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bigtroop963

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2012
21
0
Ok so Apple releases new extreme is everybody suppose to go out and buy all new apple products, in order to benefit from the faster wireless. I love Apple don't get me wrong but you think they would already installed a firmware into at least the 2010 to present devices, knowing the direction wireless was headed.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,133
15,596
California
AC is not something that can be added to older hardware by just a firmware update. It requires an entirely new chip that supports AC, and those have only fairly recently become available.
 

crisg

macrumors member
Jun 17, 2009
76
0
While they're at it, they should also update the iPhone 4S firmware to be taller & larger, like the iPhone 5. :rolleyes:
 

bigtroop963

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 17, 2012
21
0
Let me catch my breath!

While they're at it, they should also update the iPhone 4S firmware to be taller & larger, like the iPhone 5. :rolleyes:

You guys have your coffee this morning, I am not exactly a expert, Ok so let me change my question, Will upgrading to latest Airport Extreme benefit your wireless even if you own older devices that do not have the chip? Hope thats better wouldn't want to get another response like the first ones!
 

jlin615

macrumors regular
Nov 4, 2006
205
0
Los Angeles, CA.
You guys have your coffee this morning, I am not exactly a expert, Ok so let me change my question, Will upgrading to latest Airport Extreme benefit your wireless even if you own older devices that do not have the chip? Hope thats better wouldn't want to get another response like the first ones!

I have the same question too. Most of the devices in my house are 802.11n. Right now to get decent signal all around the house, I have two 5th generation Airport Extremes, one AEBS wirelessly extending the other. I rather have just one station and better throughput for local file transfers.
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
You guys have your coffee this morning, I am not exactly a expert, Ok so let me change my question, Will upgrading to latest Airport Extreme benefit your wireless even if you own older devices that do not have the chip? Hope thats better wouldn't want to get another response like the first ones!
Presuming your current Airport Extreme is a recent model (support 802.11N) than you will probably not see any benefit from upgrading. If you buy a device that uses ac, upgrading may or may not be worthwhile at that point.

I have the same question too. Most of the devices in my house are 802.11n. Right now to get decent signal all around the house, I have two 5th generation Airport Extremes, one AEBS wirelessly extending the other. I rather have just one station and better throughput for local file transfers.
You probably won't benefit from the new Extreme for your current setup. However, there might be more under the hood that I expect. So who really knows.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,133
15,596
California
You guys have your coffee this morning, I am not exactly a expert, Ok so let me change my question, Will upgrading to latest Airport Extreme benefit your wireless even if you own older devices that do not have the chip? Hope thats better wouldn't want to get another response like the first ones!

You of course won't get AC speeds, but there are several reports in threads here from users who bought the new Extreme and saw much better wifi signals in what were previously weak signal areas. So it would appear the new antenna design has helped with wifi reception even with wireless N devices.
 

macizcool

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2010
142
140
So what happens if you use an Airport Express to extend this new Airport Extreme?

If my knowledge is correct, if I extend an N network with, say, an older Airport Express that only supports G speeds, the whole network has to be G. Will the same thing happen if an AC network is extended with an Airport Express only capable of N speeds?
 

digital808

macrumors member
Sep 20, 2012
40
20
You of course won't get AC speeds, but there are several reports in threads here from users who bought the new Extreme and saw much better wifi signals in what were previously weak signal areas. So it would appear the new antenna design has helped with wifi reception even with wireless N devices.

Yes! I too have NOTICED increase in wireless signals with the new extreme ac wireless router. My previous router was the 5th gen extreme!
 

osofast240sx

macrumors 68030
Mar 25, 2011
2,539
16
You guys have your coffee this morning, I am not exactly a expert, Ok so let me change my question, Will upgrading to latest Airport Extreme benefit your wireless even if you own older devices that do not have the chip? Hope thats better wouldn't want to get another response like the first ones!
Yep you will notice a difference. I purchased the airport express to hold me over until this extreme/TC came out.
 

Serban

Suspended
Jan 8, 2013
5,159
928
so what are the differences from latest airport and the new one? because i never use an apple router but i intend to buy one. For now i use d-link.
So, i can connect my internet cable to the apple airport and use it like a router right? Is there any differences between latest and this newest?
I also want to buy a retina macbook with haswell probably 100% will fit wifi ac, so..what difference you encore until now? (i asking people who already using them)

Thank you

PS: is apple airport better than d-link routers? or should i stay with what i have? thank you
 

MasterTick

macrumors 6502
Jun 22, 2009
325
0
so what are the differences from latest airport and the new one? because i never use an apple router but i intend to buy one. For now i use d-link.
So, i can connect my internet cable to the apple airport and use it like a router right? Is there any differences between latest and this newest?
I also want to buy a retina macbook with haswell probably 100% will fit wifi ac, so..what difference you encore until now? (i asking people who already using them)

Thank you

PS: is apple airport better than d-link routers? or should i stay with what i have? thank you

Yes, you will likely notice an increase in speed, due to the amount of antenna's and greater power output in the new Airport Extreme. And when you get AC enabled devices you will see a huge jump in speed.
 

dpreilan

macrumors newbie
Jun 18, 2013
1
0
I have had many airport products. I think will avoid timecapsule versions going forward because disk seen to last just a couple of years.

Before this spring, I had to use 3 additional aiports (1 extreme for bridge/extend and 2 expresses to extend) to go with the main airport extreme to cover my house, which isn't that big.

My network started to get flakey and I thought it might be load. With tvs, bluerays, xboxes, ios devices, remote controls, ..... all using network, I thought maybe last generation airport timecapsule was reaching limits. Note, a simple thing like my son enabling his nitendo ds (which uses WEP and airport doesn't handle) could cause things to really break down.

In the spring, I tried the netgear and asus ac routers. I decided on asus because poor parental controls on netgear.

I have been able to drop the use of the airport expresses and get fine coverage in my house. I still have an extra router (asus ac) because I need a bridge in the bedroom for non-wireless directv.

This is all without any ac devices so the lastest generation of routers work much better for me.

I really do like the integrate of the airport with my mac mini server so I may give these a try.
 

macizcool

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2010
142
140
So what happens if you use an Airport Express to extend this new Airport Extreme?

If my knowledge is correct, if I extend an N network with, say, an older Airport Express that only supports G speeds, the whole network has to be G. Will the same thing happen if an AC network is extended with an Airport Express only capable of N speeds?

Bump... does anyone know the answer to my question?
 

crisg

macrumors member
Jun 17, 2009
76
0
Bump... does anyone know the answer to my question?

if you can live without the extended router, do so. The rule of thumb is: keep it simple, stupid. Less devices, faster performance. If you absolutely must have the 2nd, older airport to extend your network, run a Cat5 or 6 cable to the 2nd router & it'll extend the network automatically. The network will only be slowed to G when both a G-device AND an N / AC device are broadcasting at the same instant, and not at all times.
 

macizcool

macrumors regular
Feb 4, 2010
142
140
if you can live without the extended router, do so. The rule of thumb is: keep it simple, stupid. Less devices, faster performance. If you absolutely must have the 2nd, older airport to extend your network, run a Cat5 or 6 cable to the 2nd router & it'll extend the network automatically. The network will only be slowed to G when both a G-device AND an N / AC device are broadcasting at the same instant, and not at all times.

I have a VERY complex network. Mainly because I'm trying to avoid interference from the 20-30 wireless networks in range, and keep a 2.4GHz network for cell phones and an older (original) Airport Extreme. I'm having issues with my older Airport basestations, but I don't want to invest in a new Express if it's going to ruin the AC network, whenever I upgrade to that technology.
 
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