Airport Extreme Questions I need Help Please.

Sirtovin

Senior Switcher Tech Guru
My current router is a Linksys HPRO200.. It is currently connected to my Cable Modem and Ethernet port on my G4 PowerMac... It is also plugged into the phone line to give my mother standard PC access to her computer.

I feel that my router is not working the way it should be... I am more interested lately in Investigating the Airport as a New soultion to the linksys router I have...

Can someone tell me if the airport can use the phonelines as a hookup so my mom can still have access... or do I do the following?...

1. For my computer hook the Aiport to ethernet jack to my to ethernet jack on my G4 Powermac.... that's the $199.99 part right there...

1A. Do I also need to install an airport card into my PowerMac that is hooked up to the airport?

2. Can I just buy my mother a wireless card if the airport cannot support phone line connection?

I do not wish to run a wire from my room to her room... So what is the best soultion... Remote to me looks like it will be...
 
The Airport station's built-in modem can be used to dial out to an internet provider, but not to allow calls to dial in.

1. It should not cost you that much to run an ethernet cable. Try $9.99 if it's in the same room, maybe $50 if you need to get an electrician to put a line through to another room. Once connected by ethernet, you should not need to buy an airport card for the PowerMac.

2. Yes. Make sure it uses the 802.11b or 802.11g standard (b will be easier to find, as there are very few g cards for PC yet). This is the most common, but the 802.11a cards will not work as they are on a different band.
In fact, by far the easiest way would be to find a cheap 802.11b wireless card for your mum's computer (about $80-150 US). It will then talk to the Airport station easily, signal permitting of course.

Another option is to set up an Airport card in your PowerMac as a software base station. That way you will not need to purchase an Airport base station, though you'll need to have your Powermac on and connected in order for your mum's computer to connect.
This is a good option because it works out to one airport card and one PC wireless card ... cheaper than buying a base station.
 
Originally posted by symphonix
The Airport station's built-in modem can be used to dial out to an internet provider, but not to allow calls to dial in.

1. It should not cost you that much to run an ethernet cable. Try $9.99 if it's in the same room, maybe $50 if you need to get an electrician to put a line through to another room. Once connected by ethernet, you should not need to buy an airport card for the PowerMac.

2. Yes. Make sure it uses the 802.11b or 802.11g standard (b will be easier to find, as there are very few g cards for PC yet). This is the most common, but the 802.11a cards will not work as they are on a different band.
In fact, by far the easiest way would be to find a cheap 802.11b wireless card for your mum's computer (about $80-150 US). It will then talk to the Airport station easily, signal permitting of course.

Another option is to set up an Airport card in your PowerMac as a software base station. That way you will not need to purchase an Airport base station, though you'll need to have your Powermac on and connected in order for your mum's computer to connect.
This is a good option because it works out to one airport card and one PC wireless card ... cheaper than buying a base station.

Let me get this straight...

If I just buy an Airport Extreme Card for my Power Mac G4... and my mom's PC a remote PCI Network Card... I do not need a router?

The Computers are in seperate rooms.
 
The Airport hub will function like a router. You can have it take one public IP and distribute Internal IPs just like a router. It'll also function like a firewall so you can have multiple computers using the one connection.
 
Ok let me ask sorta another question..

If I get Airport Extreme Base... and plug that into my G4... which is in my room.. Do I also have to install the Airport Extreme Card into the G4 Power Mac?

Yes or no to this one question?

Second Question Please... Is this...

My mother uses a PC... not a Mac... Assuming all I have is just the base .. Than all she would need is just a Remote Standard PCI card that has the same specifations as for the Extreme Airport?

Right?
 
If I get Airport Extreme Base... and plug that into my G4... which is in my room.. Do I also have to install the Airport Extreme Card into the G4 Power Mac?

No. I'm pretty sure you can administer the base station over a physical ethernet link. Correct me if I'm wrong, people.

My mother uses a PC... not a Mac... Assuming all I have is just the base .. Than all she would need is just a Remote Standard PCI card that has the same specifations as for the Extreme Airport?

You need a PC wireless networking card that uses either 802.11b or 802.11g. Since there are only a few 802.11g cards on the market for PC and all have appeared in the last month or two, you'll probably not be able to find one easily. But 802.11b cards are plentiful.
The "802.11b" is the name of the standard it uses for communications. If it uses that standard, then it has the 'right specs', as you say.
802.11g is backward compatible with 802.11b. But 802.11a is a completely different format.
 
Originally posted by symphonix
The Airport station's built-in modem can be used to dial out to an internet provider, but not to allow calls to dial in.

I think with the new airport extreme with modem model, you CAN dial IN to the network:

From Apple's website:

"Lets you phone home ? literally
The PPP dial-in feature in AirPort Extreme lets you make one very important wireless connection ? to your own Macintosh at home. Thanks to connectivity options such as DSL, cable and Ethernet, you can call the 56K V.90 modem-equipped AirPort Extreme Base Station at home when you?re at work or traveling. Need a document that?s on your Mac desktop at home? Not to worry. If your Mac is on, ready to share files, and connected to the Internet using the AirPort Extreme Base Station and a broadband connection, you can access it as well as the other computers on your home network that are set up for file sharing."

But I've been looking for more info on this topic. Anyone know where I can get more info?
 
Yes you can dial into your LAN remotely via the 56k modem in the AEBS, but the question is can you only access the LAN or can you also access the internet (i.e. if the AEBS is connected to broadband internet)?

Could anyone with one of these base stations verify this?
 
Ahhh guys... I brought the following... Netgear... MR814 wireless... router... for $79 at compusa... and it's associated card... for the same price I kid you not.. so for $160 plus the one year extended warrenty.. $9 each... the total was about $190...

This was way less expensive than going with the Apple Airport.... I am happy with this new setup... and yes I have full control now over Everything... lol.
 
The benefit that you would have gotten with the Airport Extreme is that you would have 802.11g instead of b. If you aren't doing a lot of file transfers or anything it should be a big deal though.

Glad you're happy with what you got.

-Juxel
 
Originally posted by Juxel
The benefit that you would have gotten with the Airport Extreme is that you would have 802.11g instead of b. If you aren't doing a lot of file transfers or anything it should be a big deal though.

Glad you're happy with what you got.

-Juxel

Well again... It's not that I wanted to knock Apple... but I guess yes I did... because of their HIGH prices... Heck... I could have gotten.. .for $249 the 802.11G version of NetGear's router... but that would be overkill for just 2 computers which are across from one another...
 
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