Apple's Discontinued Line of AirPort Wi-Fi Routers Could Return in an Unexpected Way

[ignatius345]

I'm not sure how useful an Airport router would be these days. I loved the ones I had; they were really reliable. But now nearly every ISP gives you a decent wireless router for free.

* for a rental charge (at least the last two I've had were this way).

I had the AirPort Extreme and found it rock solid and very easy to administer. I also got a ton of usage out of the AirPort Express -- I used it to turn a pair of powered bookshelf speakers into an AirPlay setup, which was awesome.

 

[xyz01]

The guys from Apples network hardware team went and started their own networking company, their hardware and app seem very apple-like to me. I hope new Apple routes would be just as good without them.

Which one?

 

[Chungry]

Which one?

Ubiquiti Unifi gear. I've got a lot of it.

 

[wanha]

Why are you reporting a Gurman rumor from December three months later if there’s nothing new?

 

[ChrisA]

...If future Apple TV and/or HomePod models could effectively double as AirPort routers for Wi-Fi, that would be another way for Apple to expand its presence in the smart home market.

They will be "Thread Border Routers". Because the Homepod mini and ATV are already thread border routers. WHat this means is that these devices can bridge the thread and WiFi network.

All smart home devices will eventually be on Thread networks. We see so many of them in WiFi now only because Thread only works if you have a Border Router, few people have these but "everyone" has WiFi.

Thread has a huge advantage because (1) is is inherently "mesh" and (2) it uses so little power that a coin battery can power the device for maybe a year. You can't make a coin-battery-powered WiFi device.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

I just want a new and improved Time Capsule.
My router is the UniFi Dream Wall due to lack of space.

 

[rikki_t]

Still have one still use it, has an eight terabyte drive now, first one bit the I dust, like it because it's way smaller than a NAS but would never use it in WiFi mode, spec standard is obsolete and insecure, runs on the house LAN. PS the original drive was shingled drive (typical cheap apple trick) very slow for backup but who cares it runs autominously in the background.

 

[deconstruct60]

But now nearly every ISP gives you a decent wireless router for free.

* for a rental charge (at least the last two I've had were this way)

Some ( Charter/Spectrum , certain locations for Xfinity/Comcast , etc) have gone to separate modem and router boxes. The modems have shifted to going 'free' , but the Wi-Fi boxes have kept the rental charges. And there are smaller operators ( Armstrong , local operators ) that do not ( may simplify by just burying in base costs ).



I think it is the case there is more "no fee" for the 5G-modem/Wi-Fi/router combo devices that T-mobile Internet , ATT , and Verizon are distributing. That is more likely because in 'rapid customer adoption' mode. They are will to eat the cost now. That probably won't last long as they get to scale. ( where ATT is dumping copper wires entirely it is a cost offset. That will likely get a longer runway until fees appear).

 

[deconstruct60]

Why are you reporting a Gurman rumor from December three months later if there’s nothing new?

More advertising views. (lots of folks have ad blockers on , but the rest ... )

 

[Tagbert]

I'd like it if they did a mesh router. A single router is insufficient for a whole house.

 

[norbinhouston]

Yes sir! Hope they do it. It's such an elegant system when Apple does something. The original could do true mesh even before mesh was a thing. And bring back back to my Mac as well Tim.

 

[Chungry]

Yes sir! Hope they do it. It's such an elegant system when Apple does something. The original could do true mesh even before mesh was a thing. And bring back back to my Mac as well Tim.

These were simply signal repeaters with all the compromises those come with. They never supported 802.11s which is mesh networking.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

He said the chip is "so sophisticated" that it could "theoretically" turn these devices into a wireless access point.

🤣 You can turn every wifi card into an access point... it's a software thing. The could already now have the ATVs act as access point if they are connected over ethernet.
Otherwise they could still do meshing... but meshing is messy without a dedicated backhaul channel or even 2nd wifi card.

Why do they not merge the Airport, Time Machine and HomePod and sell a smart speaker device with its own onboard LLM and SSD that can be used for localised backups, cache streaming media can control your smart devices without needing a server?

That IS a server. A quite expensive one... (for the average user). However, I believe exactly that will be the future in terms of AI. For the power users/businesses it will probably be something like that: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-com...sd3-000-to-bring-1-pflops-of-performance-home

 

[jrhop]

The guys from Apples network hardware team went and started their own networking company, their hardware and app seem very apple-like to me. I hope new Apple routes would be just as good without them.

Yes Unifi https://ui.com/uk/en/cloud-gateways/wifi-integrated/express

 

[Marzzz]

Yeah, I really miss the automatic backups with Time Capsule. Would love to see Apple bring it back...

 

[nt5672]

Too bad these WiFi products, if they become real, will only exist for a couple of years, then Apple will just drop them with no explanation and no warning. "That is the Apple way."

 

[nt5672]

Who cares? They took the line away from customers for no apparent reason and now they want to bring its back.
Four solid years with Synology now. No going back.

UI for me, but I get your meaning and agree.

 

[Chungry]

Too bad these WiFi products, if they become real, will only exist for a couple of years, then Apple will just drop them with no explanation and no warning. "That is the Apple way."

This is my biggest fear after they dropped airport. Apple needs to play to their strengths, and this isn't it, fancy new wifi chip not withstanding. To the subject at hand, I'd imagine this is all a misunderstanding of how their new chips will start to get into more products and how thread and matter will be more ubiquitous- and how thread routing is a feature etc etc. I'd bet 278,945 dollaroos that Apple will NEVER get into the home networking game again.

 

[mansplains]

Apple, can you just buy Ubiquiti already and fix their software.

And their supply chain… everything’s out of stock!

 

[Chungry]

And their supply chain… everything’s out of stock!

Given Apple's history with acquisitions i would prefer they don't buy and subsequently screw up ubiquiti. I am fine dealing with their inventory issues.

 

[techfreak23]

A local Wi-Fi/timecapsule would compete with Apples iCloud backup solution

Time Capsule provided a complete backup solution that was simple to use with Time Machine, including the local backups of the mobile devices. iCloud only provides a complete backup solution for mobile devices, excluding MacBooks. Macs only have certain data synced automatically to iCloud. iCloud Drive only automatically syncs the Desktop and Documents folders. To my knowledge, there is no way to do a Time Machine backup to iCloud. That might be a possibility in the future, but as it is right now, iCloud not a competing solution.

 

[Chungry]

Time Capsule provided a complete backup solution that was simple to use with Time Machine, including the local backups of the mobile devices. iCloud only provides a complete backup solution for mobile devices, excluding MacBooks. Macs only have certain data synced automatically to iCloud. iCloud Drive only automatically syncs the Desktop and Documents folders. To my knowledge, there is no way to do a Time Machine backup to iCloud. That might be a possibility in the future, but as it is right now, iCloud not a competing solution.

It's liability mostly.

Teasing it apart more, Apple cares not one iota about any of this. They walked away from the .Mac/MobileMe backup software. They don't really care about bootable backups or issues surrounding it as it relates to Secure Enclave and M-series macs (look how long it took to "sort of" fix the superduper issue). Folks are on their own, Apple doesn't want the messy responsibilities (liabilities) of anything more complex/bigger than an iOS backup. I'd argue they aren't capable of handling something broader at scale either. They don't really get services.

 

[Kottu]

I still use my Time Machine just for mac and iPhone. My connection is 1000/1000 but I still get 650-690 mbps up and down. My asus speed sucks for me bu my son’s PC setup works fine with it.
So, a new version of AE or TM is welcome.

 

[Chungry]

I still use my Time Machine just for mac and iPhone. My connection is 1000/1000 but I still get 650-690 mbps up and down. My asus speed sucks for me bu my son’s PC setup works fine with it.
So, a new version of AE or TM is welcome.

650-690?! Friend it's time to replace your Time Machine with something newer and put it in bridge mode.

 

[lexvo]

I still have an AirPort Extreme (flat model, not the newer tower) for WiFi in my garden, keeps working well.
For the rest of my home I have Ubiquity access points.