Airport express...modem required?

[al3000]

At the moment I am using AOL Broadband (..I know!) on my PC, with a USB modem. I plan to make the switch soon, and will be going wireless. I will join an ISP such as f2s or maybe pipex, on one of their broadband services. I was wondering, if I was to do this, will I need a modem first of all, and then should I plug airport express into the modem? Or does airport act as the modem?

I am a bit confused about this, so thanks for any help! 😀

 

[wrxguy]

the airport express is NOT i repeat NOT a modem
it is basically a wireless router

 

[jsw]

The AirPort is ethernet-only, so you'll need some sort of modem to connect to a broadband service (either a cable modem, a DSL modem, or a fiber-optic one). Often (always, in the case of fiber optic) this is supplied by the broadband provider; if not, you can buy them in the stores. You'll need a modem with an ethernet port (or ports). I say this only because some modems (very few, now) have USB instead of ethernet.

If you are totally going wireless, you'll just plug an AirPort Express (or Extreme, or much cheaper but very capable Linksys WRT54G, or... you pick) into the modem's LAN port, then you're golden.

If not, you'll want a router which you'll plug into your broadband modem. Into that, you'll plug your wireless router (unless you buy, say, a WRT54G, which includes wireless) as well as your wired computers.

 

[meillier]

Airport Extreme wireless dial up modem

Yes, the Mac airport extreme work seamlessly using a dial up ISP connection (no dropped connections). Upload rated at 75kbs and download at 33 kbs. Yes the upload appears to be faster than download.