Airport Extreme: US or UK?

[Steven Jackson]

Hi,

Just got a new Airport Extreme. Noticed an option in the Airport Utility (wireless options) to choose a country... Is this (a pretty obvious) way to circumvent the fact that the UK model runs at half the speed of the US version? If so, what't the best country to se that particular option to?

Cheers,

Steve.

[jsw]

I'm not sure it makes a difference, but, if so, the US is a good bet (or, for that matter, most other countries.

However, if this in fact works, it'd be illegal there. Also note that, if it works, it might alter the available channels you can use, as those vary from country to country.

[aristobrat]

http://www.apple.com/uk/airportextreme/
The following countries do not allow wide-channel operation: Austria, Estonia, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom.
I guess any country besides those.

Mines set to US, and I have no problems getting a 300Mbps connection between my MBP and the Extreme.

[Steven Jackson]

Any idea how to test the theory?

Steve.

[skunk]

I believe it works: I've just spent about three hours sorting out a glitch in mine with a Tier 3 Apple guy in Cork, and he agreed that the Region setting seemed to be the only limiting factor. By default, the UK ones seem to be set to "Ireland" anyway.

[Steven Jackson]

So is Ireland a country that allows the faster setting?

Steve

[skunk]

Yes. See post #3.

[Steven Jackson]

Cheers,

Thanks for the replies.

Steve.

[Radioman]

What about the laptop, does one need to change the territory settings there to benefit from 5GHz band usage?


Edited:
Well I have answered my own question, no. I just set coutry to France and the 'use wide channels' option appears as if by magic in the 'wireless options' menu. My laptop is now connected at 300 Mb :)