GHz offers wider, non-overlapping channels
Things to Know
- Band Steering is like adding a fast lane for your Wi-Fi devices
- New customers 12Mbps and higher will have this capability upon release
- Requires Gateways from AT&T models 5268AC or BGW210
- No action required by customer, the upgrade will occur automatically
- AT&T’s fastest Wi-Fi network allows you to stream, download and surf on your favorite devices at the same time, worry free. As your internet needs evolve to include more devices, computers and smart appliances in the future, so will the AT&T network.
David, AT&T Community Specialist
*I am an AT&T employee, and the postings on this site are my own and don't necessarily represent AT&T's position, strategies or opinions.
gr8sho
ACE - Professor
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5.4K Messages
6 years ago
I guess so, but seems odd as the 599 does itself use band steering. And I have setup a tplink wifi extender connected to the 599 successfully.
During my bonded pair install, I was offered another 5268 but passed. The techs down here only have the 5268 and the 210s in their vans.
The airties looks like a nice product but there are cheaper products that can do the job just as well.
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JefferMC
ACE - Expert
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35K Messages
6 years ago
Agreed. I would go for mesh system that would be compatible with any gateway/modem instead of a single device at this price that may not be compatible with the equipment from another ISP or even the next Gateway from this provider.
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averagejoe929
Contributor
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3 Messages
6 years ago
Hi, does anyone know if I can use this smart wifi extender with my AT&T Netgear (Nighhawk) MiFi device? That is what I currently use for my home internet. I'm looking for a way to boost that signal/coverage. thanks.
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gr8sho
ACE - Professor
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5.4K Messages
6 years ago
@averagejoe929
Read the first post. The airties is made to work with the 2 most recent residential gateways from AT&T.
There are so many choices, even inexpensive ones that should work with your router, or any router for that matter.
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cliffx71
Employee
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1 Message
6 years ago
I work at an AT&T wire technician. We started getting the Airties 4920 on our trucks in November. If I have a customer that needs more wireless coverage I will recommend the AirTies 4920. The AirTies 4920 is not a simple WiFi extender. It creates a mesh network and as long as your Residential Gateway has bandsteering enabled your AirTies will too. We can add the cost of the AirTies ($35) directly to your bill. I don’t recommend Wi-Fi extenders on any network where performance is important. However I do recommend air ties mesh network in these instances.
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shussey
Tutor
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4 Messages
6 years ago
I got one of these today. My gateway was upgraded to a 5268AC last Saturday as the final diagnosis of some bad latency issues I was having. The new gateway is working great so far but it is in my basement next to the incoming DSL line. Two stories up in my house the connections for multiple apple tvs, laptops, rokus and iPhones were all working but sometimes a little slow. The gateway main page has a wifi signal strength indicator for each client so I could tell I needed a boost.
For the setup, I followed the quickstart instructions. Power on the network extender (Airties 4320) and wait for flashing green lights. Rather than flashing, they went solid which didn't seem right. Just in case I did a reset using a paper clip but still no flashing after 3 minutes.
Just in case it was just a documentation error, I continued as if they were flashing. Press WPS button on the gateway first and then the one on the extender. Some flashing ensues and eventually stops. Obviously I am looking for a way to check its status. I tried the iPhone app from AirTies (AirTies wifi) but it won't discover the device. I try a hardwired connection since the app mentions this as the first step. Still no auto detection.
Back to the gateway and look at the list of clients. There it is "Air4920" with an assigned IP address. Just for grins I hit the IP with a browser and there is a web console. No password but no real help apart from the ability to do a firmware update which I do without problem.
I try to figure out a solid way to know if it is working and which devices are going direct to the gateway and which to the extender. The only inference I can get to say it is doing its job is that some of the clients in the list from the gateway main page show Wifi as the connection type but show no signal strength indicator. I assume this means they are going through he extender. I get a mix of Wifi devices that show the symbol or not. They change sometimes too.
Overall performance is very good for everything so I think I am good but it sure would be nice to be able to look at a console and see the actual working activity. Either a better Extender console or the iPhone app working as shown in the app store. Just in case it is relevant, I have an iPhone 6s for the app.
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shussey
Tutor
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4 Messages
6 years ago
I got one of these today. My gateway was upgraded to a 5268AC last Saturday as the final diagnosis of some bad latency issues I was having. The new gateway is working great so far but it is in my basement next to the incoming DSL line. Two stories up in my house the connections for multiple apple tvs, laptops, rokus and iPhones were all working but sometimes a little slow. The gateway main page has a wifi signal strength indicator for each client so I could tell I needed a boost.
For the setup, I followed the quickstart instructions. Power on the network extender (Airties 4320) and wait for flashing green lights. Rather than flashing, they went solid which didn't seem right. Just in case I did a reset using a paper clip but still no flashing after 3 minutes.
Just in case it was just a documentation error, I continued as if they were flashing. Press WPS button on the gateway first and then the one on the extender. Some flashing ensues and eventually stops. Obviously I am looking for a way to check its status. I tried the iPhone app from AirTies (AirTies wifi) but it won't discover the device. I try a hardwired connection since the app mentions this as the first step. Still no auto detection.
Back to the gateway and look at the list of clients. There it is "Air4920" with an assigned IP address. Just for grins I hit the IP with a browser and there is a web console. No password but no real help apart from the ability to do a firmware update which I do without problem.
I try to figure out a solid way to know if it is working and which devices are going direct to the gateway and which to the extender. The only inference I can get to say it is doing its job is that some of the clients in the list from the gateway main page show Wifi as the connection type but show no signal strength indicator. I assume this means they are going through he extender. I get a mix of Wifi devices that show the symbol or not. They change sometimes too.
Overall performance is very good for everything so I think I am good but it sure would be nice to be able to look at a console and see the actual working activity. Either a better Extender console or the iPhone app working as shown in the app store. Just in case it is relevant, I have an iPhone 6s for the app.
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kelly_a
Scholar
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313 Messages
6 years ago
I believe the AT&T version of the airties iPhone app is called Smarthome Manager. It connected to my at&t airties 4920 & 5286ac, but I haven’t played around much to assess the functionality.
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sean8102
Scholar
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162 Messages
6 years ago
Just to follow up on my experience after ordering one of these and having it for 2 months. I gotta say I'm extremely impressed. It really just simply just works. Setup was extremely easy, plug the extender into power, press WPS button on gateway and the extender. After a few seconds they will sync with each other, then unplug the extender, move it where you want it and plug it back in.
I was already getting pretty good coverage from my BGW-210, but I decided since this was so cheap for a mesh network I'd grab it. I set it up in the opposite corner of the house from the gateway. Now my phone and other wi-fi devices stay connected to the faster 5 Ghz network pretty much anywhere in the house because there is strong 5Ghz coverage throughout the house thanks to the extender. Best of all its been completely transparent. I never notice when there is a hand off between the gateway and the extender on my phone. I can be streaming video, browsing the web etc and walk from one end of the house to the other and the switchover from the gateway to the extender is seamless. No loss of wi-fi for a second or anything like that. Truly impressed with this little thing. Made a post over on DSL reports U-verse forums that this was on sell and there's a few pages of people saying they grabbed one and have been pleasantly surprised at how well it works.
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kelly_a
Scholar
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313 Messages
6 years ago
I agree. I’ve had mine about that long and it’s been flawless - $35 well spent. I did have to power it off and back once after a series of closely spaced power outages we had from ice on the lines. Still can’t get it to update to the newest version of the sortware, which is reportedly available (according to the same post on DSLReports.com you reference). I’m still using v. 2.33.1.4.544, but without issue.
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