Airport Extreme

[niter]

My husband and I are considering getting an airport extreme. Right now, we have a D-Link router that has wireless and regular cable connections. We are not very pleased with it.

I was wondering if the airport extreme is worth having or is it just a lot of hype. What we are thinking of doing is using our old Linksys and running a line into the Airport Extreme for our computers. The cable ports are needed for the PS2 and Xbox (and no, my husband, despite my trying to convince him, does not want to get the wireless cards for either game system).

We are also just considering getting an airport express to do the job, but will that be fast enough and adequate enough?

Also, if we get an airport extreme can we be on the internet and our current airport express card at the same time? We have our current airport express card hooked up to the printer, but it is somewhat useless for when we want to print online items (which we do frequently).

Thanks.

 

[pimentoLoaf]

I'm using Airport Extreme as I write this -- it's simply a base station connected to the 'net.

According to Apple's site regarding Airport Express:

"AirPort Express uses the 802.11g wireless standard. Accessing the wireless network requires an AirPort or AirPort Extreme enabled computer or Wi-Fi-certified 802.11b or 802.11g computer. Achieving data rates of 54 Mbps requires that all users have an AirPort Extreme or Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g enabled computer and connect to an AirPort Express Base Station. If a user of a Wi-Fi-certified 802.11b product joins the network, that user will get up to 11 Mbps and AirPort Extreme and Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g users will get less than 54 Mbps. Actual speed will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors."

Which means one of the APExpress units must be permanently connected to the DSL line whilst others can simply connect wirelessly.

You won't need an Airport Extreme base unless you have dial-up (like me).

 

[niter]

Does this mean I can have one Airport Express hooked up to provide our two computers with internet access AND access to the other Airport Express hooked up to our printer and radio. That is, with the additional Airport Express can I be on the internet and print to the shared printer or be on the internet and play music via Airtunes to the shared radio?

If so, could we hook up the "base station" airport express to a radio downstairs or does it have to be solely for internet?

Thanks!

 

[mad jew]

Umm, this is all a little confusing. There are Airport Express cards which go inside the Macs to help OSX find and join wireless networks. To set up the wireless network, you only need one Airport Express (assuming you don't have a dial up internet connection) which will connect you to the internet, a printer and music if you like but remember that it must be within reach of all of these accessories. At the moment, I'm simultaneously printing off notes for uni, listening to music over Airtunes and am also obviously on the 'net. I'm doing this through two base stations (Airport Express). One happens to be connected to all of these peripherals and the other is merely extending the range of the other. This second one would be completely unnecessary if I didn't want to do web surfing in my back garden which is the opposite side of the house to the DSL modem.

I'm not sure if this helps, I hope it wasn't insultingly obvious or anything. Have a great time with your network, they can be really useful/convenient. Post back with any other questions.

 

[niter]

My husband and I both have airport express cards in our laptops. We have a two level townhouse, so we decided that the router needs to be downstairs for gaming purposes and the upstairs is "wireless." The Airport Express is upstairs with the printer and radio. Thus, we cannot be all on one at the same time. I was hoping that the Airport Extreme base station or an additional Airport Express unit would allow this.

 

[vieoray]

using airport express now and love it. i have the express connected downstairs to my cable modem, and it provides more than adequate coverage to the entire house (2100 sq feet). the iMac i'm on now is downstairs two rooms away, while my eMac is upstairs.

when i first connected everything, there were a couple of bugs but i figured them out within a couple days. at times the eMac would lose connection to the express, but i messed around with the channel settings in the airport admin and it fixed the problem.

i hope to add a printer to my existing express and get a new one to use airtunes with my stereo in the near future.

 

[mad jew]

My husband and I both have airport express cards in our laptops. We have a two level townhouse, so we decided that the router needs to be downstairs for gaming purposes and the upstairs is "wireless." The Airport Express is upstairs with the printer and radio. Thus, we cannot be all on one at the same time. I was hoping that the Airport Extreme base station or an additional Airport Express unit would allow this.

Pretty sure adding another AE will be fine. It'll extend your range (although that sounds unnecessary of you) and it will mean you can add additional printer and Airtunes to your network. Does this help? I'm still not fully sure what your problem is. Sorry, I'm having a bit of a slow day.