Question about Airport Ex.

[pantagruel]

Im confused about airport extreme, I know that the card is different than the old airport ones, but will the extreme base work (to the full "extreme" extent) with any mac like the iMacs or the Cube? I know nothing about Airport wifi stuff so this might sound stupid.
can if I buy a new extreme ready powerbook do I need a new extreme ready iMac (for instance) or does the base basically work the same and its only the card that is a different size?
thanks gang,

 

[losfp]

Airport (802.11b) and Airport Extreme (802.11g) gear will work happily with each other, but the connection will only be as fast as the slowest component you have.

ie:

Air - Air - 11mbps
AirE - Air - 11mbps
AirE - AirE - 55mbps

if that makes sense.

 

[AnotherMortal]

Airport Extreme Compatibility

The original Airport uses a protocol called 802.11b. This is a wireless standard used by most PCs as well. Its maximum bandwidth is 11Mbps

The new Airport Extreme uses a protocol called 802.11g, whose bandwidth is 54Mbps. and is backward compatible with 802.11b, BUT at the slower speed.

So you can use a new AlBook with airport extreme, an old iMac with the original airport card, and a Cube with an original airport card, and the AlBook will operate at 54Mbps, and the rest at 11Mbps.

Of course, 54Mbps and 11Mbps are theoretical maximums.

 

[P-Worm]

I have a question:

At Mac Zone it appears that Airport Extreme will work with older machines, my quicksilver for instance. It said that it comes with software for it. Do I have this right? If I get the new extreme cards for every comp I can have 54 Mb right?

P-Worm

 

[MrMacMan]

Well.
It works this way:
New Basestation: Sends data to all at there maximum speed. If you have old airport cards, then it will limit the speed to the speed of the cards.
If you have the new basestation and cards then it is perfect.
And for some weird reason if you have the old basestation and the new cards I think that it will run at the slow speed. (But it is very unclear).

 

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by P-Worm
I have a question:

At Mac Zone it appears that Airport Extreme will work with older machines, my quicksilver for instance. It said that it comes with software for it. Do I have this right? If I get the new extreme cards for every comp I can have 54 Mb right?

P-Worm

Um... correct me if I'm wrong but I think the cards themselves are different and need new slots.
let me check... I think they made a new port for it... I really don't know.

 

[AnotherMortal]

Airport Card Types

Old Airport card uses PCMCIA style slot technology.
Airport Extreme uses miniPCI style technology.

They are not *physically* compatibile, but the wireless signals are compatible, but at the lowest common denominator.

 

[pantagruel]

ok I guess I was more confused than I thought, I thought that my setup would be this:
my cube connected to my dsl and the airport ex connected to the cube then the notebook would have the card for wifi, but it sounds like I have to have all the computers wireless? cant I have the basestation and my mac connected straight to the dsl connection?

 

[bbarnhart]

Originally posted by pantagruel
... cant I have the basestation and my mac connected straight to the dsl connection?

Yes... you don't need a wi-fi card for your cube. If you are talking about the ABS Extreame, you plug the dsl modem into the ABSE and the pug the ABSE into the cube. Then, get a card for your notebook.

The ABSE has two ethernet port for this type of setup.

Not only can both machines surf at the same time, the notebook and cube can share files.

 

[iJon]

look at it this way, all your computers will be on the net and they will all see each other, doesnt matter if you have b or g. but the only way your gonna get 54mbps is if you are working with two computers that have airport extreme. the only computers that have airport extreme are the 12 and 17 inch powerbook, and the 17inch imac. every other computer will work, but only at regular airport extreme. everyone has pretty much stated that, your just making it harder than it seems.

iJon

 

[morlium]

But if you're sharing wirelessly with an 802.11b notebook, the transfers will only occur at 11Mbps. That's the main flaw, since file transfer is the only real way to benefit from AE's higher speeds.

However:
If your desktop is wired to the base station and your notebook is using a "G" card, it will work at 54Mbps.

If both computer are wired, the theoretical speeds are much higher the 54Mbps. But then, you don't need a wireless router now, do you?

 

[Billicus]

Originally posted by pantagruel
ok I guess I was more confused than I thought, I thought that my setup would be this:
my cube connected to my dsl and the airport ex connected to the cube then the notebook would have the card for wifi, but it sounds like I have to have all the computers wireless? cant I have the basestation and my mac connected straight to the dsl connection?

Yes, you can do this. This way you don't require an Airport Extreme Base Station. Your cube can act as the Base Station. But be forewarned - If you have a set up like this, the fastest your PowerBook (12 or 17) will be able to wirelessly transmit data will be at 11 Megabits per second.

 

[zimv20]

Re: Airport Extreme Compatibility

Originally posted by AnotherMortal

So you can use a new AlBook with airport extreme, an old iMac with the original airport card, and a Cube with an original airport card, and the AlBook will operate at 54Mbps, and the rest at 11Mbps.

is that true? i could have sworn i read somewhere that if ANY clients connect w/ .11b, then the _entire_ network steps down. but now i can't find anything confirming this.

 

[Mal]

802.11g technology is not just backwards compatible with 802.11b, it really is mostly an enhancement to it. In fact, if you go outside the AE's 50ft range, it steps down the speed to a lower level, instead of cutting you off. 802.11b does the same thing, giving you actually a theoritical maximum distance of 300 ft, although at only 1 Mb/s. Each device works independantly of the others if they are simply connecting to the base station, and run at the maximum speed the base station and the distance will allow. When connected to each other, either through a base station or directly with a computer-to-computer network, they communicate at the lowest speed of any of the cards or base stations involved, but other connections on the network (i.e. other computers online through the same base station, but not sharing files with the slower cards) are not affected.