Apple's Mystery 'Network Adapter' Found in FCC Filing Likely for Internal Use Only

[PinkyMacGodess]

As @PinkyMacGodess says it's not likely happening.

Amazing that you still make them work with modern networks, wow. But I agree, it's sad that Apple didn't released any new versions of the Extreme's.
Mine was useless for quite some time back. New wifi is way better, and I have no problem with my set of D-Link's.
I'm really happy however that my 2x AirPort Express still works for streaming to old speakers. HomePod Mini's are not bad, and I'll probably buy more of them when Apple discontinue the Expresses that I use for my 4 x Creative speakers.

Yes, the Express AP's were amazing. Although out of four I owned, one rather dramatically blew a capacitor one evening as we all sat down for dinner. **BANG**, magic smoke, pieces of plastic for added effect. Quite dramatic. 💃🏻

But never went anywhere without one. (The drama queen was the older style that looked like a power brick, BTW) Wish I had picked up a few more of the last model.

 

[redpandadev]

My AirPort 2TB Timecapsule is still going well. How I’d love to have an SSD or NVMe replacement available, for when the drive does eventually go!

You can replace the drive with any SATA drive, including SSD. There is a 3.5mm bay and a SATA connector internally.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

You can replace the drive with any SATA drive, including SSD. There is a 3.5mm bay and a SATA connector internally.

The only drawback to them is they get HOT HOT HOT, and, in my experience, 'cheaper' drives don't survive being entrapped in that box. It needs an active cooling mechanism. After swapping in three different drives, two being 'enterprise grade', I gave up and scrapped it. It WAS a great idea. It was a wifi NAS box, and at the time one of few out there, and fed into their TimeMachine system. I'm sorry they gave it all up.

At a Cisco conference, their CEO said that Cisco will get into any market that their customers drive them to because having their customers buying products from other vendors means they lose their focus. It allows them to think what else is Cisco not doing for me/us'. For myself, I have had issues with most of the non-Apple wifi gear. It's been a frustrating experience. I'm currently using the, ironically, Cisco Business wifi products and having issues with it too. People are frustrated, and wasting time and money on products that don't serve them. Apple missed the chance to be the 'end all, be all' and tighten their hold on their customer base by instead of killing their whole wifi product range, by coming out with KILLER WIFI GEAR! They *could* have done it and very easily. The Express is the go-to for portable wifi to many people. The HDD Extreme could have become a true WIFI NAS box, with expandability, speed, security as its selling points. Heck, I knew Windows devotees that carried those small capable Express APs in their notebook bags. And Apple gave it all away, for nothing. Sad... /soapbox

 

[loby]

The only drawback to them is they get HOT HOT HOT, and, in my experience, 'cheaper' drives don't survive being entrapped in that box. It needs an active cooling mechanism. After swapping in three different drives, two being 'enterprise grade', I gave up and scrapped it. It WAS a great idea. It was a wifi NAS box, and at the time one of few out there, and fed into their TimeMachine system. I'm sorry they gave it all up.

At a Cisco conference, their CEO said that Cisco will get into any market that their customers drive them to because having their customers buying products from other vendors means they lose their focus. It allows them to think what else is Cisco not doing for me/us'. For myself, I have had issues with most of the non-Apple wifi gear. It's been a frustrating experience. I'm currently using the, ironically, Cisco Business wifi products and having issues with it too. People are frustrated, and wasting time and money on products that don't serve them. Apple missed the chance to be the 'end all, be all' and tighten their hold on their customer base by instead of killing their whole wifi product range, by coming out with KILLER WIFI GEAR! They *could* have done it and very easily. The Express is the go-to for portable wifi to many people. The HDD Extreme could have become a true WIFI NAS box, with expandability, speed, security as its selling points. Heck, I knew Windows devotees that carried those small capable Express APs in their notebook bags. And Apple gave it all away, for nothing. Sad... /soapbox

Yes...but Tim Apple is driven by sales numbers and marketing and this concept for them is not worth their efforts $ anymore. Design-manufacturing and supply chain costs drive the big apple now. Understandable since its CEO comes from the supply chain, but from a user experience...not wonderful.

I have three Extremes and one Express, but needed MESH due to the large work facility with two floors. When moving to other locations in the building, it would cut off etc. Was waiting for Apple to upgrade to MESH with time machine functionality...but never happened... very upset..

I still have them (put had to move on) but want to try putting a SSD in to see how it goes. I am sure now that prices for SSDs have come down, it would be worth a try. My Apple WIFI before "Just Worked" literally and have ALWAYS had issues with other venders gear. Don't want to use non-Apple routers, but what can we do...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Yes...but Tim Apple is driven by sales numbers and marketing and this concept for them is not worth their efforts $ anymore. Design-manufacturing and supply chain costs drive the big apple now. Understandable since its CEO comes from the supply chain, but from a user experience...not wonderful.

I have three Extremes and one Express, but needed MESH due to the large work facility with two floors. When moving to other locations in the building, it would cut off etc. Was waiting for Apple to upgrade to MESH with time machine functionality...but never happened... very upset..

I still have them (put had to move on) but want to try putting a SSD in to see how it goes. I am sure now that prices for SSDs have come down, it would be worth a try. My Apple WIFI before "Just Worked" literally and have ALWAYS had issues with other venders gear. Don't want to use non-Apple routers, but what can we do...

I was able to setup each one as a separate network and give each unit the same SSID, and password, effectively 'meshing' them. One drawback is I had to hard wire each of them, but it seemed to work really exceptionally well. I'm sure they overlapped and all, but the setup worked a lot better than the current Cisco Business setup does. If it wasn't for the security issues, I'd still have them (provided they didn't pop a capacitor)

 

[loby]

I was able to setup each one as a separate network and give each unit the same SSID, and password, effectively 'meshing' them. One drawback is I had to hard wire each of them, but it seemed to work really exceptionally well. I'm sure they overlapped and all, but the setup worked a lot better than the current Cisco Business setup does. If it wasn't for the security issues, I'd still have them (provided they didn't pop a capacitor)

I think the Apple Extreme's and Expresses still get security updates don't they? Anyone know?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I think the Apple Extreme's and Expresses still get security updates don't they? Anyone know?

I think they are 'retired', and don't get updates anymore. That was what stated me on the search for other wifi gear. I don't know why wifi is so hard here, except that the builder used steel studs in non-load bearing walls here. I just seem to have issues with areas that I am sure do not have those studs. Like the Cisco Business gear, the 'child' nodes don't need a wire, but they seem to have issues connecting to the 'parent'. Like the children *can't* have a hard wired connection to mesh for some bizarre reason. It would seem that using the port for backhaul would make complete total sense, at least to me... I had a commercial grade Cisco AP that covered the whole house, but they dropped the entire model line so I dumped it. (Should have kept it I guess)

The Apple Extremes worked really well, and I miss them, but they started having issues with certain devices, and the bandwidth just didn't seem to be there compared to quoted bandwidth speeds of other brands. *COUGH* *COUGH*

EDIT: Just remembered, I had an Express that showed it needed an update, but getting it to update was a herculean process. I don't know if it ever applied in the end. There were two versions of the last Express model. Some had issues apparently with some updates. At least that was what I was lead to believe. It would be great if Apple DID continue updates, but eventually even with full updates, the hardware would become a problem. Obviously from supported protocols...

 

[loby]

I think I am going to pull one out and see if there are any updates as of lately.

I kept all of mine because for some reason I thought I might use them for something later. Want to try to put a SSD in one of the newer models I bought before Apple discontinued. The issue I had (and the main reason I switched to something else) was that at night I would wake up when the hard drive kicked in to backup. Could hear it spin up even it was in another room.

Bummer that Apple canned their routers.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I think I am going to pull one out and see if there are any updates as of lately.

I kept all of mine because for some reason I thought I might use them for something later. Want to try to put a SSD in one of the newer models I bought before Apple discontinued. The issue I had (and the main reason I switched to something else) was that at night I would wake up when the hard drive kicked in to backup. Could hear it spin up even it was in another room.

Bummer that Apple canned their routers.

I use the last two Express APs for a wifi lawn irrigation controller, and the wifi on the generator we have. They are at opposite ends of the house, so running cables was no problem, and they work perfectly. Neither product has big time security and I think are 2.4 too. Rather light duty for the Express, but glad I had them. Still wish I had a couple more, but I'm good. I had thought of using an Extreme in the middle and two Express' for extenders. Oh well... What might have been...

 

[ersatzplanet]

To me a AppleTV with an Extreme built in, a hard drive for media and backup (ports for external ones too),and a bunch of network ports on it, built into a Mac MINI chassis would be perfect. Stream from the net and off the drive with your own libraries. A true home hub.