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Good time to purchase Airport Extreme?

E

elvineet

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 17, 2006
119
18
I've been meaning to replace my unreliable $25 Belkin Wireless-G router for a while but have procrastinated on getting an AEBS. As far as the product update cycle, is this a good time to get one?

P.S. - AEBS owners - Does the AEBS have to periodically be powered off/on like virtually every wireless router I've owned for it to function properly?
 
elvineet said:
I've been meaning to replace my unreliable $25 Belkin Wireless-G router for a while but have procrastinated on getting an AEBS. As far as the product update cycle, is this a good time to get one?

P.S. - AEBS owners - Does the AEBS have to periodically be powered off/on like virtually every wireless router I've owned for it to function properly?
Click to expand...

Now is probably a very good time to buy the AEBS. They just updated it late last year.

As for your second question ... it's sort of loaded, but I'll bite. With my old router (Netgear 11g), I had to periodically reboot it, or the Comcast modem. I'd say once a month or so. I got used to this as a sort of normal routine. Internet acts weird, run upstairs and reboot. Not a big deal, but kinda annoying. But the wife would even do it, so you know that it's tolerable.

So when the Netgear died, I splurged on the AEBS. I'm loving it. I've only had one issue with it where I had to restore the settings. It happened after a particularly long blackout. Other than that, I've never had to reboot it in the 4 months that we've owned it. I should have made the switch years ago.

One last thing, make sure you have at least one computer that is running 10.5 or XP SP3. The new AEBS requires the newest version of Airport Utility, which only runs on 10.5 or XP/SP3. Kinda pissed me off when I realized it, but I was able to upgrade a PC to SP3, so no worries. This requirement seems kind of arbitrary and shuts out a lot of folks who are still on G3 Macs.

But I digress. The new AEBS is highly recommended.
 
For sure

I am new to apple products. Have an iPhone, Macbook Pro and the Airport Router and the Express. The Extreme is awesome. It just works. Never any issues. I love it. I have my whole house connected. I added the express upstairs for a boost and to be able to plug a desktop directly into it. Now I just want the Apple Cinema Display - just so expensive.
 
AEBS's are great. I want one of the new ones, but my old "flying saucer"
is now over 5 years old and won't die! Guess I'll run on g for awhile longer.
I never have to reset it.
 
same as other posters
had mine for 8 months, no problems, never had to power cycle due to router problems. (Did recycle one time but the DSL modem was the culprit the AEBS has been rock solid.)
 
Only inconvenience about the AEBS, is that every time you make a change to its configuration, it needs a restart. Like others said, you just leave it running all the time.

Since it's pretty much a set and forget kind of device, you won't be fiddling with changing settings once you have it's configuration all set.
 
I have the new dual-band AEBS and I had to reboot it the other night. But I have it hooked directly to the cable modem, so it could have been the cable modem itself that was causing problems. In any case, other than this instance, I don't believe I had to reboot it once since I got it several months ago. Highly recommended!
 
elvineet said:
Thank you all for the helpful responses. It is great to know that the AEBS has served you all reliably without needing constant reboots.

If anyone is interested in setting up a dual band WiFi network, Engadget had a great article last year. I saved it for when I get a dual band AEBS...

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/01/how-to-set-up-dual-band-wifi-and-juice-your-downloads/
Click to expand...

Thanks for that link! I was just thinking how nice it would be to have the dual-band AEBS but my AEBS is almost 3 years young and still going very strong. I might just buy a crappy $30 router and use it for 2.4Ghz connections in my home. I mean, if it doesn't work well...I'm out 30 bucks. I know a new AEBS would work for sure, but with the performance I get from the current one I really can't see spending 150-200 bucks for a new one...even though I could get a portion of that back from a C-list or eBay sale.
 
I love my AEBS, eventhough it is the older single band but I just plugged in my old G router to it so it is basically the same thing. The only thing to note is the thing runs hotter than hell, it really freaked me out at first but I got over it and have never had to power cycle it and have had it for almost a year now. Best router I have ever owned.
 
i sold my Linksys WRT160N and bought the new dual band Airport Extreme. Have never had to power it down in the month i have had it. Got a new modem from Comcast as well. My Motorola was over 3 years old and starting to have problems..
 
I highly recommend the AirPort router after switching from NetGear.

The NetGear under a heavy load would almost need a manual reboot daily. After switch to the AirPort more that 6 months ago it has been running continuously. I only turned it off/on once, and that was when we went away on vacation!!!!
 
Just bought a Netgear yesterday to serve as my 802.11g node while allowing AEBS to serve as my 5GHz 802.11n.

I am now dual-banding and enjoying the higher speeds for my Mini, Macbook and AppleTV while the PC laptop, Wii and iPhones can share the 802.11g Netgear. Very happy although, as was to be expected, the setup of the Netgear router was a pain since I had to seek out an extra ethernet cable and directly hook up my Macbook to the unit to get everything set up. Made me sorry I didn't shell out the extra dough and just buy the dual-band AEBS. ;)

But so far, nearly 24 hours and haven't have to reboot the Netgear! figers crossed. LOL
 
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