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Airport Extreme or another router?

D

Dennild

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 18, 2012
11
0
It seems likes you guys know what you talk about so I would really like some help with this question.

i need a new Router and I cant decide if the APEBS is the one i should take since im gonna use alot of streaming gaming and VoIP. the lack of Qos is it something you can feel?
and how does it work when you use a NAS on the Lan network to stream to TV and a few laptops?

i have thought about waiting for the Asus RT-N66u or maybe go for the Linksys e4200 v2

any help is really needed
 
Dennild said:
It seems likes you guys know what you talk about so I would really like some help with this question.

i need a new Router and I cant decide if the APEBS is the one i should take since im gonna use alot of streaming gaming and VoIP. the lack of Qos is it something you can feel?
and how does it work when you use a NAS on the Lan network to stream to TV and a few laptops?

i have thought about waiting for the Asus RT-N66u or maybe go for the Linksys e4200 v2

any help is really needed
Click to expand...

I had the e4200 v1 which is actually the better router compared to v2. It really was great at everything, except airplay. Stuttering, network crashing when airplay mirroring. Cisco technicians say it will be fixed in the next firmware update and meanwhile to disable Qos meanwhile - which leaves you stuck on 2.4ghz/G

I would still go the apple route since VoIP and gaming any decent router will do. I haven't streamed using NAS but from all the positive reviews of both of these routers I think both will do fine.

Something to consider if you go the linksys route-
I would read up more on the v2 as it has a lot of negative reviews on amazon and in Canada it's actually 30$ cheaper then the v1.
Since the only advantage it gives you is the 3x throughput instead of 2x (450x450 instead of 450x300) is not a real one in any city... unless you live on a farm far away from anyone using the 2.4ghz band.
 
Dennild said:
What do mean by disable Qos?
Click to expand...

To use airplay correctly I had to disable Qos in the e4200's settings. That, for some reason forced me to be on G mode instead of G/N. That was the only fix for my stuttering and crashing issue.

Sorry I should be clearer. Disable WMM support that's what I meant. The feature that allows you to set aside bandwidth for VoIP.
 
Okay ty alot for your input.

i would really like if more people could come with their advice and own experience. especially when its about Streaming on local network could be from NAS to a computer
 
Can somone then tell why they took a APEBS instead of any other router.
exept that its more user friendly ?

i really dont want to use the money on a router that is not suited for me.
 
miles01110 said:
If you need QoS then anything Apple is out. Netgear makes great dual-band routers (I think they're up to the WNDR4000 now or something) that you can look into.
Click to expand...

thats the thing i don't know if i need it.
i have it now on a Dlink-635 and its on but i have no idea if its working.
 
Dennild said:
thats the thing i don't know if i need it.
i have it now on a Dlink-635 and its on but i have no idea if its working.
Click to expand...

How many VOIP streams will you be running at a time and how much data will you be sending/receiving at the same time? What are your upload/download speeds?


Chances are, you as a user, will not need QOS.
 
Revelation78 said:
How many VOIP streams will you be running at a time and how much data will you be sending/receiving at the same time? What are your upload/download speeds?


Chances are, you as a user, will not need QOS.
Click to expand...

This is what it needs to be able to handle as a minimum.

at evening time and weekends:
3xVoIP
2-3 Streams youtube, netflix that kinda stuff.
myself gaming COD maybe a few friends to
and then the local traffic from our NAS to the computers. mostly taking backup and streaming from our media library

atm we have a 4/0,256 mbit connection but it will, in a few months be upgraded to a 30/30 fiber optic one.:D
Thats when the new router is gonna be bought and used.
 
If you want to compare routers, look at this site :
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11
The reviews and the forums have lots of good stuff. I bought an Asus Black Diamond but sent it back and bought an Airport Extreme instead.

They did a good review of the latest AE so it's a good comparison to newer units. You might also get some good info if you asked questions on the AE thread in the forum : http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=5723&airport+extreme
 
I got the APEBS to replace my netgear. I got it as I assumed it would work better being an Apple product inline with my other Apple bits. I was right, it was easy to set up and I can also manage it via my iPhone.

I'm also a bot of a stickler for thinks looking nice.

In hindsight though I should have gone for a Time Capsule as I now want to replace one of my noisy external drives.

Oh well!
 
MonkeySee.... said:
I got the APEBS to replace my netgear. I got it as I assumed it would work better being an Apple product inline with my other Apple bits. I was right, it was easy to set up and I can also manage it via my iPhone.

I'm also a bot of a stickler for thinks looking nice.

In hindsight though I should have gone for a Time Capsule as I now want to replace one of my noisy external drives.

Oh well!
Click to expand...

We've had 3 (of 4) Time Capsule drives fail but never an issue with 2 AEBS or the routers in the Time Capsule. Nearly every non-Apple router/modem I've installed has developed heat issues that led to slow deaths.

So you might be glad that you chose the AEBS and not the TC.
 
netdog said:
We've had 3 (of 4) Time Capsule drives fail but never an issue with 2 AEBS or the routers in the Time Capsule. Nearly every non-Apple router/modem I've installed has developed heat issues that led to slow deaths.

So you might be glad that you chose the AEBS and not the TC.
Click to expand...

Ahh, I did hear a few people on the Apple site saying they have had issues but thought it was a minority.

Thanks for the heads up
 
drsox said:
If you want to compare routers, look at this site :
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews
http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/forumdisplay.php?f=11
The reviews and the forums have lots of good stuff. I bought an Asus Black Diamond but sent it back and bought an Airport Extreme instead.

They did a good review of the latest AE so it's a good comparison to newer units. You might also get some good info if you asked questions on the AE thread in the forum : http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=5723&airport+extreme
Click to expand...

i do know that site quite well my problem is that im quite new to this stuff so i have no idea what things are important for my need. which leads me back to my question. is Qos a important thing to have or not? i have great fate in apple and since its not in the APEBS i was thinking its not but i can read alot of places that it is so im kinda confused.
 
Dennild said:
i do know that site quite well my problem is that im quite new to this stuff so i have no idea what things are important for my need. which leads me back to my question. is Qos a important thing to have or not? i have great fate in apple and since its not in the APEBS i was thinking its not but i can read alot of places that it is so im kinda confused.
Click to expand...

I don't use QoS so I can't help, but if you know this site why not post this question in their forum ?
 
drsox said:
I don't use QoS so I can't help, but if you know this site why not post this question in their forum ?
Click to expand...

Simply becouse i wanted the APEBS most and would like to hear if there where someone with the same "need" or somthing like that, who could say that it works great for them and that they never have wanted the option(Qos). I figured that this would be the best place to post that ^^
hope that makes it more clear:)
 
Dennild said:
Simply becouse i wanted the APEBS most and would like to hear if there where someone with the same "need" or somthing like that, who could say that it works great for them and that they never have wanted the option(Qos). I figured that this would be the best place to post that ^^
hope that makes it more clear:)
Click to expand...

No harm in doing both. Depends where you think an "experienced" AEBS user is more likely to respond.
 
Dennild said:
This is what it needs to be able to handle as a minimum.

at evening time and weekends:
3xVoIP
2-3 Streams youtube, netflix that kinda stuff.
myself gaming COD maybe a few friends to
and then the local traffic from our NAS to the computers. mostly taking backup and streaming from our media library

atm we have a 4/0,256 mbit connection but it will, in a few months be upgraded to a 30/30 fiber optic one.:D
Thats when the new router is gonna be bought and used.
Click to expand...

You'll be fine! Couple of points to remember, VOIP streams aren't going to use a lot of bandwidth. An analog phone call only uses 64kbit/s up and down "stream." For VOIP, a high-bit rate will use the same 8kHz sampling - at most it will use 90kbit/s for the initiation of the phone call.

64 kbit/s bitrate (8 kHz sampling frequency x 8 bits per sample)

Most VOIP implementations today use a higher compression algorithm that sounds really close to the full 64kbit/s sampling. Depending on what audio compression algorithm your ISP is using, your VOIP calls could be as low as an 8kbit/s bit rate.

Even your current connection would handle the load, but you could tax it out if everything was going on at the same time. Chances are you would be fine with the AEBS or even a cheaper one if you wanted to go with another.

Another thing, more importantly, to consider is how will everything connect into the AEBS? I.e. are you going to use a hub? If you are, that's a bad idea... Pickup a switch if you need more ports.
 
Revelation78 said:
You'll be fine! Couple of points to remember, VOIP streams aren't going to use a lot of bandwidth. An analog phone call only uses 64kbit/s up and down "stream." For VOIP, a high-bit rate will use the same 8kHz sampling - at most it will use 90kbit/s for the initiation of the phone call.

64 kbit/s bitrate (8 kHz sampling frequency x 8 bits per sample)

Most VOIP implementations today use a higher compression algorithm that sounds really close to the full 64kbit/s sampling. Depending on what audio compression algorithm your ISP is using, your VOIP calls could be as low as an 8kbit/s bit rate.

Even your current connection would handle the load, but you could tax it out if everything was going on at the same time. Chances are you would be fine with the AEBS or even a cheaper one if you wanted to go with another.

Another thing, more importantly, to consider is how will everything connect into the AEBS? I.e. are you going to use a hub? If you are, that's a bad idea... Pickup a switch if you need more ports.
Click to expand...

dang i think i misunderstood what you wrote then, i thought you ment VoIP was skype like with video chat. the problem right now is that when my sister goes on skype no connection to the rest of us. since im the one ind charge whit our netowrk im the one that need to find a solution for it.
 
Last edited:
Dennild said:
dang i think i misunderstood what you wrote then i thought you ment VoIP was skype like with video chat. the problem right now is that when my sister goes on skype no connection to the rest of us. since im the one ind charge whit our netowrk im the one that need to find a solution for it.
Click to expand...


Skype is different than regular VOIP. Skype is a video conferencing calling software - so to speak. When it comes to Skype, there are minimum and recommended levels and it all depends on how many people are on the "call."

Skype can use anywhere from 30kbps/30kbps all the way up to 8Mbps/512kbps. I haven't used Skype in a long time, but there should be a menu option to see how much bandwidth is being used. That should help you determine what you need to adjust. There should also be an option to limit the Skype call to a certain amount of bandwidth on her computer.

I'm afraid though to get into true QoS and bandwidth shaping you're going to need a much more expensive set of hardware. I've not seen anything on the consumer level that can really give those type of features; they may be out there, I just haven't seen them.

If you were to pickup a cisco 2700-2900 series router or 2900-3700 series switch I could configure them for true QoS and bandwidth shaping if needed. Noe, though, you're talking quite a bit of "change."
 
Revelation78 said:
Skype is different than regular VOIP. Skype is a video conferencing calling software - so to speak. When it comes to Skype, there are minimum and recommended levels and it all depends on how many people are on the "call."

Skype can use anywhere from 30kbps/30kbps all the way up to 8Mbps/512kbps. I haven't used Skype in a long time, but there should be a menu option to see how much bandwidth is being used. That should help you determine what you need to adjust. There should also be an option to limit the Skype call to a certain amount of bandwidth on her computer.

I'm afraid though to get into true QoS and bandwidth shaping you're going to need a much more expensive set of hardware. I've not seen anything on the consumer level that can really give those type of features; they may be out there, I just haven't seen them.

If you were to pickup a cisco 2700-2900 series router or 2900-3700 series switch I could configure them for true QoS and bandwidth shaping if needed. Noe, though, you're talking quite a bit of "change."
Click to expand...

sounds to complicated. the thing with the Cisco Router/Switch.
I will just w8 to i get the new connection, and then i will probaly go with extreme. if the Asus N66 gets more stable and drops in price.


Ty alot for your help you made me alot smarter
 
No problem man, and you're right, when you get the new connection you will be fine. The AEBS handles my 105/20 conection without an issue and you will see a huge difference when you jump into the 30/30 fios.
 
Why don't the Airport devices appear on the macrumors buyers guide page?

----------
Dennild said:
Can somone then tell why they took a APEBS instead of any other router.
exept that its more user friendly ?

i really dont want to use the money on a router that is not suited for me.
Click to expand...

I bought it after I had bought a macbook and iphone. Having been impressed by the quality of those, I figured I wanted something that "just worked" all the time. In over a year of owning it, I have rebooted it only once (does not include the 2 or 3 times I had to update the software on it). Software updates are automatically checked for.

I actually did not like the idea of having to go through iTunes to manage it, but overall, I've been so impressed with quality that it's easy to overlook.

The only other negative is slight electro-static noise that the device occasionally emanates when active.
 
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