Using Windows Laptops with Airport Extreme

[maehara]

Forgive an ignorant PC user

I'll be buying my first Mac just as soon as Apple get around to releasing an updated iMac, and I'm seriously considering picking up an Airport Extreme base station to go with it... The ability to dial in to the base station to use my home 'net connection would be *very* useful...

Being a PC support rep, I've got a few Windows laptops at home, and you can now get 802.11g cards for these. The question: will these work with Airport, or has Apple put some restrictions in the system that limit them just to official Apple / Airport machines?

Any help gratefully received...

--
maehara

 

[robbieduncan]

Airport Extreme is compliant with the current 802.11g draft specification. As long as the card you stick in your laptop is also compiant it will work.

 

[mac15]

if your laptop is 802.11g compliant you got no probs, it will run on 54mbps, look around for some PC cards which support it.

 

[Rajj]

The cards will work fine, just like the 802.11b cards!!!

Another note I should mention is that your cards will work automatically with the Airport Base Station with no hassle!!!!

 

[zarathustra]

Re: Using Windows Laptops with Airport Extreme

As said before, any 802.11g card will work. However I am confused by this sentence:

Originally posted by maehara
The ability to dial in to the base station to use my home 'net connection would be *very* useful...

What do you mean? You are on vacation in Greece, call up your home number, base-station answers, hooks you to your DSL connection and wireless network?

 

[GeeYouEye]

Re: Re: Using Windows Laptops with Airport Extreme

Originally posted by zarathustra
What do you mean? You are on vacation in Greece, call up your home number, base-station answers, hooks you to your DSL connection and wireless network?

You can do that?

Anyway, I would be cautious about getting an AirPort Extreme Base Station and using with a PC; the 802.11g spec hasn't been finalized yet.

Apple has said that the AirPort Extreme system would work no matter what the 802.11g spec turned out to be, even if it means noncompliance. However, that isn't particularly likely, and most likely would be solvable with a firmware update. However, the PC card manufacturer might not.

 

[maehara]

Re: Re: Using Windows Laptops with Airport Extreme

Originally posted by zarathustra
What do you mean? You are on vacation in Greece, call up your home number, base-station answers, hooks you to your DSL connection and wireless network?

According to Apple's website, yes - unless I'm misreading this:

Phone home
The PPP dial-in feature in AirPort Extreme lets you make one very important wireless connection: Thanks to connectivity options such as DSL, cable and Ethernet, you can call the 56K V.90 modem-equipped AirPort Extreme Base Station at home or at work when you’re traveling. Need a document that’s on your Mac desktop at home? Not to worry. If your Mac is on, ready to share files, and connected to the Internet using the AirPort Extreme Base Station (and if you have a broadband connection, chances are it will be), you can access it as well as the other computers wirelessly connected to it — from anywhere in the world.

 

[sparkleytone]

yep, just make sure you buy the $250 version. its the one with the modem and antenna slot.