AirPort ?

jobsen_ski

jobsen_ski

Daily Player
I am thinking of purchaseing an apple AirPort or AirPort Extreme I am just wondering when it was last updated? and if theres anychance of an update soon. Also if any of you have one (either AirPort or extreme) would you recomend it? Any faults / downsides that you have noticed particularly? I ahve an iMac G3 500MHz so it is only compatible with AirPort (original) but I also have an ibook (new G4) and a windows pc and laptop which I plan to buy compatible cards for if I buy an AirPort. My AirPort will be positioned right beside my iMac (the only compuet I own which isnt compatible with extereme)(unless apple has released another AirPort Card Adapter suitable for extreme) it will be about 10/20 cm from the card. I know I will get a good reception. But it is only AirPort compatible (not extreme) is it worth geting extreme for my other comps? Any other info (regarding the AirPort Card Adapter especialy would be great!) :) Thanks
 
Why buy Apple's Base Station. You can get good wireless routers for much less money. I have a Netgear 814 that works very well.
 
I use an airport extreme so that I can take advantage of WPA Encryption, and since I am eventually going to employ a radius authentication system. The airport extreme supports 11b/g so as long as you have a b/g card it will work. I would definetly recommend the airport extreme.
 
Same as Netgear, and probably other routers, at much less the price of AP.
 
You can get an external wireless ethernet bridge 802.11 g for your iMac instead of using an airport card. And both Netgear and D-Link offer Macompatible 4-port wireless extreme routers. But if you are going to have a router right next to your iMac, the obvious thing is just to use a short ethernet cable connection.
 
andychrist said:
You can get an external wireless ethernet bridge 802.11 g for your iMac instead of using an airport card. And both Netgear and D-Link offer Macompatible 4-port wireless extreme routers. But if you are going to have a router right next to your iMac, the obvious thing is just to use a short ethernet cable connection.
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I realy am not hot on wireless networking AT ALL I know that some of the original AirPorts had two ethernet ports goes airport extreme- anyway wat exactly eould i be doing here? would I be sharing my (128mb broadband) conection? would that save me having (buying) an airport card for my iMac model which isnt compatible wth extreme? If it is basicaly wat i would get is my imac usual conection etc. etc. but i would also be able to use the same internet conection for my airport and there for my other computers around the house? and 1 more thing, if I did do that i take it I wouldnt be able to use the wireless/printer/sharing since my compuet doesnt have an airport card installed - or is there away which I can "share" the printer between the airport and the iMac (which would be wired) man this is geting confusing! thanks :confused:
 
im buying an aiport extreme card for my g5 later after school. ittle work on the 802.11b netgear, right?
 
@jobsen ski: Piece of cake. Your iMac can be hooked up with just an ethernet cable, without any airport card, to a wireless router or print server, and your printer can connect with either a wireless print server or USB cable. That way all your computers can share both your broadband connection and the printer, as well as sharing files with each other. Forget about getting Apple's Airport base station, you won't need it and these other options will be cheaper and meet all your demands.


D-Link has diagrams of every set up you might want to use, you have to scroll all the way to the bottom to find the Express EtherNetwork Fast Ethernet Print Server.

http://www.dlink.com/products/category.asp?cid=38

Hope this helps.
 
airport extreme impressions:

ok, so i got home, went to the UCLA store, and came home. i opened the box, the thing is TINY!! i take out the g5 from under the desk, (scratching a tiny bit and paint chipping 'nooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' im so pissed at myself). i open it up, and look for the connector, after 30 seconds i find it. i try sliding the airport card into the holder, but it didnt fit so i actually had to take out the g5 manual ("uh oh"). they told me to just press hard, so it slid through and al was cool. closed up the g5 and turned it on. network preferences recognized a new connection, but it didnt automatically cconnect to the router. then i went and plugged in the external antenna for the card, and it worked. kinda weird, as i was not expecting it, but so far very cool. now i dont have to feed internet over ethernet from my old powerbook with airport.
 
thnks v much for all that. Website helpful I think i'll take a trip down to my local pc shop the week afternext (on hol next week) and see whats on offer.!
 
My G4 Powerbook (in the mail) is set to have AP-X already pre-installed.

My uni uses 802.11a/b/g with WPA or WEP or something, and on their site (hasn't been updated since 10.3.0) says that Apple acknowledges that there's a bug which inhibits the connection of AP-X cards to the wireless network. AP cards work fine.

Is this a problem I can expect to still be having will 10.3.3?

Otherwise I'm going to have to get a USB or PCMCIA wireless card to connect to the uni which seems ludicrous with a perfectly good one installed with internal antenna.

Any clues?
 
I cant be any help wat soever thats why i started this thread to grt information on the AirPort so i hope you ge your answers
 
Here are my useless AP-X thoughts.

1. Isn't AP-X supposed to easier to configure than a third party solution?

2. A buddy of mine brought his iBook to my office a few weeks ago and just happened to notice when he booted that an airport connection had been detected. We don't have Airport or equiv., so it must be somebody's office nearby. Cool. Free wireless internet.

3. Traveling around Chicago these days for client meetings, I've been pleasantly surprised at how pervasive wireless technology is. Last week at four locations, (casting agency, restaurant, hotel and client office) each one of them registered a connection. Maybe this universal wireless thing really will take off.

4. I have not bothered with Airport yet because it still can't touch even a 10/100 cabled connection (at least from all reports I've researched). However, with this iBook now, I don't really need the speed as much as I need the convenience (it looks really stupid with this ethernet cable running across the room). Perhaps I'll take the plunge.

5. Wasn't there a recent rumor about a third rev Airport maybe by the Fall?

6. When I do take the plunge, I'll buy the Airport. Mostly for coolness and to support Apple. And it might be slightly easier to work with, though I could be wrong about that.
 
mindbend said:
Here are my useless AP-X thoughts.


5. Wasn't there a recent rumor about a third rev Airport maybe by the Fall?
Click to expand...

Thats why I statrted this thread. If there is even so much as a rumor I will wait to upgrade. I'm not in any rush for wireless right now anyway. I tried macrumors.com buyers guide, but it lists nearly every apple product except AirPort. Does any1 have any idea of how long it will be before the next revision? :confused:
 
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