3G dongle and airport extreme.

[ryanwarsaw]

I bought an airport extreme to use for my net cafe when I was using a satelite dish to get net. Now things have changed and I am going to use a 3G dongle to get data.

I noticed the airport extreme has USB port in the back of it. Is it possible to plug the dongle into the airport extreme to make a wifi network? I know that I can use internet sharing from one of my macs but for a variety of reasons would prefer to use the airport extreme.

what is the best way to make a cafe with my set up? Did my airport extreme just become redundant? Also is internet sharing from a Mac as fast as what a router can deliver? The 3G where I am is not that fast so I am trying to avoid any loss in data transmission.

Any advice would be helpful.


Thanks in advance.

 

[itickings]

In short: No, the USB port won't support 3G dongles, modems or stuff like that, and internet sharing from a Mac is faster than your 3G.

Regarding the setup, and without knowing more details about your situation, I would basically use this variant:

3G dongle -( USB )-> Computer with Internet sharing -( Ethernet cable )-> Airport Extreme -( WiFi )-> Guests

 

[ryanwarsaw]

In short: No, the USB port won't support 3G dongles, modems or stuff like that, and internet sharing from a Mac is faster than your 3G.

Regarding the setup, and without knowing more details about your situation, I would basically use this variant:

3G dongle -( USB )-> Computer with Internet sharing -( Ethernet cable )-> Airport Extreme -( WiFi )-> Guests

Thanks a lot. What you are saying makes sense. Seems like a simple solution and it is exactly what I think I need to do.

 

[solaris8x86]

I had sent a request to Apple Inc for enabling the 3G USB dongle to be supported on Airport Extreme on 3 years ago. But Apple never replied.