Airport extreme to buy? or not to buy?

[Frankydan100]

Hi im considering buying a new 5th gen airport extreme from apple today. Firsty I just want to know if anybody believes apple will be updating these anytime soon to a 6th gen as i dont mind waiting.

Also will I see a significant improvement with speeds etc at home, Im currently using a BT home hub which drops out connection all the time. I stream all my music films etc from my macbook pro to my apple tv 2. Also have a 2tb WD external hard drive with all my media on. Would it be beneficial to attach this directly to the airport extreme?

Many thanks.

 

[MonkeySee....]

Its a very good router. I have just got one. Don't think it made any differences to my speed but it looks nice on my desk and its very easy to manage.

Just waiting to get FTTC installed where I live then I can really give it a run for its money

 

[miles01110]

If the BT Home Hub is a modem/router combination I doubt you will see any speed increase with the Airport Extreme.

 

[Frankydan100]

this is the bt hub http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=25746

it loses it connection all the time and has to be re-booted which is extremely annoying. My apple tv also seems to suffer from some drop outs and lag from it too.

 

[ChristianVirtual]

Its a very good router. ... and its very easy to manage.

totally agree; I really love the matching app on iPad. A firmware upgrade is just a click away. Also the display of connected airports expresses ... You will like it

 

[BubbaJones]

I've gone through several routers over the years, and my Airport Extreme has been the most solid performer.

I picked one up from the refurb store, and it was one of the best purchases I've made.

And as ChristianJapan said, the iOS apps are fantastic.

 

[Frankydan100]

Ok so I took the plunge and ordered a refurb 5th gen from apple. £119 so a saving of £20!!!!
shud be delivered monday......

Cheers

 

[camardelle]

I got one from eBay last week and it is a huge improvement over the Belkin it replaced. I'm happy with mine.

 

[Cmp1032]

Picked one up a couple months ago and couldn't be happier. I went through several other routers and it seemed like I was always resetting them or they were dropping signal. Yes its a little expensive but to me it was worth it.

 

[PeckhamBog]

Verdict on switch from Home Hub to AE Gen 5

We use BT Infinity with a Home Hub 3.0 for the wireless. After 5 months of good service, the wireless side has been stopping recently. I have a AE 2007 also plugged in for the GB ports and Mac use-able USB. Our top iMac is connected to this with an ethernet cable which demonstrates the Broadband isn't at fault, only the wireless, when our wireless goes down.

1, Did you seek any redress with BT about the Home Hub first?

2, How has the wireless service been since you switched six weeks ago?

Thanks for taking time to answer.

 

[Ccrew]

The Airport is a solid router if you have no understanding about network configuration and don't care to. You have little to no ability to access the underpinnings of the configuration if you need to make tweaks, and it doesn't support many of the industry standards like uPnP or VPN passthrough, instead using NAT-PMP. It's a set in place, config with a simple gui and run.

If you want configurable options you're best looking elsewhere, there are many products that are just as good or better at a similar or lower price point.

Not beating on Apple, it's just that networking/enterprise connectivity is not their forte and it's a very dumbed down, although functional device.

 

[PeckhamBog]

Bump

 

[duckhuntgangsta]

The Airport is a solid router if you have no understanding about network configuration and don't care to. You have little to no ability to access the underpinnings of the configuration if you need to make tweaks, and it doesn't support many of the industry standards like uPnP or VPN passthrough, instead using NAT-PMP. It's a set in place, config with a simple gui and run.

If you want configurable options you're best looking elsewhere, there are many products that are just as good or better at a similar or lower price point.

Not beating on Apple, it's just that networking/enterprise connectivity is not their forte and it's a very dumbed down, although functional device.

What would you suggest getting?

 

[aph3x]

I have to agree with Ccrew on this. I have an AEBS and it has been a very solid router in terms of stability. I have a 100/5 connection and it handle that without a problem as well as the plethora of internet devices I have as well as multiple hard drives and plugged into it and a NAS.

That said however, the wireless throughput is lacking and more recently the lack of QoS has been a killer to me. If QoS was on the AEBS I wouldn't consider getting anything else.

I think personally I am going to pick up an Asus RT-N66U or N56U. I have enough going on with my home network that I need something that goes beyond what Apple can provide.