New Airport Extreme? Worth It? ...turns out Oh Yes!

[Sir Ruben]

After a lot of thought I decided against the AE. Reasons were lack of configurable options, no QoS, no USB3, not WiFi certified (its draft AC), not one of the best performing AC routers, and the final deal breaker...even though you can attach a network drive this is purely for storage only, you cannot stream to another device. So I would imagine streaming a movie from it to the Playstation 3 or jailbroken Apple TV would not be an option. This for me, is completely useless.

From CNET's review:

"You can't back up a connected Mac to a USB external drive using Time Machine, nor can you stream digital content stored on the drive to other devices in the network. This means if you put music, photos, or videos on the connected USB external drive, they won't be available to network media streamers, such as a Roku, a WD TV, or even an Apple TV. Almost all existing routers with USB storage offer media streaming"

As much as I lusted for it initially I now think its a seriously overpriced and under spec'ed (but very nice looking) router. This router just isnt up to the task if you have a serious home network setup, its very much form over function, fine if you just need a simple wifi setup, certainly nothing 'extreme' about it. The search for the ultimate router continues.

 

[priitv8]

So I would imagine streaming a movie from it to the Playstation 3 or jailbroken Apple TV would not be an option. This for me, is completely useless.

Just go for a DLNA-certified NAS and report us back your success. As much as I read the forums, DLNA sounds only good on paper. E.g D-Link NAS-es (yes, I own one of those as well, to host my media library) all have problems with streaming to Sony and Samsung TV-s, although both products read as "DLNA certified" on the box. I tried it shortly and now have completely gone the AirPlay route. I really can also live with the AirPort as being a sturdy access point and router, leaving the TC part to take TimeMachine copies only.
PS You'd want to back up your files and TimeMachine sets to 2 different disks anyway, because TC doesn't offer any disk redundancy either...

 

[John Kotches]

Sir Ruben:

No one has a WiFi certified AC device on the market yet. So I don't think it's fair to single out Apple on that count.

 

[Robster3]

As much as I lusted for it initially I now think its a seriously overpriced and under spec'ed (but very nice looking) router. This router just isnt up to the task if you have a serious home network setup, its very much form over function, fine if you just need a simple wifi setup, certainly nothing 'extreme' about it. The search for the ultimate router continues.

Lusted for a wifi router

Best wifi router I have had for my home network.

 

[jmpage2]

Lusted for a wifi router

Best wifi router I have had for my home network.

That's good. At least understand that it has serious limitations for those with anything other than a very simple home network. In my case it also had tons of issues.

 

[H00513R]

Sir Ruben:

No one has a WiFi certified AC device on the market yet. So I don't think it's fair to single out Apple on that count.

True, and that's why I purchased my new one knowing that it would be somewhat future-proof for a while.

FWIW it also plays nicely with the Moto Surfboard 6121.

 

[Sir Ruben]

Sir Ruben:

No one has a WiFi certified AC device on the market yet. So I don't think it's fair to single out Apple on that count.

Ah I stand corrected. A lot of AC routers have a blanking sticker on the box blanking out the wifi certified logo. The Belkin AC1000 does not blank out the certified logo on the box hence I though that it was certified.

Saying that I remember having a draft N router and then a wifi certified N router and there was quite a difference between the two (range & stability), however everyones experiences will be different.

The reviews do state however that despite its high price the Airport Extreme is not one of the better performing AC routers on the market. Something you wont really notice now as there are virtually no AC devices to actually test it with.

 

[John Kotches]

Sir Ruben:

You can't certify to a draft standard. You have to certify to the finalized standard which is expected to be finalized and ratified in early 2014.

If you look closely, it might show B/G/N on the WiFi logo.

 

[osplo]

You can't certify to a draft standard. You have to certify to the finalized standard which is expected to be finalized and ratified in early 2014.

But then the AirPort Extreme will be firmware updatable to the standard when it is published, right?

 

[Weaselboy]

But then the AirPort Extreme will be firmware updatable to the standard when it is published, right?

Presumably. This is how it went with Draft N.

 

[osplo]

Presumably. This is how it went with Draft N.

Great, thanks. It is also what I expect... I really want to buy this thing but I need a push.

Anyone here got better wi fi speeds for ipads / iphones with the new router compared to the previous one?

 

[priitv8]

Anyone here got better wi fi speeds for ipads / iphones with the new router compared to the previous one?

The speed is really a limitation of the wireless radio on iPhone/iPad, not that of AirPort basestation.

 

[Wispy]

The speed is really a limitation of the wireless radio on iPhone/iPad, not that of AirPort basestation.

Yes, but connection of Airport with Apple Devices are very good and stable.

 

[osplo]

The speed is really a limitation of the wireless radio on iPhone/iPad, not that of AirPort basestation.

Yes, but also my iPad wifi connection is faster near the router. It can reach 30-36 Mb/s. If I am far away, it goes slower.

My point is that maybe the new AirPort, being more powerful, can reach the maximum potential of the iPad/iPhone even when the devices are not so close to the router.

This alone could be a reason to buy it.

A wife needs reasons, you know.

 

[dormidus]

speed between 2 aiports extreme

Currently I have two airports 4th gen. connected, one is creating the wifi network and the other is expanding it. I have connected to the first airport the mac mini and to the second a multimedia hard drive. The transfer speed between my computer and the hard drive is aporx. 5,8 MB/s, 1G every 3 minutes more or less.

If I buy the new airport extreme ac, the speed will be better between them when copying files?. What speed can i expect ?.

Sorry for my english.

 

[Sir Ruben]

Yes, but connection of Airport with Apple Devices are very good and stable.

It would be no more stable than any other good quality router. The fact that the Airport is made by Apple doesn't mean it will work any better with an iPad or an iPhone. WiFi is WiFi. There are however good routers and bad routers, and the Airport is a good router, but not the best router (feature wise and AC performance wise).

 

[osplo]

Airport is a good router, but not the best router (feature wise and AC performance wise).

But it is the best in design and usability. IMHO, other routers I have to deal with were a pain.

Having said that, I liked more the old design (MacMini style) than the new tower style, but it still beats other networking gear.

 

[Sir Ruben]

But it is the best in design and usability. IMHO, other routers I have to deal with were a pain.

Having said that, I liked more the old design (MacMini style) than the new tower style, but it still beats other networking gear.

Design wise it's very nice and I know a lot of people will go for form over function. That's perfectly fine of course if you want to do little more than walk around the house browsing on the iPad.

Useability though I'm not so sure. Easy to administer? Yes. However it lacks advanced features. Besides I can't honestly say I have ever struggled with the internal page of a netgear, it's pretty straightforward.

 

[Apple Fan 21]

Now that Apple has released specs on the iPhone 5s and 5c and they will NOT have wifi AC, I'm wondering why they upgraded their router? iPhone competition (HTC One, GS4, Moto X) have AC. The final reason for me NOT to upgrade yet, even though I really wanted to

 

[Sir Ruben]

Now that Apple has released specs on the iPhone 5s and 5c and they will NOT have wifi AC, I'm wondering why they upgraded their router? iPhone competition (HTC One, GS4, Moto X) have AC. The final reason for me NOT to upgrade yet, even though I really wanted to

Yep pretty useless seeing as your iPad and iPhone cant even make use of it. Oh and the PS4 and Xbox One have also skipped AC and they have around a 10 year lifespan. I really cant see much point in buyingf an AC router now when most of your household gadgets cant make full use of it. Except maybe the Mac refreshes and PC's with AC cards in them.

 

[osplo]

Yep pretty useless seeing as your iPad and iPhone cant even make use of it. Oh and the PS4 and Xbox One have also skipped AC and they have around a 10 year lifespan. I really cant see much point in buyingf an AC router now when most of your household gadgets cant make full use of it. Except maybe the Mac refreshes and PC's with AC cards in them.

Well, let's see what they announce for the new iPads. If they have ac I'm in.

And probably they will, i think they didn't put ac on the 5s for battery reasons. Most other phones such as the SG4 are so enormous than they could well have a bigger battery.

 

[mneblett]

Now that Apple has released specs on the iPhone 5s and 5c and they will NOT have wifi AC, I'm wondering why they upgraded their router?

i think they didn't put ac on the 5s for battery reasons.

I'm guessing this, plus additional ac component costs, and the iPhone 5 not really getting much benefit from ac vs. n as a practical matter.

Why update the Airport/TC with ac? At a minimum, the ac Macbook Air and (about to be released) ac Macbook Pro. Both of these OSX machines see (or will see) significant, real-world benefit from a 3x faster connection because, unlike the iPhone, Airs and Pros often move a upwards of GB's of bytes, and you can really "feel" the difference. This is already proven with the ac Air; no reason to expect the ac MBP's to be any different. It is the rare iPhone user that moves even hundreds of MB's, let alone GB's, over a wireless connection.

 

[GabeG]

Does it still have the annoying buzzing noise like the 5th generation have? When using wifi and macbook pro combo.

 

[johnmacward]

Hi all, as regards the the fact that it's draft at the moment, does that mean there's a chance it will stay draft forever or can a firmware upgrade bring it to full standard?

I would buy it straight away if I knew a future firmware upgrade would standardise it however if the hardware is also of draft specification then I'll wait.

 

[Weaselboy]

Hi all, as regards the the fact that it's draft at the moment, does that mean there's a chance it will stay draft forever or can a firmware upgrade bring it to full standard?

I would buy it straight away if I knew a future firmware upgrade would standardise it however if the hardware is also of draft specification then I'll wait.

Of course nobody knows for sure... but when we went through this with 802.11N a few years ago, Apple released a product with the draft N spec then later updated firmware to bring it to the full spec once it was certified. I think it is reasonable to assume the same will happen this time around.