Despite the mass of airport express + fios threads, I couldn't find this particular question. Maybe it was buried somewhere in there, but i couldn't come across it.
background: i just got fios, i seem to have successfully created a "new" network with my airport express that in reality just extends my quantum router network [though i still don't understand why 'create a new network' + bridge mode was the right play instead of 'extend network' + bridge mode - but maybe it's relevant i used the create a new network method]. i have theoretical 100/100 service - but can get like 40-65 download and 50 + upload (using speedtest.net, on both my phone and computer). its hard to control for all the variables, but i think i was getting roughly the same before i added the airport in - so even if my network isn't reaching its full potential (but it probably is - and the slow down is just a function of wi fi, multiple devices, etc.), the airport doesn't seem to be the problem.
but one thing i'm curious about - i noticed that once i added the airport, and refreshed my connection on phone/computer, myfiosgateway.com no longer had anything listing 'wireless' as the connection type - my phone and my computer now both say connected via ethernet. this kind of makes sense since the airport is wired by ethernet to the quantum gateway, and then the phone and the computer i guess are grabbing the airport express's signal.
even though i can kind of see why it shows up as such, it seems odd - if it was truly only functioning as a bridge/extender, i would think that things connected wirelessly to the airport should show up as wirelessly connected to the network as a whole. are there settings to change that would reflect this? or am i just wrong in thinking that it would make more sense that way?
even if it's harmless in terms of speed, i like being able to see what's on 2.4 or 5.0 gz bands (without having separate SSIDs) - and myfiosgateway provided a way for me to do that since i can't see it on my phone (though i figured out the option + wifi button on my mac, there doesn't seem to be a non-jailbreak analog for iphone)