Best WI-FI router for new iMac?

[MiniD3]

Hi Guys,
You guessed it, the new 27" iMac arrived today and for the most part, all good!

First thing I noticed was that internet connection really slow, was expecting a lot more from my new maxed out iMac,

I re-booted the router and it has improved somewhat,
The router must be 4-5 years old now so a change might good in any case

Is there a particular brand and model that is most suitable for Macs?
Regards,
Gary
PS: I did a search of the forums here and the only thing that gave a slight improvement was a re-boot of the router

 

[Serban]

i was in your steps too...i had a d-link for 4 years and my imac/macbook wifi worked with 25mbs and from almost 2 weeks i have the new 2T Time capusle and i have 51-52 mbs. I guess the new apple routers does improve performance for those who has the devices NOT in the same room with the router,like me.

 

[MiniD3]

i was in your steps too...i had a d-link for 4 years and my imac/macbook wifi worked with 25mbs and from almost 2 weeks i have the new 2T Time capusle and i have 51-52 mbs. I guess the new apple routers does improve performance for those who has the devices NOT in the same room with the router,like me.

Thank you,
Will check them out
....Gary

 

[ColdCase]

The apple branded Airport Extremes or Time Capsule work seemlessly with the Mac and are reliable. The just released version provides just a bit more performance than the previous generation devices. Great for a home network, but their built in firewall may not as configureable as some geeks would like.

Except for time machine backups, there are routers that work just as well for less money.

 

[MiniD3]

The apple branded Airport Extremes or Time Capsule work seemlessly with the Mac and are reliable. The just released version provides just a bit more performance than the previous generation devices. Great for a home network, but their built in firewall may not as configureable as some geeks would like.

Except for time machine backups, there are routers that work just as well for less money.

Just had a look,
OOPS!
Just realised I need a cable wifi modem
....Gary

 

[ColdCase]

You don't have to use their equipment. The cable company will give/lease you a bridge cable modem, and then you connect whatever router you desire to the modem. Common practice. Depending on cable company, you can buy/provide your own modem, which will usually pay off in 10 months or so. The Motorola SB6141 is a good one that many use.

If you are bundling internet/voice/TV then you probably better off using the cable company equipment, but you can always set the cable box to bridge mode and use your own router. Several of us have done that for years as often the built in router leaves much to be desired.

 

[MiniD3]

You don't have to use their equipment. The cable company will give/lease you a bridge cable modem, and then you connect whatever router you desire to the modem. Common practice. Depending on cable company, you can buy/provide your own modem, which will usually pay off in 10 months or so. The Motorola SB6141 is a good one that many use.

If you are bundling internet/voice/TV then you probably better off using the cable company equipment, but you can always set the cable box to bridge mode and use your own router. Several of us have done that for years as often the built in router leaves much to be desired.

Tks for the heads-up
Actually, I think this one is Motorola, must have a look in the morning,
....Gary

 

[Julien]

You don't have to use their equipment. The cable company will give/lease you a bridge cable modem, and then you connect whatever router you desire to the modem. Common practice. Depending on cable company, you can buy/provide your own modem, which will usually pay off in 10 months or so. The Motorola SB6141 is a good one that many use...

Carful on absolute type US advice. He is in Australia so the laws are different. He may very well be able to do this but he is not covered by US laws and needs to check first.

 

[opinio]

Tks for the heads-up
Actually, I think this one is Motorola, must have a look in the morning,
....Gary

Just confirming you are on cable yes? I say that only because cable is not so common in Australia.

If your on cable, you will have been supplied with a modem from Telstra or Optus, most likely Motorola. You don't need any other modem. In fact you have to search hard just to buy one. Just plug an AirPort Extreme into it. As noted above,you can run the cable modem in bridge and the extreme as the primary router. You simply need to login to the modem to do this. I much prefer to run the modem in bridge and get the extreme to do everything.

If your on ADSL then similar to above.

If your on the NBN (National Broadband Network), which is fibre, then you don't need a modem. There is already a network termination device hard wired to the fibre on your wall. The NTD is effectively a modem. Simply plug in the extreme to the active port (usually UNI D1). I'm on the NBN and get 95Mbps down and 38Mbps up on the extreme. A lot of routers cannot handle that throughput on the WAN port but the extreme eats it up.

The NBN is moving to gigabit in December and the extreme is only one of a few routers that can run at that speed on WAN throughput (906Mbps).

http://digitaldreamer.com.au/nbn-ready-routers-10-routers-tested-for-speed/

This review is on the last model of the extreme. I have both old and current and they are both capable.

But to answer your question, get the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule. It works well on Cable and ADSL and it will also work perfectly on the NBN if/when you get it. A few of he ISPs actually sell the extreme as their router for the premium service on the NBN because most of the routers cannot handle the speed.

 

[MiniD3]

Just confirming you are on cable yes? I say that only because cable is not so common in Australia.

If your on cable, you will have been supplied with a modem from Telstra or Optus, most likely Motorola. You don't need any other modem. In fact you have to search hard just to buy one. Just plug an AirPort Extreme into it. As noted above,you can run the cable modem in bridge and the extreme as the primary router. You simply need to login to the modem to do this. I much prefer to run the modem in bridge and get the extreme to do everything.

If your on ADSL then similar to above.

If your on the NBN (National Broadband Network), which is fibre, then you don't need a modem. There is already a network termination device hard wired to the fibre on your wall. The NTD is effectively a modem. Simply plug in the extreme to the active port (usually UNI D1). I'm on the NBN and get 95Mbps down and 38Mbps up on the extreme. A lot of routers cannot handle that throughput on the WAN port but the extreme eats it up.

The NBN is moving to gigabit in December and the extreme is only one of a few routers that can run at that speed on WAN throughput (906Mbps).

http://digitaldreamer.com.au/nbn-ready-routers-10-routers-tested-for-speed/

This review is on the last model of the extreme. I have both old and current and they are both capable.

But to answer your question, get the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule. It works well on Cable and ADSL and it will also work perfectly on the NBN if/when you get it. A few of he ISPs actually sell the extreme as their router for the premium service on the NBN because most of the routers cannot handle the speed.

Thank for your detailed reply,
Much appreciated, Im just an old geriatric thats not up to pace with technology but love it anyway

My terminology may not be right but Ill give it a go,
When I first got on the internet, (sometime in the 80's),
Cable TV around Adelaide was very popular, my provider, Telstra said that we could get cable internet through the same cable if it was running down our street, so, thats the way I went, and Telstra supplied a cable modem
Since then, they replaced it with a wireless/cable Modem
The wife's PC is connected via an ethernet cable and my iMac, (in another room), is wirelessly connected
We have a new Apple store here in Adelaide, they do sell a lot of other products may sell modems?
Regards,
Gary

 

[opinio]

Thank for your detailed reply,
Much appreciated, Im just an old geriatric thats not up to pace with technology but love it anyway

My terminology may not be right but Ill give it a go,
When I first got on the internet, (sometime in the 80's),
Cable TV around Adelaide was very popular, my provider, Telstra said that we could get cable internet through the same cable if it was running down our street, so, thats the way I went, and Telstra supplied a cable modem
Since then, they replaced it with a wireless/cable Modem
The wife's PC is connected via an ethernet cable and my iMac, (in another room), is wirelessly connected
We have a new Apple store here in Adelaide, they do sell a lot of other products may sell modems?
Regards,
Gary

Ok, so you have a standard Telstra Cable modem with WiFi capability. All you need to do is run an ethernet cable from the port in the cable modem to the WAN port in an AirPort extreme. The Extreme will pick up the connection. That is the most simple setup.

You can leave it like that, but you will have two WiFI networks, one on the cable modem and one on the Extreme. I feel it is best to disable the wifi on the cable modem so everything is run from the extreme. You should have a web based login to the modem to disable WiFi in it. If it is not disabled, it won't matter, it just means you have two WiFi points.

Just to be clear as well, you need the cable modem. The Extreme is not a modem, it is a router. You need both. Although on the NBN you will only need the Extreme.

My preferd setup on your configuration is the have the modem set to bridge. This means it simply feeds the internet directly to the Extreme. The extreme then feeds IP addresses and internet to various devices via WiFi or ethernet. You can set the modem to bridge by loging into the web interface.

There will be a login ip address something like 192.168.1.1. It will be in the manual or do a quick check on the net with the model number of the modem.

 

[Robster3]

Ok, so you have a standard Telstra Cable modem with WiFi capability. All you need to do is run an ethernet cable from the port in the cable modem to the WAN port in an AirPort extreme. The Extreme will pick up the connection. That is the most simple setup.

You can leave it like that, but you will have two WiFI networks, one on the cable modem and one on the Extreme. I feel it is best to disable the wifi on the cable modem so everything is run from the extreme. You should have a web based login to the modem to disable WiFi in it. If it is not disabled, it won't matter, it just means you have two WiFi points.

Just to be clear as well, you need the cable modem. The Extreme is not a modem, it is a router. You need both. Although on the NBN you will only need the Extreme.

My preferd setup on your configuration is the have the modem set to bridge. This means it simply feeds the internet directly to the Extreme. The extreme then feeds IP addresses and internet to various devices via WiFi or ethernet. You can set the modem to bridge by loging into the web interface.

There will be a login ip address something like 192.168.1.1. It will be in the manual or do a quick check on the net with the model number of the modem.

I just did exactly this but with a tp-link modem all works perfect with 2 iMacs, 2 mbpr, iPads/iphones.

We are getting NBN in 2 weeks, regarding needing the extreme only, any idea how that would work with a Hills Home Hub, I know the NBN boxes connect to it in our garage. Modem is now connected to data socket in office, will the extreme work into the data socket or will i still have to use tp-link modem with it as now set up.

Bit off topic, for those out of Aus NBN National Broadband Network, fast fibre network 100/40 supposedly.

 

[opinio]

I just did exactly this but with a tp-link modem all works perfect with 2 iMacs, 2 mbpr, iPads/iphones.

We are getting NBN in 2 weeks, regarding needing the extreme only, any idea how that would work with a Hills Home Hub, I know the NBN boxes connect to it in our garage. Modem is now connected to data socket in office, will the extreme work into the data socket or will i still have to use tp-link modem with it as now set up.

Bit off topic, for those out of Aus NBN National Broadband Network, fast fibre network 100/40 supposedly.

I'm not sure about the Hills Home Hub.

Basically if you want to use the AirPort Extreme (AE) on the NBN you set it up as follows:

Run CAT6 from the UNI-D port (UNI-D1 usually) to the WAN port in the AE.

If your ISP uses IPoE on NBN then you simply set the connection in the 'Internet' tab to 'DHCP. Telstra and iiNet use IPoE.

If your ISP uses PPPoE on NBN then you set the connection in the 'Internet' Tab to 'PPPoE' and input your user and pass. Internode for example uses PPPoE.

With both the above setups sorted, you then set the DHCP and NAT in the 'Network" tab in the AirPort App to 'On'. And obviously set up the WiFi network.

Then you're done. Simple.

In relation to home network options...

Run CAT6 ethernet to computers, rooms etc from the back of the Extreme. I have two cables running to two AirPort Expresses in the far corners of my house. I also have another Extreme (apart from the one connected to the NTD) as a central switch and wifi point. The all work seemlessly together.

I would use the wiring from the hills home hub but I am not sure about the hardware? If it includes a router then you may end up with two networks (DHCP and NAT). There is not problem using CAT cabling to rooms. You could even put Expresses at the end of some of the cabling to give good WiFi.

VOIP is an issue. The Extreme does not support VOIP (no QoS or VOIP RJ12 port), although you can get an ATA that allows you to plug in your analogue phone to the Extreme. You can also run a Gigaset C610 on an Extreme without an ATA. I run a Skype Dual 4088 phone with a Skype number on the Extreme no problems.

Try to keep it simple: NTD to Extreme then the Extreme to wired points or computers or AirPort Expresses.

----------

Bit off topic, for those out of Aus NBN National Broadband Network, fast fibre network 100/40 supposedly.

I get those speeds

 

[MiniD3]

Ok, so you have a standard Telstra Cable modem with WiFi capability. All you need to do is run an ethernet cable from the port in the cable modem to the WAN port in an AirPort extreme. The Extreme will pick up the connection. That is the most simple setup.

You can leave it like that, but you will have two WiFI networks, one on the cable modem and one on the Extreme. I feel it is best to disable the wifi on the cable modem so everything is run from the extreme. You should have a web based login to the modem to disable WiFi in it. If it is not disabled, it won't matter, it just means you have two WiFi points.

Just to be clear as well, you need the cable modem. The Extreme is not a modem, it is a router. You need both. Although on the NBN you will only need the Extreme.

My preferd setup on your configuration is the have the modem set to bridge. This means it simply feeds the internet directly to the Extreme. The extreme then feeds IP addresses and internet to various devices via WiFi or ethernet. You can set the modem to bridge by loging into the web interface.

There will be a login ip address something like 192.168.1.1. It will be in the manual or do a quick check on the net with the model number of the modem.

That makes sense actually,
So, if I update my old modem, and get an airport extreme, I'm all good!
Regards,
Gary