njn007 Posted February 17, 2010 Share Posted February 17, 2010 Hi guys! Since I've invested so much $$$ into Apple recently, I'm thinking of buying yet another Apple product. I already have 2 iMacs in the home and 1 iPhone (soon to be 2). I also possess a PS3 and have 4 PCs in the house. I've been looking into Apple's Airport Extreme recently and am wondering if it's worth buying. I have a $100 Apple gift card and need to spend it on something! I think it would be nice to use, but I've heard some say it doesn't work with every ISP. Mine happens to be Comcast. I'm wondering if anything special needs to be done or if Comcast just doesn't support that kind of hardware. I like the entire concept of their router and think it'll be sweet, if I buy it. I currently use an old (and I mean old) Netgear router that just isn't the fastest and isn't giving me all of the potential speed Comcast puts into my house (cable, not fiberoptic of anything like that). Any owners of Airport Extreme? If so, please give me any tips and if it's worth paying some $$$ for (it'd be $59 after $100 GC and student discount). Now I was looking into a Time Capsule, but the whole memorial site turned me away since they don't live long (apparently). Whether it's with the current version or not, I still don't think I can (a) afford it or (b) take the risk of loosing lots of data. Thanks all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Dick Montage Subscriber² Posted February 17, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted February 17, 2010 I cannot comment on the extreme. But got an Express recently and it's a really versatile little bugger! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njn007 Posted February 17, 2010 Author Share Posted February 17, 2010 I cannot comment on the extreme. But got an Express recently and it's a really versatile little bugger! That had also occurred to me. Some others suggested it due to it's lower price and how well it works. What I like most about the Express is the ability to create a wireless network in a hotel or dorm with considerable ease. So many choices and so little cash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillz Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I have an AirPort Extreme Base Station and it works great. No issues with it at all. As for your ISP, it really should work with any type of broadband connection. All you have to do is plug the Base Station into the cable/DSL modem, and then configure the Base Station, make a wireless network, etc. I've used it with both Time Warner (cable) and AT&T (VDSL, my current ISP) and it's worked fine. (Actually, AT&T has a weird wireless gateway that seems to disable NAT so I have to use the station as a bridge, but it's no big deal.) I have a cousin who's got Comcast and the Base Station and things seem to work fine with it, too. I do know that sometimes ISPs will ship you modems that also double as wireless routers. In that case, you'd want to disable the modem Wi-Fi and use the Base Station's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebadiah Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Help me understand: isn't an Airport Extreme Base Station == 802.11n router? If so, why do you need an Apple router? They all do the same thing. Just get a regular router for cheap. That thing just sits there. Clearly you have found that there are some issues with it. So why take the risk? I don't get it. You could get the nice new "Almighty Mouse" or other cool stuff from Apple with that gift card. Edit: Wow non-Apple 802.11n routers go from $35+ and Apple's costs 5x as much. Just wow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vice Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 I have the Airport Extreme and the Airport Express. Both products are flawless. I mean seriously stable and high performance. The only single flaw in these routers is that if you change _any_ setting in the configuration of the routers administration panel you have to reboot the router before these settings will take effect. This is the only thing that is annoying but if you don't host any kind of services from home (like an FTP Server or something) then this isn't really an issue. If my Airport Extreme failed tomorrow I'd go out and buy another one that is how good they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Help me understand: isn't an Airport Extreme Base Station == 802.11n router? If so, why do you need an Apple router? They all do the same thing. Just get a regular router for cheap. That thing just sits there. Clearly you have found that there are some issues with it. So why take the risk? I don't get it. You could get the nice new "Almighty Mouse" or other cool stuff from Apple with that gift card. Edit: Wow non-Apple 802.11n routers go from $35+ and Apple's costs 5x as much. Just wow. Seems expensive, but most of those run of the mill routers have pretty bad reliability (I've regretted ever suggesting anything but an AirPort Extreme/Express to people), generally bad range, and always poor configuration interfaces. In comparison, going for a higher-grade business class WAP will cost as much as an AirPort Extreme, and the actual wireless routers cost even more. For the record, I've never had my AirPort Extreme lock up on me. Ever. My Express locked up on my once, but I had about 4 computers, three iPhones, and an Apple TV all using it. It says it can handle up to 10 connected clients, but through constant use, it'll get a little bogged down past 5. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hell-In-A-Handbasket Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 i was using one on comcast for couple years with no issues other then having comcast recognise it in the first place, aparently they dont like routers they cant upload a file unto. but got that resolved and no problems after that. last month i swaped a regular linksys between them though ( as in Cable Modem feading the WRT, which is feeding a 360/PS3/AirportExtreme, which the airport is feeding a Printer/USBHDD on the USB, 1 wired ubuntu, 1 wireless Macbook Pro, and 1 Wireless Win7 Desktop ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillz Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Help me understand: isn't an Airport Extreme Base Station == 802.11n router? If so, why do you need an Apple router? They all do the same thing. Just get a regular router for cheap. That thing just sits there. Clearly you have found that there are some issues with it. So why take the risk? I don't get it. You could get the nice new "Almighty Mouse" or other cool stuff from Apple with that gift card. Edit: Wow non-Apple 802.11n routers go from $35+ and Apple's costs 5x as much. Just wow. For me, it came down to firmware. I used to have a D-Link 802.11n router that DID work fine, until I decided to upload the firmware. Then it started dropping the connection for 1-2 minutes at a time every so often. Maybe a couple times a day, maybe every other day, etc. It still worked, but got annoying, so I switched to the AirPort Extreme. It has a really nice interface and the firmware hasn't given me any troubles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity76 Posted March 4, 2010 Share Posted March 4, 2010 Help me understand: isn't an Airport Extreme Base Station == 802.11n router? If so, why do you need an Apple router? They all do the same thing. Just get a regular router for cheap. That thing just sits there. Clearly you have found that there are some issues with it. So why take the risk? I don't get it. You could get the nice new "Almighty Mouse" or other cool stuff from Apple with that gift card. Edit: Wow non-Apple 802.11n routers go from $35+ and Apple's costs 5x as much. Just wow. Guess you missed the part about it being Dual Band with guest mode. Mind linking a dual band router for $35, I'd be curious to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebadiah Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Guess you missed the part about it being Dual Band with guest mode. Mind linking a dual band router for $35, I'd be curious to see it. Does the OP need a dual band router? I don't see the OP mentioning it. Would a dual band router cost equal to or more than Apple's price point of $179? I don't think so. You can get a dual band router for 1/2 that price. It's a router for sharing the home network. There's nothing special in an Apple router, except in certain scenarios in which you need to connect other Apple products, like the Time Capsule. The Airport Extreme, according to Apple, would work seamlessly with the Time Capsule. Apple makes their products extremely co-dependent, which forces their customers to buy more dependent things. I can see why people buy iPhones and iMacs, but the router is ridiculous. (AppleTV is another dumb box) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Does the OP need a dual band router? I don't see the OP mentioning it. Would a dual band router cost equal to or more than Apple's price point of $179? I don't think so. You can get a dual band router for 1/2 that price. It's a router for sharing the home network. There's nothing special in an Apple router, except in certain scenarios in which you need to connect other Apple products, like the Time Capsule. The Airport Extreme, according to Apple, would work seamlessly with the Time Capsule. Apple makes their products extremely co-dependent, which forces their customers to buy more dependent things. I can see why people buy iPhones and iMacs, but the router is ridiculous. (AppleTV is another dumb box) A Time Capsule is an AirPort Extreme with a hard drive in it. They're not two separate products that work in tandem. As for true dual band routers, no, actually, they're not "half the price." Here's another true simultaneous dual band router, but it's knocked for dropping out often and being generally unreliable and slow in dual band mode. Oh, and it's only $20 less (at best) than the AirPort Extreme. There aren't many routers out there that allow you to run both a 2.4GHz network and a 5GHz network in tandem, much less let you still achieve speeds of around 300Mbit while running in dual band mode and using an 802.11n device. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary2MBz Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 As for true dual band routers, no, actually, they're not "half the price." Here's another true simultaneous dual band router, but it's knocked for dropping out often and being generally unreliable and slow in dual band mode. Oh, and it's only $20 less (at best) than the AirPort Extreme. There aren't many routers out there that allow you to run both a 2.4GHz network and a 5GHz network in tandem, much less let you still achieve speeds of around 300Mbit while running in dual band mode and using an 802.11n device. I had went through 3 D-Link DIR-825s until I decided to pay the extra $50 to get the AirPort Extreme. The firmware on the D-Link was lousy at best. Range was weak on both 2.4 and 5, 5 never went past 120mbps while my laptop was 10 inches away. Using internet on wired connections regardless of gigabit or 100megabit speeds would lock up the entire router until you power cycle it. AT&T Residential helped me eliminate the possible problem from their end so I'm good there. The only way to have internet was through wireless without it locking up. I have the Airport Extreme on 7.4.2 firmware and it is perfect. I have only PCs mind you, so this is not tied to Apple. The Airport Utility (uses an app, not a setup page) is very clean and to the point. It helps both those who are not savvy to showing options for the people like us who know what we want. 7.4.2 is reported to have USB issues for hard drives connected but it is fine for printers. I don't have any external USB drives to share so no biggie, I have my Canon MX310 hooked up. Bonjour is what connects you to the printer and you can supply a driver to it manually or install the driver and the Bonjour Printer Wizard will figure it out automatically. All-in-all it is an excellent device and they all work together seamlessly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity76 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Does the OP need a dual band router? I don't see the OP mentioning it. Would a dual band router cost equal to or more than Apple's price point of $179? I don't think so. You can get a dual band router for 1/2 that price. It's a router for sharing the home network. There's nothing special in an Apple router, except in certain scenarios in which you need to connect other Apple products, like the Time Capsule. The Airport Extreme, according to Apple, would work seamlessly with the Time Capsule. Apple makes their products extremely co-dependent, which forces their customers to buy more dependent things. I can see why people buy iPhones and iMacs, but the router is ridiculous. (AppleTV is another dumb box) I don't know if he needs one, but I'm just saying, that's why it's that much. It's not like he can go into a store and say "Well, I don't need dual band, so you should sell me this Airport for less". I couldn't find a non-ghetto genuine dual-band router that wasn't around that price, so I'm curious where you're finding stuff this cheap. The linksys and netgear ones I found, that offered basically the same features, were about the same price on Newegg. So...you buying stuff off the back of a truck, or what? Oh, and like Elliot said, the Time Capsule is just an airport extreme with hard drive built in that links with time machine (backup software) on a Mac. I guess you could connect two access points together, although I can't see why a person would want to, unless they had a ton of money to toss around and used it as an extender? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MasterC Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 If my Airport Extreme failed tomorrow I'd go out and buy another one that is how good they are. Same here. I love mine to death. It's so easy to use. The guy above that keeps trying to convince the OP not to get it is trying too hard. Clearly hasn't done his research ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity76 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 Same here. I love mine to death. It's so easy to use. The guy above that keeps trying to convince the OP not to get it is trying too hard. Clearly hasn't done his research ;) I agree. I had one of the older Airport basestations (the melted hershey-kiss shaped ones) and that thing was brain-dead easy to set up, and I loved how I could configure it from inside OS X instead of going through a web browser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnotley2004 Posted March 5, 2010 Share Posted March 5, 2010 I have the Airport Extreme and the Airport Express. Both products are flawless. I mean seriously stable and high performance. The only single flaw in these routers is that if you change _any_ setting in the configuration of the routers administration panel you have to reboot the router before these settings will take effect. This is the only thing that is annoying but if you don't host any kind of services from home (like an FTP Server or something) then this isn't really an issue. If my Airport Extreme failed tomorrow I'd go out and buy another one that is how good they are. Agreed and same here. I've got a few mates who have various wireless N routers. In terms of reliability, they are absolutely shocking. From my experience after deciding to purchase an Airport Extreme, this router is completely flawless. It just works! No need to reboot... no dropouts... no failing after 6-12 months (I've had mine almost 2 years). I'm an Apple fan, but being completely honest here, the Airport Extreme is the most stable router I've ever owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jebadiah Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 A Time Capsule is an AirPort Extreme with a hard drive in it. They're not two separate products that work in tandem. As for true dual band routers, no, actually, they're not "half the price." Here's another true simultaneous dual band router, but it's knocked for dropping out often and being generally unreliable and slow in dual band mode. Oh, and it's only $20 less (at best) than the AirPort Extreme. There aren't many routers out there that allow you to run both a 2.4GHz network and a 5GHz network in tandem, much less let you still achieve speeds of around 300Mbit while running in dual band mode and using an 802.11n device. I am pretty sure the Linksys one you linked there has more features than the Airport Extreme does. Oh and thanks for clarifying the Time Capsule thing. :) That is a good product to purchase. I don't know if he needs one, but I'm just saying, that's why it's that much. It's not like he can go into a store and say "Well, I don't need dual band, so you should sell me this Airport for less". I couldn't find a non-ghetto genuine dual-band router that wasn't around that price, so I'm curious where you're finding stuff this cheap. The linksys and netgear ones I found, that offered basically the same features, were about the same price on Newegg. So...you buying stuff off the back of a truck, or what? Google shopping results. LOL Look for Netgear, D-Link, Linksys (around 120), etc. I personally own a single band 802.11g router which does everything a router should do and it connects with my computer and my neighbor's computer as well. (Internet sharing) Agreed and same here. I've got a few mates who have various wireless N routers. In terms of reliability, they are absolutely shocking. From my experience after deciding to purchase an Airport Extreme, this router is completely flawless. It just works! No need to reboot... no dropouts... no failing after 6-12 months (I've had mine almost 2 years). I'm an Apple fan, but being completely honest here, the Airport Extreme is the most stable router I've ever owned. I am sure it works great with all your Apple products. That's what the Airport Extreme is designed for. :) That's how Apple does things. They make lovely products that work right out of the box for their own systems and other computers that play well with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elliott Posted March 6, 2010 Share Posted March 6, 2010 I am sure it works great with all your Apple products. That's what the Airport Extreme is designed for. :) That's how Apple does things. They make lovely products that work right out of the box for their own systems and other computers that play well with it. WiFi is WiFi. :laugh: I have an AirPort Extreme and, in this house, have a PS3, Wii, an HP laptop, and, yes, Apple products (iPhone, a few iMacs, and a few MacBooks) connected to it. It's never dropped once. I'd say that's pretty good reliability no matter what you're using. And yes, the Linksys technically has more software features, but I'd take not having to restart the thing every day over a little bit more firewall granularity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian M. Veteran Posted March 6, 2010 Veteran Share Posted March 6, 2010 If you own a Mac, the value of the AirPort Extreme rockets. Granted, at the end of the day it's just a router. A simultaneous dual band router with USB hard drive and printer sharing (it will also share HFS drives to Windows machines without drivers), WAN disk sharing, WAN printing, and full MobileMe support (if I'm away using another internet connection, I can still access my shared drives in Finder like they are local, and I can still print to my printers at home). It's also the only router I have that's been able to cope with my 50mbps connection over wireless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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