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AirPort Extreme: Set up advice


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AirPort Extreme: Set up advice
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surjones
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: In the hands of Apple.
 
2013-12-05, 01:21

So I bought one last week and went through a basic set up.. So here are some of my questions.

What is the difference between WPA and WPA2 (when would you use each one)

What is the Allow setup over WAN?

When Enabling Guest Network (ExtremeGuest) is there a way to Hide it from neighbors?

Wireless Options > If I select the 5ghz box (Extreme5g) What exactly does that do? (what does it mean by hidden network? (does it hide just that 5G or the main network and guest and 5g? 2.4 and 5 are both on automatic. .. tons of options.. When would I change, and why?

I get 60mb dload speeds. I want to make sure I set this up right. 2 story 1,500sq ft. Loft. Airport Extreme upstairs. Modem is a Cisco DPC3008.
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Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2013-12-05, 01:52

WPA2 is stronger encryption and you should use it when available. You would only enable WPA if you have legacy devices that cannot auth via WPA2.

Allow setup over WAN means you can use AirPort Utility to access your basestation from the internet. You should leave if off for security purposes.

The only way to hide your WiFi network is to not broadcast your SSID, and that's not very effective from people snooping around.

5GHz is a higher frequency band with much greater throughput and it's the only way to get "AC" speeds with the new AirPort hardware. You should definitely turn it on. Whether you choose to hide the SSID is up to you, I'd just leave it on so that your devices can discover it more readily. Leave your channels on Automatic if you want, but if you experience packet loss or slow transfers, you might have to try different channels.

60mbit is a bit slow for any "N" or "AC" connection unless there's a pretty good distance between you and your AirPort basestation.
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surjones
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: In the hands of Apple.
 
2013-12-05, 14:54

Thanks Eugene.

So does the APE automatically switch between the 5ghz and the 2.4ghz? Is there a way to tell which one you are currently running on?

Im on comcast 60mb dload speed is one of the expensive ones in my area to get.. Are you referring to the fact that N and AC can handle like 300, 600 and up? I don't know what the equivalency to the APE is. maybe 1200? (lol)
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Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2013-12-06, 00:46

If they have the same network name, it will choose 5GHz when able, then fall back on 2.4GHz. For transfer speeds, I was more referring to two client devices rather than your ISP. A 3-stream N network can theoretically handle up to 450mbps, but you will more likely get ~100mbps max. On AC you would probably see around 600mbps in a best case real world scenario.
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Yontsey
*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2013-12-06, 02:35

100?! Jesus. I only have 15 down. I wish I had your ISP. That's insane.
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Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2013-12-06, 03:14

I was talking about real-world speeds on the WLAN/wifi-network, not ISP limited speeds. I perform daily backups to a Drobo over wireless, so AC's real world speed improvements are pretty useful to me. If almost all your traffic is internet related on a <100mbps connection, then yeah AC isn't going to help much..
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Matsu
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2013-12-06, 06:27

Hey Eugene. How do you like the Drobo, and which one are you using? I like the concept, but some people in the photo/reviewer community reported big problems with them. Everything working well? Likes/dislikes?
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PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Send a message via Skype™ to PB PM 
2013-12-06, 15:44

Drobo isn't much different than any other RAID setup running custom software. If the case goes belly up you have no choice but to get the same one.
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Eugene
careful with axes
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Hillsborough, CA
 
2013-12-06, 22:46

Well Drobos are formatted with as ext3 and your data is encased in bite-sized binary files, then mirrored onto at least one other drive. It's a bit more tacky than a typical software RAID.

I have the 5N for about a year now with 3 drives installed and a 64GB SSD in the mSATA slot. It's quiet, small and easy to use, which trumps reliability worries in my opinion. Don't rely on a Drobo as you only backup set and you're good to go.
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