Airport Extreme vs Netgear, etc. ?

[Eldiablojoe]

Im thinking of upgrading my Netgear router to an ac-band router. Can someone please enlighten me why I would drop $199-$299 on an Airport Extreme or Airport TimeCapsule as opposed to a $100 on a Netgear or D-Link router?

Thanks!

 

[BrianBaughn]

The latest AE has a lot of reach...more than a $230 Linksys that I compared it to for one job. That's on the 2.4GHz channel.

I haven't seen any router with a good, wall/floor penetrating 5GHz channel.

It all depends on your logistical and use situation. You may not need the range or even the processing power that the more expensive routers have.

 

[Altemose]

Im thinking of upgrading my Netgear router to an ac-band router. Can someone please enlighten me why I would drop $199-$299 on an Airport Extreme or Airport TimeCapsule as opposed to a $100 on a Netgear or D-Link router?

Thanks!

The plus sides to the Extreme is elegant design, solid reliability (never had to reboot mine), solid performance, and amazing capability. We use an Extreme as the router of a 150 client AirPort network without issues. Netgear and D-Link make nice equipment, but I found that they only last 1-2 years.

 

[Eldiablojoe]

The plus sides to the Extreme is elegant design, solid reliability (never had to reboot mine), solid performance, and amazing capability. We use an Extreme as the router of a 150 client AirPort network without issues. Netgear and D-Link make nice equipment, but I found that they only last 1-2 years.

This is only for an open-concept single-family residence about 2000 sq ft. It's my laptop, the other-half's laptop sometimes, and about 4-6 Apple devices (iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, guests, etc.).

 

[Altemose]

This is only for an open-concept single-family residence about 2000 sq ft. It's my laptop, the other-half's laptop sometimes, and about 4-6 Apple devices (iPhones, iPads, Apple TV, guests, etc.).

Either will work but I have had better luck with reliability and support with the AirPorts.

 

[Fishrrman]

Keep in mind that you can buy a refurb Airport Extreme from the Apple refurbished products store online.

Makes the AE more attractive...

 

[Eldiablojoe]

Okay, I'm sold. Just trying to figure out if I should buy with a new 12-inch (soon I hope) MBA to share the Apple Care or if my current router is starting to take a dump now (huge variance in speeds via speedtest).

Thanks everyone !

 

[Altemose]

Okay, I'm sold. Just trying to figure out if I should buy with a new 12-inch (soon I hope) MBA to share the Apple Care or if my current router is starting to take a dump now (huge variance in speeds via speedtest).

Thanks everyone !

AppleCare on a Mac covers an AirPort purchased up to two years before the purchase of the Mac. You could order the AirPort right now and it will be covered by the purchase of your Mac in the future.

 

[Eldiablojoe]

AppleCare on a Mac covers an AirPort purchased up to two years before the purchase of the Mac. You could order the AirPort right now and it will be covered by the purchase of your Mac in the future.

Ohhh! That's good to know. I will be trekking down to my local Apple Store in the next coupla days

 

[Ipadlover29]

I recently tried the Apple airport extreme and netgear r7000.

I ended up keeping the netgear r7000.

What I liked and didn't like about each one:

Netgear r7000

Pros

Cheapest $180
Very good range
Fastest speeds
Tons of features and settings
Two USB ports
One usb 3.0 port
Very Mac friendly with support for wireless time capsule and iTunes server
Traffic monitor
vpn support
Qos
Can install custom firmware
Dlna
Ftp
AirPrint support (turn older printer into an AirPrint one by installing software)

Cons

Not as easy to setup as Apple AirPort Extreme
Don't get extended warranty for free like the Apple AirPort Extreme
Navigating through settings can get confusing

Airport extreme

Pros

Easy setup
Easy to use
Apple build quality
Looks good
Space saving design
Apple support
Better security

Cons

Only one USB port
USB port is 2.0
No qos settings
No ftp server
No dlna
Speeds were slower than netgear
Range was no as good as netgear
More expensive than netgear $200
Have to use same password for both networks
Only 3 ethernet ports
No web interface
Very limited settings that can be controlled or changed

 

[Altemose]

Have to use same password for both networks

No you don't.

 

[Sfdoddsy]

I had both an R7000 and Airport Extreme.

The R7000 had slightly better range and speed when checking transmit rates, but they were pretty similar in real world speeds.

I returned the Netgear.