Apple Ceases Development of 'AirPort' Wireless Routers as Engineers Reassigned to Other Products
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slashlos
macrumors member
Well having dealt locally with the wifi "arms race" - ever more powerful routers interference among nearby neighbors, our local carrier (TWC) is abandoning multi-function units in favor of 1-purpose units (circa Feb'2017 - seemingly part of Spectrum roll out). Their wifi routers by default are set to "highest" range setting helping to create the problem.
Perhaps this is a reaction as the Apple products, being bi-lingual (2.4, 5.0 ghz), and not able to limit the problem (2.4 interference mostly) by turning off the AirPort 2.4 radio, I guess they want out. 5.0 has a shorter range, less interference, but the rest of the market would have to follow suit. So here come the days of PowerLine based hub/router taps, with high bandwidth but short range wifi.
However TimeCapsule and home media sharing market departure is a mistake. It just works but sadly there's no future if today's product "just works" ?
Charter does offer a router for 5 bucks a month. They always try to sell it to me, and I just have to laugh.
I have a Ubiquiti EdgeRouger X and Unifi AP and haven't looked back, it's a fantastic setup for the price of any other 802.11ac router.
cmaier
Suspended
I may switch to this (or a future member of this family) when it's time to replace my complicated airport network.
https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/RT1900ac
I already use two of their nas's for time machine backups (and lots of other things) so I know they understand how to interface reliably with macs, and the two nas's have worked super-reliably for years, get frequent software updates, and the interface is very nice.
This router seems to have a lot of interesting features that even Apple doesn't have. couldnt replace the airports express I use for music streaming, but I don't use those to provide wifi access so those could stick around until they die anyway, regardless of improvements to the 802.11 spec.
Ok. As I've said before, I've been relatively okay with the things that Apple has done this year. Except the thing about automation.
Now I'm hearing about this?
This is worrying, Apple. My jobs with freelancing and app development depend on the Mac ecosystem. Don't make me switch to Windows (Windows 10 is still a bit messy, but they're getting better and if the Surface Pro has a 15" screen and you're still doing this foolishness, I may just be tempted enough to buy it and eventually switch).
Seriously: you have $200 billion~ in the bank; you can afford to spend a bit more on helping out the Mac community. Have you forgotten the halo effect that you've worked so hard on obtaining?
... I had about 5 long paragraphs of ranting, but why even bother continuing? It's not like they care? I'm pretty sure Apple (let alone their executives) doesn't actually read the articles and forums outside of their own community forums (and considers them as a tiny portion of their user base). So why should I even say anything?
Now I'm hearing about this?
This is worrying, Apple. My jobs with freelancing and app development depend on the Mac ecosystem. Don't make me switch to Windows (Windows 10 is still a bit messy, but they're getting better and if the Surface Pro has a 15" screen and you're still doing this foolishness, I may just be tempted enough to buy it and eventually switch).
Seriously: you have $200 billion~ in the bank; you can afford to spend a bit more on helping out the Mac community. Have you forgotten the halo effect that you've worked so hard on obtaining?
... I had about 5 long paragraphs of ranting, but why even bother continuing? It's not like they care? I'm pretty sure Apple (let alone their executives) doesn't actually read the articles and forums outside of their own community forums (and considers them as a tiny portion of their user base). So why should I even say anything?
Do you base all your purchases on their benefit to Apple or their benefit to yourself?
ginkobiloba
macrumors 6502a
This just deserves a giant facepalm...
Steve Jobs had these things made because they made it easy for people to stay inside the Apple ecosystem, NOT because they were big revenue sources !!! "Need a wireless router but afraid of their complexity ? Here's a branded Apple router, easy to setup, plug it and forget about it. See how everything is just easier in Mac world ?"
The whole point of these accessories was to make the Apple computing ecosystem less threatening, not to be a major revenue source. There there to help you justify buying into the Mac/OSX world rather than into the PC/Windows world.
Tim Cook will be the one who will bury Apple into the ground.
Steve Jobs had these things made because they made it easy for people to stay inside the Apple ecosystem, NOT because they were big revenue sources !!! "Need a wireless router but afraid of their complexity ? Here's a branded Apple router, easy to setup, plug it and forget about it. See how everything is just easier in Mac world ?"
The whole point of these accessories was to make the Apple computing ecosystem less threatening, not to be a major revenue source. There there to help you justify buying into the Mac/OSX world rather than into the PC/Windows world.
Tim Cook will be the one who will bury Apple into the ground.
andy.ringwood
Suspended
As you have nothing to respond with you resort to grammar. Well done for pointing that out. Have a medal.
Abazigal
Contributor
And when Apple does update a product, people also complain as well!
The future is mesh networks. Eero routers and Sono speakers use mesh technology and require no wires and no 3.5mm jacks. I have both and have way better network than when I had a airport implementation. and I have sound everywhere in the house and can send different songs to different speakers from any device that I have allowed. It really is a better implementation (and yes it is more expensive).
Red Oak
Suspended
That LG monitor is hideous. Especially the back which everyone would see in my office. I'm getting concerned they do not know WTF they are doing
Michaelgtrusa
macrumors 604
The writing was on the wall.
thealkimist
macrumors regular
Agreed.
It could be they want costumers to do what I do and airplay everything to my appletv that's connected to my sound system
There's broadband in the UK?
/s
jmgregory1
macrumors 68040
I would guess that Apple's issue with continuing to support Airport hardware is that it is one of those products that people buy and live with for extended periods of time, so the ROI on new product development is a tough sell. And with the push to iCloud backups, the idea of home backups goes against the direction they're headed.
I'm still using an older 2TB Time Capsule as my base router, with 2 Airport Expresses feeding the rest of my place, including one connected to a 5 room stereo. I've been thinking of updating to the latest Time Capsule, to get the AC wifi, and I'm guessing the discounted prices on them (at Staples so far), may have been indicative of this news. It would be great to get one for even less money, giving me a few more years of service before having to buy into the next wifi technology.
I'm still using an older 2TB Time Capsule as my base router, with 2 Airport Expresses feeding the rest of my place, including one connected to a 5 room stereo. I've been thinking of updating to the latest Time Capsule, to get the AC wifi, and I'm guessing the discounted prices on them (at Staples so far), may have been indicative of this news. It would be great to get one for even less money, giving me a few more years of service before having to buy into the next wifi technology.
Max Portakabin
Suspended
Please don't circumnavigate the profanity filter.
sbuttler77
macrumors member
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andy.ringwood
Suspended
Lol.
As I've already said, when Apple don't update a product, people get grumpy, when they do, people get grumpy and when they pull a product, people get grumpy. Cheer up.
I'm very skeptical about that. I tried wireless Airplay for some time (wifi to Airport Express => audiojack => really old hifi) but the signal kept cutting out. So went with wired connection (cable to Airport Express => audiojack => hifi) which works perfectly. How would this work with another product? Especially in e.g. urban areas where there's an abundance of interfering wifi networks? Also: I need the audio jack if I don't want to replace my ancient hifi (that still works perfectly).
Interesting. I have one home and two businesses on Charter and it's just a modem. Which is my preference.
I have looked at Eero and Synology but never gave them too much serious considerstion. I don't understand this move by Apple. I have AEs set up around to deliver a mesh type setup. I am left with little choice for my company and will need to start working on a migration plan.
Chicane-UK
macrumors 6502
Shame. Wireless Time Capsule backups for Mac laptops was an absolutely killer feature, and so easy to setup. I hope they have a brilliant new solution to offer coming down the pipeline!
0098386
Suspended
It's sad isn't it? But even with numbers like that 50 people is £25m a year in wages (using my guess of what an Apple engineer makes of £50k a year but I don't konw), and then they need to train 'Genius' staff to support that tech too. They'd need to sell a lot of stock to make that figure back and I don't think they sold too well.