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Latest AirPort Extremes and Time Capsules Offer Improved Wi-Fi Range and Performance

revelated said:
(sigh) I've read and read but maybe I missed it.

Can someone break down a logical reason to upgrade to the newer Extreme if one already has a 2010 model?

Selling them is probably not an option since people won't justify paying Apple's prices over everyone's favorite free hotspot - linksys. Normally I could sell existing hardware to pay for new hardware. I just don't think that'll be the case here, and it'll be hard to offload otherwise.

I even know people who own Apple computers who wouldn't buy the routers.
Click to expand...

I happened to get lucky and have the 2011 come out before my 14 day return period for the 2010 AE was over, so I upgraded. I was unhappy with the range on the 2010, but the 2011 adds 1 1/2 the range in my home. Very happy with the results. Also found that my wired and wireless speeds were very close to the same. I put an iMac, MBP, PC laptop, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, 3 printers and a Blu-ray player on the network. I didn't have a single problem connecting any of them.
 
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I have a 4th gen AEBS in an 800 sq ft apt and it runs fine. I don't need anymore. I gave my parents my 3rd gen AEBS and it runs perfectly in their 2 story home. If I run across and extra 200, I may plunk down for a 5th gen. Otherwise, I'm happy with what I got.

Now if only my iPhone could work on the 5 ghz spectrum....
 
To avoid disappointment for anyone living outside the US, you should know that the Airport Extreme (and any other wifi base station) sold in your region may not have the better range than expected. While in the FCC in the US allows wifi base stations to transmit with up to 4 Watt (36dBm) EIRP in the 2.4GHz band and 0.8Watt (29dBm) in the 5GHz band, in other places like most European countries only 100mW (20dBm) is allowed. The US model Airport Extreme transmits about 0.25Watt max, depending on frequency band and channel.

I'm not sure, but it seems like that this limitation can't be overruled by loading the US firmware into the EU model of the Airport Extreme.
 
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I'm curious what exactly QoS does that makes some people not want one of these?

a cheap router might work well for some people if all their devices use 5ghz so nothing slows it down, but if their buddy comes over with 2.4 ghz you won't be able to watch your HD movie over wifi most likely until they stop using their crap, and might even have to reset the router after he leaves to make it fast again, and if you want that dual band simultaneous with another brand it's going to cost a bunch too.

Remember when regular 802.11b cost like $300 less than 10 years ago? Be happy, we're living in good times that would boggle the minds of our ancestors. Lol at people who just post angry stuff. But I thank the apple haters for helping me make $$ on aapl so many times. That's how I afford all the fancy apple stuff. If you don't think their stuff is worth it, don't buy it. If you bought one share of aapl and sat on it from 2008 till now you could sell it and have one of these puppies for less than the $300 you made on your $80 investment. I have been using apple stuff since the mac SE and love how it adds to my life, like a digital upgrade to my brain. I am just pissed I didn't buy aapl a long time ago and be retired by now...

I bet people who complain about the price spend lots on driving their suv's, going to concerts, starbucks, eating out, landline phones, newspaper subscriptions, or other stuff that americans blow their money on while bitching about the economy and being broke. It's the american way. It's all about priorities. Look how many people figure out how to afford an iphone when they probably should put the money to better use...

My old roommate was of the older generation and he bought all pc stuff, would think all my mac stuff was a ripoff compared to the specs he got for his $$, but he spent so much time battling and fighting to get his crap to work and I have had nothing but smooth sailing pretty much. Life is short, time is valuable, don't waste it waiting for slow wifi.
 
I got one last week and it's a major improvement of the D-Link it replaced. Seems to do wonders for my iPod Touch's battery life. It's been 3 full days since I last plugged it into my MacBook Pro, and it still holds a 50% charge. With the D-Link it would be down to 20 % or so now.
 
One axis or both?

Axis is singular, axes plural, so it depends if he wanted one labelled or both.

The EU low power thing (and consequently reduced range) is in many ways a good thing. While I get very limited range here in the UK on 5GHz, at least I get decent performance when I am in range. If everyone is using high power output signals you might get good range, but once everyone in your neighbourhood gets one of these or another 5GHz router, then performance is going to be very poor.

Can't comment on the new Airport Extreme as I don't have one, but looks nice, seems to perform reasonably well and unlike most other Apple products doesn't seem too overpriced for what it is (overpriced, but not as much as normal).
 
How's the wired performance of an AEBS? Everybody tests just the wireless and ignores the Ethernet performance of a router.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8L1)

KillerTree said:
$179.00 for a router. What a joke.
Click to expand...

Didn't you read this thread before posting your BS?

Besides, there are many routers in that price range.
If a 40 buck router makes you happy, stick with that!
Not everybody has your simple needs.
And most of them are willing to pay for quality.
 
I still have the original first ever one. Is this new one a big upgrade?
 
Very fast - but spotty with Lion

As advertised, the new Extreme is blazing fast and very stable. But only with my Snow Leopard Macs. I updated my MBP (2009) to Lion, and get VERY spotty signals, ranging from 4 bars to 1 bar, 20mbps to 1mbps - even as all my other devices, within 6 feet of the MBP, are humming along.

I've been on with Apple support folks, including a pretty high-level supervisor who spent almost two hours trying to diagnose and fix the problem - to no avail. Sigh.
 
ghettochris said:
I'm curious what exactly QoS does that makes some people not want one of these?

a cheap router might work well for some people if all their devices use 5ghz so nothing slows it down, but if their buddy comes over with 2.4 ghz you won't be able to watch your HD movie over wifi most likely until they stop using their crap, and might even have to reset the router after he leaves to make it fast again, and if you want that dual band simultaneous with another brand it's going to cost a bunch too.

Remember when regular 802.11b cost like $300 less than 10 years ago? Be happy, we're living in good times that would boggle the minds of our ancestors. Lol at people who just post angry stuff. But I thank the apple haters for helping me make $$ on aapl so many times. That's how I afford all the fancy apple stuff. If you don't think their stuff is worth it, don't buy it. If you bought one share of aapl and sat on it from 2008 till now you could sell it and have one of these puppies for less than the $300 you made on your $80 investment. I have been using apple stuff since the mac SE and love how it adds to my life, like a digital upgrade to my brain. I am just pissed I didn't buy aapl a long time ago and be retired by now...

I bet people who complain about the price spend lots on driving their suv's, going to concerts, starbucks, eating out, landline phones, newspaper subscriptions, or other stuff that americans blow their money on while bitching about the economy and being broke. It's the american way. It's all about priorities. Look how many people figure out how to afford an iphone when they probably should put the money to better use...

My old roommate was of the older generation and he bought all pc stuff, would think all my mac stuff was a ripoff compared to the specs he got for his $$, but he spent so much time battling and fighting to get his crap to work and I have had nothing but smooth sailing pretty much. Life is short, time is valuable, don't waste it waiting for slow wifi.
Click to expand...

the end made me lol =)
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

At the start of the year we were looking fo the next size up of car seat so we subscribed to which.co.uk to help research the safest one. At the same time they were comparing wifi routers, the airport express was the best buy with a similarly priced linksys the runner up.
I'm planning on getting the new one when I can afford it. I'm On O2 in the uk at the moment with a 'B' speed box from them. What's the best way to connect an airport to an adsl box? Just use existing one or is there a better Ethernet option? Pity AE isn't adsl too.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; nl-nl) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

I can stream 3 (h264) full hd streams at once from my 2011 TC to my 2011 mbp without any problems.
 
res1233 said:
^lol. However, this makes sense since I vaguely recall reading somewhere that this new extreme uses more power... It was probably a story on here. Also, what's AFS? Andrew File System? That exists, but... Think they mean AFP?
Click to expand...

Here, in Ottawa, Canada, AFS is the "Adult Fun Superstore"...

Ahem.. They have ads on the radio here... I swear that's how I know!!! :p
 
ghettochris said:
I'm curious what exactly QoS does that makes some people not want one of these?

a cheap router might work well for some people if all their devices use 5ghz so nothing slows it down, but if their buddy comes over with 2.4 ghz you won't be able to watch your HD movie over wifi most likely until they stop using their crap, and might even have to reset the router after he leaves to make it fast again, and if you want that dual band simultaneous with another brand it's going to cost a bunch too.

Remember when regular 802.11b cost like $300 less than 10 years ago? Be happy, we're living in good times that would boggle the minds of our ancestors. Lol at people who just post angry stuff. But I thank the apple haters for helping me make $$ on aapl so many times. That's how I afford all the fancy apple stuff. If you don't think their stuff is worth it, don't buy it. If you bought one share of aapl and sat on it from 2008 till now you could sell it and have one of these puppies for less than the $300 you made on your $80 investment. I have been using apple stuff since the mac SE and love how it adds to my life, like a digital upgrade to my brain. I am just pissed I didn't buy aapl a long time ago and be retired by now...

I bet people who complain about the price spend lots on driving their suv's, going to concerts, starbucks, eating out, landline phones, newspaper subscriptions, or other stuff that americans blow their money on while bitching about the economy and being broke. It's the american way. It's all about priorities. Look how many people figure out how to afford an iphone when they probably should put the money to better use...

My old roommate was of the older generation and he bought all pc stuff, would think all my mac stuff was a ripoff compared to the specs he got for his $$, but he spent so much time battling and fighting to get his crap to work and I have had nothing but smooth sailing pretty much. Life is short, time is valuable, don't waste it waiting for slow wifi.
Click to expand...

In short, QoS prioritizes the packets on your network. So for example, if you are running VoIP at home it will help to ensure high call quality and not have it sound like a bad cell phone.
 
I just moved and got Verizon Fios internet service. It came with a modem/router combo unit and I was going to just use that even though I had an Airport Extreme from my previous place.

After a couple of speed tests I realized my wireless was way slower than when I plugged it in directly. They only thing I can assume is that this combo unit was not broadcasting N or was purposely limiting my speed. I tried making the Verizon unit only use N but between the Windows-only setup software and the frustration it was causing me when it stopped working completely after switching to 'N-Only performance mode,' I had enough.

Needless to say I disabled the wireless on the unit and plugged in my Airport Extreme. Instantly got 10mbps faster wireless speeds.
 
These are indeed great routers. I had a 2007 model running nonstop under a pretty heavy workload up until yesterday, when for some reason it started flaking out with its wireless speeds. No matter what I did, its wireless transfer would drop from near nothing, back to full speed, then back to nothing constantly. The new 2011 AEBS has been rock solid at the full 50/5 we pay for.

My only beef with the new router is that it makes a buzzing noise under any wireless load. It sounds almost like it's writing to a hard drive. Very strange. I even returned the first one I bought yesterday and swapped it out for another one, brought it home, and it did the exact same thing. It's very audible from a few feet away in a quiet office. The old 2007 model never made a sound. The message forums here and at Apple.com have a few threads where people have the same issue I have, and my best guess from reading all of the posts is that all dual-band Airport Extremes have this noise, some are louder than others, and some people can hear it while others can't due to the location of their hardware, etc.
 
My AE is from 2010 and is dual-band, it is dead silent. I typically have it amongst other electronics with my home theater equipment but have never heard a noise from it.
 
bigcat318 said:
My AE is from 2010 and is dual-band, it is dead silent. I typically have it amongst other electronics with my home theater equipment but have never heard a noise from it.
Click to expand...

At this point I have no idea what to make of it. There are multiple instances of people buying and returning 3 or 4 of these routers and having all of them make the same noise, then there are others that report theirs are dead silent.

At first I thought it was just the brand new 2011 model, but my research took me to posts about the very first dual band AEBS introduced in 2009 making the noise.
 
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