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Airport for Home Users

buffsldr

buffsldr

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 7, 2001
621
0
Does anybody have any experience using Airport with a home network? I have a tower and will be getting a laptop. I just think it would be rad to go on the porch and surf the web, send e-mail from wherever I want in the house... you get the picture. But then I wonder if this is something people actually use in a home setting. Any home airport users out there that care to comment?
 
I love it.

I love it.
I love it.
I love it.
...

I'm using it right now from my couch. I check my e-mail regularly from bed. I love waking up on a Sunday morning and opening up my powerbook to browse the internet. Its better than the morning paper!

For me, there is no downside. I use it with a Linksys router and DSL. I use my G4 tower as a fileserver and rarely use it anymore.

Its great. Really.

Matthew
 
You sold me

Sold...
Sold...
Sold...

Consider this case closed. You sold me... I want it.
 
let's say I have a G4 tower(i do) and a PowerBook(i don't) can my g4 be the base station? Could I surf the net on the Powerbook and leave the G4 on all of the time? I think that you can just have your cable modem plugged into your G4(or any AirPort compatible comp.) and be able to surf the net on another AirPort computer if the one with the modem is on all the time. It would save a lot of money instead of buying a base station, and the AirPort cards. You would just have to buy AirPort cards.:)

Anyone have any confirmation?:confused:
 
That would be very nice if that was the case. I assume the G4 (the virtual base station) would have to have an airport card as well?
 
Originally posted by buffsldr
That would be very nice if that was the case. I assume the G4 (the virtual base station) would have to have an airport card as well?
Click to expand...
Yes. However, this is a violation of the first rule of networking. Never use software to do the job of hardware. Of course, that doesn't really matter much in a home environment, but it's one of my pet peeves... so I never recommend it. Hardware routers. Hardware firewalls. Hardware gateways.
 
I understand your objections, but a home user with two personal computers is hardly "networking" at all. It would just be to share an internet connection and the occasional file transfer. But your point is well taken. To clarify.... if the desktop machine had an airport card and the portable did as well, you could share an internet connection without a basestation?

thanks
 
2 i books , 1 iMac and a G 4 1 gig Dp all networked over airport to a dsl mosem @ my house. Totally bitchin. I have a 4 story brownstone and can surf the net, or see any of the computers on the net from the top floor to the bottom floor and the front porch as well as garden. I went this way because I didn't want to pull ethernet cable all over the place in a 160 year old building. Absolutely the right decision 2 years ago.
 
Just to finally clear up the question:

If you have a Desktop G4 w/ Airport installed and a Airport-enabled Powerbook or iBook, you do not need a base station. The desktop machine becomes a software base station.
 
Not in OS X

You cannot use the Software Base Station feature in OS X. As of now, it only works in OS 9. The only thing I hate about OS X too. :-(

Gus
 
Airport is SWEEEEEEEET!

I've got my "office" upstairs with cable modem going into a router that feeds my PC and my Airpost Base Station.

I do most of my email and web browsing from downstairs in front of the TV. Multitasking...gotta love it!

I've found Airport to be an amazingly simple technology to implement, and to be quite powerful too. The range and connection speeds are great (my connection speed posts a while back were all on Airport). The only downside is price, since there are cheaper access points and cards out there. I chose Apple's gear for it's ease of use and quality...and because the base station looks like a cool little UFO hanging on my wall. ;)
 
Question:

Would it be possible to use an 'old' 7600/133 as a base station, and connect other computers to that via airport?
 
Re: Question:

Originally posted by britboy
Would it be possible to use an 'old' 7600/133 as a base station, and connect other computers to that via airport?
Click to expand...

Nothing on Apple's Airport specs page says otherwise...just make sure you're running 9.0.4 or 10.1 at the least...
 
that's what i found too. My only uncertainty is whether it would be possible to insert an airport card somewhere in the 7600.
 
I went with a Linksys DSL/Cable wireless router (cheaper than the Airport) and I have three machines on it, on through rj45 - G4 Desktop, a TiPB (airport card) and Compaq Prolinea (linksys wireless card). It works great and I dont' know why I didn't do it sooner.

Go out and get one.
 
I really want long range Airport networking (about 120miles from my home would do me!)

I know you can extend it over about 10 miles but that extra 110 would get me to work and back, and school!

ENsiGN
 
Originally posted by Ensign Paris
I really want long range Airport networking (about 120miles from my home would do me!)
Click to expand...

That wouldn't be all that practical. Think how many different wireless systems you could have in a 120 mile raduis. The nice thing about the system now is that it has a small foot print, if you need to make it bigger, like we do at work, you add another base station. Some day there will be commercial, affordable and simple satellite networking, which is the way to go, actually. But until then, settle for what you can get and be happy you can do it at all.
 
Well

I'm making do with a 9m phone cable extension......:(

Its enough to sit in the garden though!!:D

I so want Airport.......... Damn my Bank Manager!!! Damn him!!:p
 
AIRPORT

I have a questions for anybody out there...

I recently helped install a linksys wireless router & an airport base station plugged into that. The linksys router works great with a compaq labtop with the linksys card. The Old blue & white Ibook w/airport card only works in
the room that the base station is in. As soon as you take the ibook out of the room, you cannot get a signal???

Any ideas out there?

Thanks - dyoumell
 
my house is full of steel, so I can only get about 20 to 30 feet of range using my G3 PB (lombard) to connect to my G4 running a software BS. same problem happens at my school, where the art building has tons of steel in its construction. even with hardware BS's you can only get about 30 to 40 feet of range, and you only get above 50% signal when you're right next to the thing
 
I really enjoy being able to spend time with my family (watching tv & such) while being able to read online (because there is rarely anything good on tv)

I also find it useful to use my laptop at night before I go to sleep to get a one last serving of news online... my pismo also makes a great, warm blanket :)
 
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