Apple router.

Love my Airport Extreme

 

It sounds like you are looking for people to rag on Airports rather than real specific information on routers in general. I don't have much experience with Airports, but my understanding is that there are two things you should know about them:

• Airport routers (all models) are built around industry-standard cards.
• Airport routers are rock-solid and last for years.

All except one of my routers have been Cisco/Linksys. My current router at home is a Cisco Linksys E3000 Wireless-N dual band router. Cisco is the IBM of routers in the sense that nobody ever got fired for buying Cisco. My reason for going with Cisco over Apple is that Linksys routers have four LAN ports whereas Airports have only three. I did not want to purchase a hub in order to have four wired devices on my network. I had also become used to buying a new router every 18 months or so because the old one had gone bad.

I purchased the Linksys E3000 before I learned that the Airport Extreme has a much longer expected life. If the E3000 goes bad, then I will jack it up and place an Airport Extreme (or successor) under it.

 

I had a problem with my old wireless router and my iPad. Every time I put it to sleep it wouldn't work with the router. It would see it, but it wouldn't connect to the internet. I had to literally unplug the thing and plug it back in and then the iPad would work with it again. I had this happen a few times with my MBP as well but not nearly as bad.

I finally broke down and bought and aiport extreme which I swore I would never do. The thing freaking rules. Even without the dual directional antennas I still get awesome signal everywhere, I use the USB port for printing from any computer in the house and it was easy to set up.

I was always against spending that kind of money for an Apple wireless router but it the fact it works seamlessly with my iPhone, iPad, MBP, G5 and MP made me a believer. I haven't touched it except once since I bought it where I was unplugging and plugging my old router in at least once a day.

 

I've set up quite a few routers for clients. The main Apple ones have been Time Capsules but I assume the Airport Extreme is comparable. Anyways the Time Capsule has been the most reliable and has had the greatest range of any of the Wireless-N devices.

They are also fairly easy to configure. Though I find manual setup to be more difficult and that they lack the level of customization you would find in a Netgear or D-Link (Linksys also lacks in customization). I also dislike have to use the Airport Utility rather than a browser interface for configuration.

 

I would take Cisco over Apple`s router any-day.
Networking is what Cisco do, Airport is just too expensive imo.

If I was wanting to spend big money on routing I would go with Firebrick in any case.

 

For years I only purchased Linksys products and replaced them as they failed (every 18 months on average). Feature set wise they were OK but kind of a pain in the butt if you didn't understand networking. When I switched to Mac I also switched to Apple for my routing needs. I have to say, it has been pleasant. They are easy to setup and very easy to understand. Access control has never been better. Range is outstanding, much better then anything from Linksys.

We have Cisco products at work, and they are fine, but for the average person at home, I can't see anything better, more friendly then the Apple Airport Extreme.

 

The router that came with my FiOS service (an Actiontec) would get into a mode where wireless computers couldn't see any other systems on the LAN but only have Internet access. Also, I had probably the first WiFi on the block, but two years ago I counted 11 networks visible from within my house. Six of them were Actiontecs (FiOS was getting popular), all set to their default channel 6.

Disgusted with the problems, in April 2009 I bought an Airport Extreme which I use as a wireless access port, only. I disabled the WAP in the Actiontec. After upgrading a NIC in a Windows box and replacing some CAT5 wire with CAT5e I ended up with N wireless for my MacBook and three stationary Macs and gigabit Ethernet for the wired systems. And all my wireless issues have gone away.

I saved some money buy buying it as a refurb. They are $50 off that way. And your Applecare Coverage on any Mac will cover the Airport Extreme, not that it has failed.

 

Chalk me up with another hearty recommendation of Airport Extreme! I have had mine for nearly 4 years now with few issues. I had a period about 14 months ago that required a factory reset, but since then I have had no problems.

It IS truly worth the extra money. Not only is is powerful and hassle-free, but the set-up over wifi is a treat. With other routers, you almost always need a direct ethernet connection which can be a hassle when your BS is 50 feet from your desktop.

I just wish mine would die so I could justify getting a dual-band one, but I fear this one may be rock-solid for another 4 years.

 

I was hesitant at first too. I bought a used first gen on craigs and fell in love with it. Sold that on here and purchased a dual band new version and love it more. The ease of use and set up is amazing. I just aded an express to the mix and was super surprised how easy it was to set up an extended network with it. I hope they never stop producing these...best router I have ever had.

 

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8E200 Safari/6533.18.5)

For seamless Mac OS integration, Airport is the way to go; like all Apple products, they are well built and generally work without much hassle.

If price is an issue, Linksys Routers are a great alternative. At my parents house, I set up a cheapo, entry level N model, and it's still running great after two or three years of daily use.

 

I use the OLD AirPort Extreme Base Station (Orb) and an old AirPort Express and both are still working like a charm after several years of use. I will be buying the new AEBS and APE when I can.