Airport Software 3.3

[MacRumors]

Apple released Airport Software 3.3 today:

This software update provides improved AirPort wireless networking software, and is recommended for all users with an AirPort Extreme and AirPort enabled computer or an AirPort Extreme base station.

The update provides the Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) specification support.

[mangis]

Trying to be first for once.

Yes I will update my wireless network.

[pbooktebo]

When I went to install the Security Update, this was there and I just re-booted.

No problems, and I am on a wireless network.

[mxpiazza]

i have an airport extreme base station, i upgraded the firmware, went into the admin utility, upgraded the base station, but nothing is changed in the interface or options, so it must just be a technical thing.

[sebaz]

Whats with these updates..hmm could it be that something coming out soon already has these updates built-in, and they just want to get up on the same page...hmmm...

[Trekkie]

i hope it fixes my random 'have to go down into the garage and power cycle it because the whole network disappears' feature.

[mangoman]

I'm gonna jump in here for a little while: I'm debating whether to dump this piece o' crap Belkin hard-wired router and go with Airport Extreme to use for my two macs. Just not convinced yet. I'm sure it'll be great for grabbing the laptop and walkin' around, but I don't want to lose my hyper-fast hard-wired cable modem connection if Airport Extreme is finicky.

Anyone doing a similar setup currently? Willing to endorse Airport Extreme?

[Sabenth]

whoa another update this is impressive ....

whats next hardware

[SilentPanda]

I haven't had a smidge of trouble with my Airport Extreme Base Station. Reliable connection, I've never had to cycle my station, and covers my whole apartment and more.

I've got mac address filtering, wep, and closed network turned on. Granted I've only had it a month. Hopefully still good things post update. Here goes nothing!

[Alte22a]

Originally posted by mangoman
I'm gonna jump in here for a little while: I'm debating whether to dump this piece o' crap Belkin hard-wired router and go with Airport Extreme to use for my two macs. Just not convinced yet. I'm sure it'll be great for grabbing the laptop and walkin' around, but I don't want to lose my hyper-fast hard-wired cable modem connection if Airport Extreme is finicky.

Anyone doing a similar setup currently? Willing to endorse Airport Extreme?

I'd say go for a mixed wireless/lan combo, like me... I'm using a linksys mix router which is cool. Can make a little home network and home share itunes and iphoto files. wonder around the house. My parents live next door. I've fitted a wireless extension thingy (please excuse my technical babble). Dad can put his iMac anywhere he wants.

[mxpiazza]

i had the d-link di-624, and i like the airport extreme base station a ton more. it's well worth it, if only for the direct integration to the os with the admin utility, and firmware downloads directly through software updates.

the only downside is the fact that the base station only has 1 available lan port, so if you have more than 1 system that you need hardwired, you're going to have to buy a routher on top of the base station.

if you can live with that, i'd definitley go with the apple base station, i love it.

[peterjhill]

Originally posted by mangoman
I'm sure it'll be great for grabbing the laptop and walkin' around, but I don't want to lose my hyper-fast hard-wired cable modem connection if Airport Extreme is finicky.

Anyone doing a similar setup currently? Willing to endorse Airport Extreme?

Okay, so a good cable modem connection (like mine) can give you 3 megabits per second (mbps). The original Airport (802.11b) is capable of about 5.5 real world mbps. Airport extreme, 30-40 mbps. They say 11 and 55, but wireless is a shared medium. Transmit and receive all share the same collision domain. For this reason it is called a shared network medium. Even so, it is faster than you cable modem. I seriously doubt that you will average higher throughput with a wired connection over your broadband link.

The wired connection would be great for high speed transfers between your computers. Honestly though, you would be much better off using your iPod (if you have one) or firewire target disk mode (start up your computer with the T key held down) to transfer multi-gigabit files from one computer to another. For example, I will copy a bunch of tv episodes into my iPod then connect it to my G5 to store on its larger hard disk.

Your argument has its merits, with large file transfers, but using it to say you don't want to slow down your broadband connection is not very good.

[peterjhill]

Originally posted by mxpiazza
i have an airport extreme base station, i upgraded the firmware, went into the admin utility, upgraded the base station, but nothing is changed in the interface or options, so it must just be a technical thing.

WPA usually requires a RADIUS server to function. I am betting that you are not using that option. WPA fixes all the insecurities that the NSA put into the standard.

[yoman]

well this was definitely the day of updates. just not the kind we wanted. only software fixes not hardware. Happy anniversery apple.

[SilentPanda]

Originally posted by peterjhill

The wired connection would be great for high speed transfers between your computers. Honestly though, you would be much better off using your iPod (if you have one) or firewire target disk mode (start up your computer with the T key held down) to transfer multi-gigabit files from one computer to another. For example, I will copy a bunch of tv episodes into my iPod then connect it to my G5 to store on its larger hard disk.

You can also use ip over firewire... I did it the other day and it was tasty... no need to mess up my precious uptime.. .

[gorkonapple]

I ran into issues with the Airport Extreme in my 12" PB when running the BEFW11S4 AP at the maximum speed. I am wondering if anyones else has tried this update + increasing the speed of the AP. With the current settings, I can surf, but moving a large file from my PC to power book was a major pain. If I think about trying it, AND it works, I will post it.

[dho]

New wireless, <conspiracy> this MUST mean that tomorow new device will have some brand new airport involved functionality.</conspiracy>

just for curiosities sake, anyone wanna check the chongleog or whatever to see if any flags come up? I wouldnt know where to look.

[backdrifter]

Originally posted by peterjhill
Your argument has its merits, with large file transfers, but using it to say you don't want to slow down your broadband connection is not very good.

I don't think he was trying to argue the bandwidth side of things. He just doesn't want his Internet connection to be unavailable due to the AirPort Extreme not working, due to interference, etc. I think he was wondering how reliable the connection is, in terms of staying on.

I personally have a LinkSys AP here, and I have noticed intermittent drop outs due to interference among other devices. Never too big of issue for me, but it does happen. I've never tried an AirPort. In any case, it probably has more to do with you location and situation than hardware issues.

[fraeone]

FYI for owners of the Netgear WGR614:

If you have the Netgear WGR614v1 they have finally added WPA supported beta firmware as of yesterday. I have my 12" PB hooked up with WPA as I type.

Good stuff.

[mangoman]

Thanks, all. This is good info to weigh in the coming days... If anyone else wants to weigh in on the reliability of using Airport Extreme over a hard-wired router, please do so. Again, thanks.

[bpd115]

I've noticed that apple's sites (dowloading the iTunes setup, the music store, and the Software updates) have been SLOOOWWW......my bandwith is fine otherwise ....anyone else?

[pb1212580]

Do you have 2.4ghz phone in the house?

I have the same problem and Apple insisted that it's my 2.4ghz phone. I can't really get rid of the phone for a day to test if that's true...

I hope this update would help SOMEHOW?
Updating...in progress...

Originally posted by Trekkie
i hope it fixes my random 'have to go down into the garage and power cycle it because the whole network disappears' feature.

[WM.]

WOOHOO, I'M ON THE FRONT PAGE!!!! I'm goin' to California, and North Dakota, and South Dakota, and Oregon, and Washington, and then--oh wait...

So yeah, HUGE props to arn for honoring my request to be credited for the submission. First time with my name in lights (at least on a Mac rumors site).

Anyway, I'd like to emphasize that this update enables WPA on all AirPort cards, old and new. Unfortunately, it doesn't remove AirPort's other WPA limitation--namely that you can't use it on a network with WDS. Like our network. I'm sure this isn't Apple's fault, and we've never had a problem with people breaking into the network anyway, so for now we'll be sticking with 128-bit WEP.

As for people asking about AirPort issues...well, the wireless part of our graphite (original) ABS crapped out about 18 months ago, so we were without AirPort until we finally bought an AEBS and then another one (connected via WDS, like I said) about four months ago. The graphite ABS is currently in several pieces, so I'm not positive it's still working, but last time I checked it made a nice, compact, Ethernet-equipped modem (and DHCP server), which will come in handy at some point.

No problems at all with the AEBS's until I tried to install this 5.3 firmware update today: with the main base station, the Admin Utility would immediately quit (with no error messages or anything) as soon as the progress bar for uploading the firmware appeared. With the other one, it would stay on that progress bar indefinitely (until I force-quit it). But after restarting both base stations the update went without a hitch on both of them. Haven't noticed any differences with the new firmware yet...

BTW, I was extremely impressed with how easy it was to set up WDS. I was expecting to have to type each base station's MAC address into the other, and fiddle with all kinds of other stuff, but when you've got the ABS's within range of each other the Admin Utility will ask you if you want to "select and configure this base station as a remote one", or something like that, and it automagically does it for you. I did double-check the settings on the remote (auto-configured) one and I don't think it had gotten some of the minor settings exactly right (like whether to set a closed network). But other than that it was very, very slick.

FWIW
The Famous WM

[gorkonapple]

Raised the speed of the network and my PB dropped off the network. Anyone else have better luck connecting to a BEFW11S4 at higher then 1-2MBps? Otherwise, it's time to start shopping for a new AP.

[WM.]

Originally posted by pb1212580
Do you have 2.4ghz phone in the house?

I have the same problem and Apple insisted that it's my 2.4ghz phone. I can't really get rid of the phone for a day to test if that's true...

I hope this update would help SOMEHOW?
Updating...in progress...

Do you have Interference Robustness turned on? If you're using one of the lower-numbered channels on your AEBS, have you tried switching to the highest channel (which varies by region)? Or vice versa?

If so, well, it really is kind of your fault for expecting two 2.4 GHz appliances to co-exist. My understanding is that 2.4 GHz phones are often poorly designed and really stomp on other 2.4 GHz appliances (like 802.11b/g networking gear). Whereas 802.11 networks' signals will mostly stick within one or two channels of the one you selected, some 2.4 GHz phones take up all 11/12/13!! The effects of other 2.4 GHz appliances on wireless networks may vary depending on whether you're trying to use 802.11b or g, and I think b is usually more robust. So maybe try switching your base station over to b-only, and take the bandwidth hit?

WM