Do I need an Airport Extreme Base

[Lobo]

I'm trying to work out the last details before I order my Powerbook. At home I have a PC and a PC notebook sharing the net through a linksys cable gate way. The notebook is 802.11b, and I'm not even sure if the cable gateway can do 802.11g. I want the best wireless I can for my Powerbook, so would that require me to run an ethernet cable from the cable gateway to an AE Base Station? The cable gateway is a Linksys BEFCMUH4 and I can't even figure out if can do 802.11g. If I do go with the AE base station, will there be any problem with there being 2 wireless routers and 2 networks? Any help will be appreciated.

[Mord]

dont worry about it, there is nothing wrong with 802.11b it's just a bit slower on file transfers it wont have an effect on your internet speed, if you really wanted to have 802.11g speeds then get an airport express there cheaper and will do the job, i would just settle for what you have got

[SolidGun]

You could spend less money and upgrade to another brand router. I recommend WGT624 from Netgear. It is around $45 after mail in rebate if you do the research.

[Horrortaxi]

You don't have any problems. Even if your Linksys is 802.11b you'll be fine. The Powerbook will have 802.11g but it will also do 802.11b. You will not get any extra speed by having all "g" components. Yes, g is faster--but your internet connection isn't even as fast as b is capable of doing. Understand? Transferring files computer to computer, g is much much faster. Downloading from the internet--no difference.

So don't buy/change anything. Just get the Powerbook and connect it to what you've got.

[Jalexster]

G and B act the same for the net, because broadband won't go up to B speeds, just as the person above said.

If you want G (for file transfers between computers on your network, etc...), get an AirPort express, and set it up as a Ethernet Bridge (Turn DHCP, Firewall, etc.. off), so it's just a Wireless access point.

That will do everything you need perfectly.

[janey]

G and B act the same for the net, because broadband won't go up to B speeds, just as the person above said..
actually with the crazy broadband speeds nowadays, it'll be feasible that 802.11b might be too slow compared to one's internet connection :p

ie http://news.com.com/Verizon's+fiber+race+is+on/2100-1034_3-5275171.html

up to 30mbps down. Sweetness.

[emw]

First, if you can't readily find out if it's .11g, it's probably not. It appears to be an older model, and as such will likely only be .11b.

In either case, you could upgrade to a single g router to replace your existing one, rather than run two routers. I would suggest going g with the PowerBook, as übergeek noted current broadband speeds may well surpass the older standard.

If you do want/need to keep your old router, getting a new wireless router/gateway such as the AE (Linksys/Netgear/D-Link) doesn't require another network - they're just set up as a gateway, so your network wouldn't be affected.

Just make sure the SSIDs (network names for the wireless) are different and you should be fine.

[Nermal]

up to 30mbps down. Sweetness.

I only have 128 kb/s :(
256 coming in September! :D :eek:

[Lobo]

Well, I can't really get rid of of the cable gateway. It's provided by my internet provider (Road Runner) and acts as a modem, firewall, 4 port wired router, and wireless connection. Can 802.11b do around 900+kb/sec downstream? Thats usually where I top out in downloading. And will g offer anybetter range? Thats one problem with the windows laptop, it seems to get spotty reception, but that could be the card in it, but I thought that maybe the wireless portion of the router might not be the greatest, either.

[Mord]

you can get rid of it any bb router should work you are not tied down by your isp.

b will be fine

(are you takiing about k/bits or k/bytes theres 8 bits in a byte so are you acctually talking about 1 megabyte a second which would be crazy fast? (either way b is fine)

[Horrortaxi]

Well, I can't really get rid of of the cable gateway. It's provided by my internet provider (Road Runner) and acts as a modem, firewall, 4 port wired router, and wireless connection.

However, you probably pay like $5 a month for it. You can buy something that does all the same stuff pretty cheap and it would pay for itself in 12-18 months. If you're not contractually tied to the cable company's modem I'd say consider getting your own. Of course if you keep theirs it will still work just fine.