are any of you using an airport express as your only wireless router?

[dfinn]

i was checking these out today at compusa and they look pretty cool. What I was wondering is if I could get away with having this as my only wireless router. I'm assuming it will work for basic things but how about security features that you get in something like a linksys router? MAC address filtering, port forwarding, DMZ, 128-bit WEP, WPA??? can it do any of those?

 

[Applespider]

I'm assuming it will work for basic things but how about security features that you get in something like a linksys router? MAC address filtering, port forwarding, DMZ, 128-bit WEP, WPA??? can it do any of those?

Does all of those - they're all set up through the Airport Admin Setup Utility which Apple very helpfully walks you through when you plug it in.

You can close your network, add your MAC access list, forward ports and add WEP, WPA, WPA2 as you like. And just to be that little bit more useful, you can wire it to your stereo for Airtunes and your printer for wireless printing.

 

[dfinn]

Does all of those - they're all set up through the Airport Admin Setup Utility which Apple very helpfully walks you through when you plug it in.

You can close your network, add your MAC access list, forward ports and add WEP, WPA, WPA2 as you like. And just to be that little bit more useful, you can wire it to your stereo for Airtunes and your printer for wireless printing.

well, hot damn. I was going to replace my old netgear soon anyways because it only does B, so it's starting to sound like I can just get a single AE and that will securely allow me to have a G network, as well as stream music through my home theater. How's the range compared to some of the latest netgear and linksys products?

 

[debroglie]

I'm using an AE as my only router, and it works great. Like the other poster said, it does all of those things that you asked about and more.

As far as range, it is about on par with other Apple routers, which is to say that it is satisfactory, but nothing spectacular.

 

[mad jew]

I have a single Express for music, printing, internet and general networking but then I have a second simply to extend my range to the rest of my house. They're awesome, get one.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Well, yes and no. I have two separate wireless networks in the living room:

G: I have an AirPort Express set up as a G-only network to provide networking and AirTunes to my iBook.

B: Then I have an old AirPort "UFO" base station to provide a B-network for my girlfriends Pismo.

The Pismo can also access AirTunes as I've enabled AirTunes over the ethernet port, too. And the two bases are connected to the same switch.