Help What is the point of having an Airport Extrme Base Station

[Mac T]

Forgive me , but i am no network fundy when it comes to MAC, but i am confused here, i purchased my two IMac’s 6 months back, I connect to the internet using my wireless Modem, my other Mac and any of my friends with Airport enabled can use my internet connection as required. I pretty much get about 15m of wireless connection throughout my home from my main IMAC using airport.
So I hear about the Airport Extreme, finally get it working after two days of technical jargon, only to find that my other Mac and my IPads cant connect to the Internet via the base station. To top it the connection is slower through the base station and i cannot log into any secure banking site. Must one enable something special for me to use the Airport extreme effectively?. So what’s the point of the base station when I can do everything without it?

 

[bruinsrme]

Now quite sure how you have your AEBS set up but I can do everything you listed.
Sounds like you have wireless security set to on.
More than likely you need to enter a security password on the devices and possibly the Mac addresses of the devices into the AEBS.

Perhaps this link will help
http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/setup.html

Also one question, what model modem are you using?

 

[MattZani]

Being honest, there is no real reason. If the coverage and speed you were getting with your modem was good enough, then thats all you needed.

an AEBS is just a wireless router, it sends out a signal the same as your modem, it can do a few other things but thats its primary basic function.

As for the problems, check its not set to N or 5Ghz only, that you're entering the passwords correctly.

No idea on the banking thing.

 

[beaner454]

Your cable modem has a built in wireless router (what the Airport Extreme Base Station is). Most modems don't have this function. So for the people who have a wire only modem, they would need to by a wireless router like the Airport Extreme to get wireless internet in their home.

Since you already have a wireless signal the Airport Extreme is redundant. It'd be similar to buying a DVR and attaching it to the Cable Box that has a DVR built in already.

If you're old setup was working I would just return/sell the Airport.

 

[OmegaRed1723]

Depending on what kind of wireless modem your cable company is using, the AEBS may make for a much better wireless router. However, in order for it to function properly, you need to set your cable modem to "bridge mode" and connect the AEBS to it via Ethernet. Bridge mode will turn the wi-fi on the modem off, and you won't have any Double NAT issues when setting up the AEBS.

It's going back a couple years, but when I had FiOS the wireless modem they supplied was rubbish. My throughput was so much higher once I started using the AEBS, though, as always, YMMV.