Apple Releases AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.9.1

[ksec]

I loved these routers. They always worked great except up until late. We ended up having issues with them overheating and turning themselves off

This really shouldn't be happening, do you have it close to Windows under sunlight the router has been bought for many years ( more than 4 - 5 ) where thermals paste are acting up.

The reason I said this is because Apple actually down clocked the internal Controller within Airport to ensure its stability. This also means it runs cooler than most Router. ( And also a reason why its WAN and LAN speed aren't top notch )

There were many possibilities for better use of airport and iOS integration, such as caching OSX / iOS downloads for installation to other devices, backing up your iToys locally... etc.

That is actually a features available on macOS Server, something I really wish Time Capsule has it as well.

 

[QuarterSwede]

Thanks, but that didn’t seem to work. The newest version was still 7.7.9. Oh well, maybe my AirPort Extreme is too old. I think I bought in the summer of 2015. It’s been the best router I’ve ever owned. It’s too bad they stopped making them.

I’m not seeing it either and I have an ac Extreme. Maybe it hasn’t propagated yet.

 

[freddiebarnes]

"Apple today released AirPort Base Station Firmware Update 7.9.1 for AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule base stations with 802.11ac support."

And there’s still no update for mine.

Edit... just got the update

 

[zorinlynx]

To be honest, Documents is what Files should be.

I agree.

Documents is a great app and is pretty much the Swiss army knife for moving stuff around and storing arbitrary files on iOS devices. Notice that the app is free; it's almost as if Readdle realizes the world deserves to have those capabilities in iOS.

 

[SoN1NjA]

Anyone know of any other company that discontinues a product and then releases a firmware or software update for that product 6 months or more later? Hats off to Apple! Many thanks!

Google no longer sells the OnHub yet I receive updates for that throughout the year

 

[freddiebarnes]

I’m not seeing it either and I have an ac Extreme. Maybe it hasn’t propagated yet.

Keep trying. I just got it a few moments ago. I forgot I was behind a vpn and after I shut it off it seemed to have helped push it to me

 

[jezbd1997]

This really shouldn't be happening, do you have it close to Windows under sunlight the router has been bought for many years ( more than 4 - 5 ) where thermals paste are acting up.

The reason I said this is because Apple actually down clocked the internal Controller within Airport to ensure its stability. This also means it runs cooler than most Router. ( And also a reason why its WAN and LAN speed aren't top notch )



That is actually a features available on macOS Server, something I really wish Time Capsule has it as well.

Yeah we’ve had 3 in total and 1 of them, (the main one connected to our modem) a couple of years ago started playing up as in the light would go off and we’d lose all internet access until unplugging it and rebooting. Only in summer it was a problem, as it was near a sunny window I finally realised after we got another one to replace that one and it started happening too.
There wasn’t an issue with them placed in different rooms so I didn’t know what else to do but sell the remaining 2 6gen models
Have bought 1 asus rt-68u since but there’s often weird day to day issues with the wi-fi and might be returning it.

 

[dwaltwhit]

One of the best routers I’ve ever owned. Too bad Tim discontinued it because it wasn’t making enough profits for him.

Yes. This is how business works. Sad to see airport go, but if the market doesn’t bear it, it must go.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Um Apple? I love you for supporting this wifi router for so long.

Apple said they would support Airport products for 5 years after discontinuation. Glad to see they meant it.

 

[mannyvel]

( And also a reason why its WAN and LAN speed aren't top notch )

I used to be in the gateway business and the AEBS generally had the best NAT throughput and LAN-to-LAN throughput of all the consumer routers in our testbed, including ours. Ours was just a rebranded chinese router with a skin over the broadcom firmware, but still. Saying it wasn't top notch is an incorrect statement. We had thousands of cdrouter logs that showed otherwise.

 

[rdanielhague]

the update not showing for me?

My notification popped-up up only 10 minutes ago.

 

[BigBoy2018]

One of the best routers I’ve ever owned. Too bad Tim discontinued it because it wasn’t making enough profits for him.

Good for its time, but current routers (like the Netgear Orbi) are such leaps and bounds better than the last airport extreme that its laughable that anyone would miss it at this point.

 

[Daniel L]

I got it to find the update by restarting the router in Airport Utility

 

[leonmckee]

HELP...

Airport Extreme/Time Capsule Drive Not Available Errors

For the past year I've not been able to manually perform backups or rely on the hourly automated process without rebooting the Airport Extreme 6th Gen with attached USB drive (also happens on my Airport Time Capsule 4th Gen with internal drive). After the reboot the backup request will proceed without error. However, if I reboot my Mac or allow it to go to sleep then I must restart the AirPort Extreme all over again or I get "Not Found" and "Backup Disk Not Available" errors. Happens in Admin and User privlidged accounts. Anyone have any ideas?


Leon Mckee

P.S. Just posted this in the Apple support forum. Time to get off my engineer rear and figure this out!

 

[ksec]

I used to be in the gateway business and the AEBS generally had the best NAT throughput and LAN-to-LAN throughput of all the consumer routers in our testbed, including ours. Ours was just a rebranded chinese router with a skin over the broadcom firmware, but still. Saying it wasn't top notch is an incorrect statement. We had thousands of cdrouter logs that showed otherwise.

Its NAT and LAN to LAN are fine ( And i vaguely remember they don't all work at top speed when you stress test them in all ports, but that is such a rare occasion that should not be a issue ) , but its WAN was kept at 300Mbps or 400Mbps if I remember correctly.

 

[posguy99]

iCloud is safer than a local backup

In what *possible* way? Be specific.

 

[ftaok]

I've recently retired my TC/Extreme network in favor of a new Synology network. I didn't want to do it, but had to because of a few features that Apple doesn't have.

1. The ability to turn off wifi to a single device or specific users (i.e. my misbehaving kids).

2. The ability to "easily" set up a schedule for individual devices/users to allow/disable wifi.

3. The ability to manage the router from outside of the network, like when I'm at work.

I resisted for a long long time, mainly because the TC network worked and I didn't want to rock the boat. In the end, we decided we needed Feature #1 above.

I went with the Synology router + mesh repeater because of the following.

1. Officially compatible with Time Machine via a connected hard drive.

2. Usable USB ports for printers and hard/thumb drives.

3. Parental controls doesn't use Disney Circle (see ya later Netgear).

The results have been eye-opening. Speeds are so much faster with the new router. Coverage is also better/faster vs. the TimeCapsule+Extreme (over wifi) because of "mesh".

Also, I've been able to keep my TimeCapsule connected (wifi off) for Mac backups. Eventually, I'll get a NAS connected in order to have multiple back-up drives for redundancy.

Super happy, although several hundred buck lighter.

 

[MrTrue]

One of the worst business decisions ever by apple. A product that are praised all over the world, it’s very good, have a huge base if loyal customers. And should generate a good profit margin since it’s not cheap by any standard.

And what’s is the absolute necessity of the future backbones in smarthomes!? Yes, the router. Which google and amazon have realized and expands its products rapidly. In that moment Apple make the decision to discontinue the product...

Probably because Tim is just annoyed over his spreed sheet, there is a row which don’t have profits in the hundreds of billions as the iPhone. So what todo? In Apple thinking you shut down that successful product, because it disturbs the look of the spreed sheet.

This reasoning goes on and on in every product, that doesn’t spell iPhone. MacBook Air, success and forgotten, Mac Pro success and forgotten, Mac mini success and forgotten ... etc etc

 

[Robert.Walter]

router. works great
[doublepost=1559273309][/doublepost]
to be fair this is more exception than the rule.

Apple would open itself up to lawsuits if the products discontinued last year didn’t get s/w updates for the next 5.

 

[xinam]

Update showing up ok on my setup. Updated without any issues, other than the AirPort utility not refreshing after the update.

 

[Robert.Walter]

Was wondering the same thing. My AC TC sits behind a 4th gen. Extreme and they always got updated at the same time in the past. This update hasn't even shown for me yet.

If you have a tower style airport router they get the update. Close the airport app and reopen it any try the check for step again. I had to do twice before update shows for my TC. Flat TCs don’t appear to get updates not does express.
[doublepost=1559319017][/doublepost]

Update showing on my setup without any issues. Updated without any issues, other than the AirPort utility not refreshing after the update.

I’m Curious, why all sequential, why not all plugged into top level router? Do you have different functions assigned to the different devices? And why hard wired connection between each?

 

[QuarterSwede]

Keep trying. I just got it a few moments ago. I forgot I was behind a vpn and after I shut it off it seemed to have helped push it to me

It eventually showed up after I checked an hour later.

 

[xinam]

If you have a tower style airport router they get the update. Close the airport app and reopen it any try the check for step again. I had to do twice before update shows for my TC. Flat TCs don’t appear to get updates not does express.
[doublepost=1559319017][/doublepost]
I’m Curious, why all sequential, why not all plugged into top level router? Do you have different functions assigned to the different devices? And why hard wired connection between each?

They're all in different rooms, with the two 4th gen Extremes acting as switches only, with their Wi-Fi APs disabled. Hard wired using CAT6 because I think it offers a more robust connection between each device. It's a setup that works well for my small home network.

 

[mudflap]

Microsoft literally just patched XP...

XP is software still being used by large companies and hospitals. Airport is discontinued hardware. Big difference.

 

[leonmckee]

What exact hardware did you purchase? I see the ports are USB 3.0 so are your backups faster?

Leon McKee

I've recently retired my TC/Extreme network in favor of a new Synology network. I didn't want to do it, but had to because of a few features that Apple doesn't have.

1. The ability to turn off wifi to a single device or specific users (i.e. my misbehaving kids).

2. The ability to "easily" set up a schedule for individual devices/users to allow/disable wifi.

3. The ability to manage the router from outside of the network, like when I'm at work.

I resisted for a long long time, mainly because the TC network worked and I didn't want to rock the boat. In the end, we decided we needed Feature #1 above.

I went with the Synology router + mesh repeater because of the following.

1. Officially compatible with Time Machine via a connected hard drive.

2. Usable USB ports for printers and hard/thumb drives.

3. Parental controls doesn't use Disney Circle (see ya later Netgear).

The results have been eye-opening. Speeds are so much faster with the new router. Coverage is also better/faster vs. the TimeCapsule+Extreme (over wifi) because of "mesh".

Also, I've been able to keep my TimeCapsule connected (wifi off) for Mac backups. Eventually, I'll get a NAS connected in order to have multiple back-up drives for redundancy.

Super happy, although several hundred buck lighter.