Airport as a wireless router solution?

E

Empty_Quarter

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 23, 2007
Messages
2,247
So, I got an ipod with gift receipt, since I already have one, I returned it and got apple store credit, and I gotta spend it on something from the store.

How's the Airport Extreme Base as a router solution? I hate my current router DIR-655 (long list of beef that I don't want to get into) and it's replacement is long overdue. But I've haven't looked at the airport as a suitable alternative.

Aside from apple accesories, and my sister's MBP. The entire household is windows, I dont think that should be a concern though, no?

I'd save a little more and get a mac, but...... no, still not happy with what they're offering.
 
Honestly the Airport Extreme and the Airport Express are the two best routers I've ever used. I've had a Time Capsule (an Airport Extreme with a hard drive built in for wireless backups) for 3 years and never once needed to reset it. It's been running non-stop serving gigabit data to several machines in the house, Windows and Mac.

They were even voted the best router by Lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5921343/most-popular-home-wi+fi-router-apple-airport-expressextreme
 
Haven't resetted in 3 years?! Hah! I'm sold, I reset my router every other day. Torture I tell you.
 
I had to go down to the oldest firmware available on my time capsule to make it compatible with Windows 7 clients accessing the disk. On the newest firmware's it has a problem where it will crash the Wi-Fi network if the windows 7 client is copying a file. If you look at the supported page for the time capsule it doesn't list Windows 7. Now it's fine though, is fast and reliable and works with everything.

I do not like that it does not have a webpage, that's a bit of a hassle. Much less of a hassle now that they released the iOS app so you can configure from your phone.

Also time capsules with their built-in power supply have a tendency to over heat and cook the power supply. They generally do it a good year and a half in so they're mostly out of warranty when it happens. Both the express and the extreme do not have this problem.

I was looking at one of these before I fixed my situation. Seems to have some pretty good reviews.
http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Dual-...TF8&coliid=I21LH53MZCHQUF&colid=25J2MBDWCL1RE
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Wow, since when did routers start looking works of art? hah.

I'd consider the ASUS tbvh, but the only reason i'm going after the airport is because I have store credit.

I am not interested in time capsule whatsoever, as I do not need it. I'm simply looking for a router solution as my current one just sucks, the "AirPort Extreme Base Station" to be exact. It seems like it's very stable, solid, and compatible with windows 7 as of the latest.

I wasn't aware at all of the iOS app, but since the majority of the household are iOS users (including ipad for myself), this is a huge plus.
 
I have the time capsule but for all router purposes it is exactly the same and it is great. It will do torrents all day long with no issues and works fine with windows 7. Only thing i wish it had was more advanced features like qos and other high end functions. But for a set it and forget it router it is awesome windows or mac. The iOS app or airport utility in osx is easy to use.
 
I picked one up as well mostly because I had gone through three routers in the past year that died/started flaking out and I read quite a lot of good things about the airport extreme. So far stability wise it has been rock solid, but there are a few things that drive me absolutely nuts.

1) Lack of any serious configuration options - outside of the very basic options you don't get to choose anything (typical Apple). If you're used to any recent router (or especially a custom firmware based one) you'll really miss the options.

2) No web interface, you have to use the stupid app to configure it (see issue 1)

3) It requires a reboot for even the most basic changes. Add a port forward? That'll be a reboot, everyone off the network. Are you kidding me? It isn't the fastest thing in the world either.

4) You have to assign a static DHCP assignment by MAC if you want to use any static addresses. If you configure an address outside the normal DHCP range, the router will not pass it. For example, I have 2-99 and 201-254 reserved for static devices on my network and use 100-200 as my DHCP scope. Unless I manually add the systems MAC and still use DHCP then it will not route the traffic out.

That said, its signal strength and speed have been some of the best I've ever seen.

So basically if reliability is your most important concern, it may be a great choice. If you actually want to configure your router look elsewhere.
 
you don't buy the Apple airport family for its configurability. I'm interested in the express myself. Liked the built-in wall socket on the previous gen. not so sure on the new one. decisions
 
I've owned 2 Airport Extremes (gave one to my mom after her D-LINK crapped out) of the 1st gen of the wireless family, (AKA not dual-band) and I've loved them both. The ONLY things about them that have gotten on my nerves are A) requirement of using Airport software in order to access the router and B) back when I bothered to use the USB port for an external hard drive, every other firmware update would make it work. Next update? Broken. Next? Fixed. Next? Broken. Eventually I gave up but it was not a deal breaker. You literally NEVER have to see these things reboot unless you've changed certain settings or are updating firmware. Most stable ever. Speaking as a gamer, I've always gotten great pings to servers whether on Time Warner or Cox (for what that's worth). My next router will absolutely be an 802.11ac Airport if I can help it.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that a majority of computers I've had connected to my router in its 6ish years of service (yep, same one still going strong) were windows machines.
 
darkpaw said:
I picked one up as well mostly because I had gone through three routers in the past year that died/started flaking out and I read quite a lot of good things about the airport extreme. So far stability wise it has been rock solid, but there are a few things that drive me absolutely nuts.

1) Lack of any serious configuration options - outside of the very basic options you don't get to choose anything (typical Apple). If you're used to any recent router (or especially a custom firmware based one) you'll really miss the options.

2) No web interface, you have to use the stupid app to configure it (see issue 1)

3) It requires a reboot for even the most basic changes. Add a port forward? That'll be a reboot, everyone off the network. Are you kidding me? It isn't the fastest thing in the world either.

4) You have to assign a static DHCP assignment by MAC if you want to use any static addresses. If you configure an address outside the normal DHCP range, the router will not pass it. For example, I have 2-99 and 201-254 reserved for static devices on my network and use 100-200 as my DHCP scope. Unless I manually add the systems MAC and still use DHCP then it will not route the traffic out.

That said, its signal strength and speed have been some of the best I've ever seen.

So basically if reliability is your most important concern, it may be a great choice. If you actually want to configure your router look elsewhere.
Click to expand...

This +1
 
I've had 2 airport extremes on an all windows home environment. Gave the first one away to my sister because I wanted concurrent dual band instead of running a second router at 2.4 and AE at 5. Like previous posters have said, I never need to reboot the router unless I update something. I don't miss the additional settings and I like the fact that I can configure it using an iphone or my ipad easily, just download the app. Seriously the fact that it's so stable makes me wonder why Linksys and Netgear can't make stable routers. WTF. I have to reset my dlink gigabit switch every once in a while but never my router.
 
After reading the positive posts, I headed out and got the airport express. By looking at the comparison online between extreme and express, the difference is more feature set as opposed to performance. I didnt need any of the extra features, as such, airport express it is.

Can't wait to install it and enjoy a problem free, reset free, hassle free network.
 
About a year ago I bought an extreme no problems since then. Great luck.
 
I guess I didn't notice when the new Airport Express came out that they upped the number of users to 50. The last generation Express was limited to 10.

I have an Extreme myself, love it.
 
Got it installed.

1) This thing is small, and doesn't have a billion blinding flashing lights.
2) This thing was probably the easiest thing of all time to set up, with an ipad
3) Impressed.
 
If I were you, I would choose linksys E4200 V2, see this page, it has more better specs, more professional as a wireless router than airport extreme.
 
fuday said:
If I were you, I would choose linksys E4200 V2, see this page, it has more better specs, more professional as a wireless router than airport extreme.
Click to expand...

I think we already established what this router can and cannot do. "More better, and more professional" does not say anything about how a router functions compared to another. As far as I can tell the top 5 routers in the 150-200 range all function well with only slight difference in performance.

Where the apple routers shine is in stability. I do not know how the new linksys perform but my old WRT54G needed a restart every so often even when running DD-WRT firmware while my time capsule has been running well since I basically set it up.
 
I've had a previous generation Airport Express and the 1st Generation 1 gbps Extreme.

Pluses: Simple. Long lasting. Can route music through the Express. Can link them in a mesh network to reach places out of range.

Minuses: No browser configuration. No way to change the MAC.
 
fuday said:
If I were you, I would choose linksys E4200 V2, see this page, it has more better specs, more professional as a wireless router than airport extreme.
Click to expand...

I had huge problems with the version 1 of that product. That they released a version 2 does not reassure me, makes me feel like they just screwed everyone with the version 1. The version one for me would not route traffic from static IP addresses after precisely 24 hours. The firmware upgrade was mentioned to break USB disk drives so I just returned the thing to Cosco. it basically reaffirmed my belief to not buy anything that says Linksys D-Link or netgear on it. I know that's not to be a popular opinion here but I just need something that works.
 
Just wanted to add that I have been running a dual band Airport Extreme since they came out and I am very happy with it. It just works, no need to reset or mess with it at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top