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View Full Version : Airport Extreme Base Station - So how good is it, really?


MagSafe
2007-04-04, 16:47
Hey folks :)

Well the majority of my home network is now wireless, we've got a MacBook, MacBook Pro (wireless) and a Mac Mini (wireless), with a cable going into an extra 4-port hub for my dads SlingBox/TiVo setup and networked printer/scanner.

So, my setup at the moment:

1x Zyxel router
1x Netgear hub
1x Netgear wireless access point

I'm thinking of replacing all this with one of the new Airport Extreme Base Stations, so I can at least get a much better signal for using my MBP in the garden this summer, as well as being able to transfer huge amounts of data extremely fast, and use less plug sockets & electricity by replacing 3 plugs with just the one. Although the main annoyance with my setup at the moment is that i've the wireless access point hooked up on a timer switch to reset itself every 24hrs (at 4 in the morning) due to it becoming extremely slow after a couple of days of being switched on.

What i'm wanting to no is, how good ...really ... is this new Airport Extreme Base Station? Will it stay on 24/7 without the connection becoming slow? Will I be able to hook up a laserjet printer with ease? Will it work straight out of the box and connect with my cable internet connection (i'm with Virgin Media/NTL) I don't mind dabbling with a bit of techie networking to get it working, so working straight out of the box isn't a high priority although it would be nice for it to 'just work' :)

Any advice and information would be much appreciated :)

Steven.

Schnauzer
2007-04-04, 16:55
ewww a hub?

Windowsrookie
2007-04-04, 17:07
yes.

MagSafe
2007-04-04, 17:07
ewww a hub?

Yep, a 4 or 5 year old netgear hub ;), we ran out out of ports on the router so the hub was lying around and it worked :p

My network setup works fine for the moment, but now that the good weather has arrived in the UK (finally!) i've been coming home from work attempting to connect to my wireless access point in the conservatory, i'm always getting a weak signal and getting absolutely nothing out in the garden, so i think it might be time to get a new and improved setup.

Kraetos
2007-04-04, 17:49
I just orded one of the new extremes. I am going to put it on a port on a 5 port netgear ethernet switch, so I'll still have gigabit speeds on the local CAT5 wiring.

I woulda just bought a netgear router, but I didn't wanna mess up the half-dozen expresses scattered around the house.

It'll be here on friday. Full report will follow over the weekend.

MagSafe
2007-04-04, 17:52
I just orded one of the new extremes. I am going to put it on a port on a 5 port netgear ethernet switch, so I'll still have gigabit speeds on the local CAT5 wiring.

I woulda just bought a netgear router, but I didn't wanna mess up the half-dozen expresses scattered around the house.

It'll be here on friday. Full report will follow over the weekend.

Excellent, looking forward to it :)

Cheers mate :)

Kraetos
2007-04-18, 19:16
I love my Airport Extreme. It was a breeze to set up, and it's quite fast, and works great with all the TVs we just bought.

Also, I replaced the three Airport Expresses we were using to extend the network and replaced them with a single, second Airport Extreme. Now we have 802.11n all throughout the house. Streaming from the 802.11n equipped computers to the TVs is nearly flawless.

The newest version of the Airport Utility is very slick too. The setup assistant has been combined into the admin utility, which is just nicer to use all around.

Also, the three ethernet ports are nice. Now I have a port for me under construction PC, one for me Xbox 360, and one for the slingbox in the living room. Overall, I am exremely pleased with it.