Apple Airport Extreme vs Other Routers

[You Need a Thneed]

My current wireless router is a piece of junk.

Looking to get a router that has a steady connection, all over the house and into the basement suite, where my brother and his wife are moving into.

Recommendations?

Is the Airport Extreme worth the extra bit of money?
Is simultaneous dual band worth it?
Is dual band worth it?

We are also in need of a good backup system, should I look at a Time Capsule?

Our computer at home is an iMac, not quite a year old. My brother has a couple windows laptops.

My iPhone would also connect to it, as would our Wii, Blu Ray player (this would require a wired connection I think), and printer.

[You Need a Thneed]

also, any guesses for when Apple will put out a new version of the Airport Extreme?

[DownhillGoat]

I ended up getting the Airport Extreme when my Linksys decided to stop communicating with both my mac and PS3. It's decent. Good speeds (for wireless) and I don't think I've had to reset it since I bought it. Which is more than I can say for the previous routers I've owned.

[sclitheroe]

It's a high quality router, and it's easily configured and managed from Windows or Macs. Mine has been in use for 4 years, and I've used all the advanced features including file and printer sharing, IPv6 tunneling, wireless distribution, etc, and its worked flawlessly - better than any other home router I've seen or used, and I support quite a few units for work and for friends.

If you don't go Apple, dual band, and simultaneous dual band are what I would consider must have features. Being able to run at 5ghz for devices that support it, and also at 2.4 for backwards compatibility for devices that don't, is fantastic. Overall better performance, less interferences from household devices like microwaves, and much less congestion around the neighborhood on 5ghz

[silentsim]

It is an excellent router and gives me some of the best LAN speeds of any router I have used. I use it in conjunction with Airport Express's for AirTunes. Simultaneous dual band is amazing

Edit: Just to Add I am a big fan of Time Machine....however you are able to add any external to the Airport Extreme via the USB port...however it's nice having it built in...

In your setup simultaneous will be clutch, as devices such as the iPhone do not support the 5GHZ band, so your other devices can take advantage of it while you will still be able to get your iPhone hooked up via the 2.4 GHZ band.. (5ghz higher throughput for media streaming and time machine backups etc)

[You Need a Thneed]

my wife's family is in the US right now, and I could ask them to bring back a time capsule for me. How does the warranty work in that case?

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

my wife's family is in the US right now, and I could ask them to bring back a time capsule for me. How does the warranty work in that case?

worldwide , it is applecare. or if you have an extended warranty on your imac it can use that as well.

[sclitheroe]

One downside to the Airports that nobody has mentioned - no UPnP. This means that things like a PS3, torrent apps, etc, can't automatically open the holes they need in the firewall.

Personally, I'd never allow an app or device to manage my firewall, but if you don't want to forward ports manually, or place your PS3 in the DMZ, open ports for a peer to peer app, etc, then the Airport may not be the best choice for you.

That said, its only a minor nuisance in the grand scheme of things - it's not something you are going to have to deal with on a daily basis.

[Bob]

I frankly think they're overpriced for what you get. If they cost, say, $100 for the extreme, they'd be decent value. I have one and it's only used for wireless and AirDisk. My Linksys WRT54G w/ Tomato is used as my core router and is still going strong after 5 years of near continuous operation.

[silentsim]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

One downside to the Airports that nobody has mentioned - no UPnP. This means that things like a PS3, torrent apps, etc, can't automatically open the holes they need in the firewall.

Personally, I'd never allow an app or device to manage my firewall, but if you don't want to forward ports manually, or place your PS3 in the DMZ, open ports for a peer to peer app, etc, then the Airport may not be the best choice for you.

That said, its only a minor nuisance in the grand scheme of things - it's not something you are going to have to deal with on a daily basis.

It does not support Upnp but it does support NAT mapping protocol, which will automatically open ports for software such as Torrent software (uTorrent) and other apps.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

One downside to the Airports that nobody has mentioned - no UPnP. This means that things like a PS3, torrent apps, etc, can't automatically open the holes they need in the firewall.

Networking was never my forte, but I'm confused here. I've never had an issue with ports on either the PS3 or torrents.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by silentsim

It does not support Upnp but it does support NAT mapping protocol, which will automatically open ports for software such as Torrent software (uTorrent) and other apps.

Yeah my post was misleading. NAT PMP is supported, but not as many apps do NAT PMP as Upnp.

[FlameOn]

Seriously... nothing beats a good router with the proper firmware installed for customization. Also something with an additional amplifier to extend the range. I can tell you my basement performance for streaming video improved substantially with an amplified router. Avoid the apple products. While they will be very user friendly you'll be disappointed by basement performance, price, etc.

You do not necessarily need dual band at all. 5GHz really doesn't help with range all that much because its attenuated much more easily by walls and concrete... 5Ghz tends to work well when you have highly congested 2.4Ghz... and unless you live in an apartment where you are surrounded by routers, microwaves and phones. Not really necessary but a nice to have for future-proofing... Simultaneous dual band in that case as you don't want to limit yourself to have to use 5GHz in all places and spend money on adapters.

Buffalo's High Power line of routers all are very good for range since they contain an amplifier that'll boost your range and signal quality. They are reasonably priced and all support DD-WRT
http://www.buffalotech.com/products/...access-points/
Netgear's WNDR3700 is also a very good choice.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

You do not necessarily need dual band at all. 5GHz really doesn't help with range all that much because its attenuated much more easily by walls and concrete... 5Ghz tends to work well when you have highly congested 2.4Ghz... and unless you live in an apartment where you are surrounded by routers, microwaves and phones. Not really necessary but a nice to have for future-proofing... Simultaneous dual band in that case as you don't want to limit yourself to have to use 5GHz in all places and spend money on adapters.

As someone who lives in a large building downtown, I'd argue that the future is here and 5Ghz is a necessity now. From my living room my laptop can pick up 30 different wireless networks, all operating in the 2.4Ghz zone - no to mention all the cordless phone signals and the cell towers 100 ft from my balcony. My router was constantly fighting interference until I flipped it into 5Ghz.

I use my Airport Extreme in 5Ghz mode and dug out my old D-Link POS to operate in 2.4Ghz for our cellphones to connect to (why the hell doesn't the iPhone 4 support 5 Ghz... stupid Apple).

Airport Extreme is solid - haven't had any issues with it, certainly not like the D-Link router I had before. But then it cost a lot so I was expecting it to be solid. I've heard great things about Buffalo + DD-WRT, but that's largely for the "power user" crowd that likes to fiddle with things - if you just want to plug a router in and have it work out of the box, can't go wrong with the Airport Extreme.

I added an external HDD to the router via the USB port and then ran some command to tell my Laptop how to backup over the network. Works like a charm. Just can take a while if you're backing up a lot over the Wireless connection.

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by llama64

As someone who lives in a large building downtown, I'd argue that the future is here and 5Ghz is a necessity now. From my living room my laptop can pick up 30 different wireless networks, all operating in the 2.4Ghz zone - no to mention all the cordless phone signals and the cell towers 100 ft from my balcony. My router was constantly fighting interference until I flipped it into 5Ghz.

I use my Airport Extreme in 5Ghz mode and dug out my old D-Link POS to operate in 2.4Ghz for our cellphones to connect to (why the hell doesn't the iPhone 4 support 5 Ghz... stupid Apple).

Airport Extreme is solid - haven't had any issues with it, certainly not like the D-Link router I had before. But then it cost a lot so I was expecting it to be solid. I've heard great things about Buffalo + DD-WRT, but that's largely for the "power user" crowd that likes to fiddle with things - if you just want to plug a router in and have it work out of the box, can't go wrong with the Airport Extreme.

I added an external HDD to the router via the USB port and then ran some command to tell my Laptop how to backup over the network. Works like a charm. Just can take a while if you're backing up a lot over the Wireless connection.

The guy said he was in a house and needed range to a basement suite... which is why I made the initial recommendation that 5Ghz isn't really necessary for his situation cuz he shouldn't be in range of more than 6-7 networks. Hopefully.

[MickMcGeough]

I don't live in a large apartment building, or downtown, and I will never use 2.4Ghz (unless forced to) again. I've gone through a half a dozen wireless N routers @ 2.4Ghz and never been able to sustain speeds greater than about 35mbps. On my bargain-bin D-Link 5Ghz router I get 90+mbps easily.

[You Need a Thneed]

thanks guys for all of your input. I'm leaning towards Apple, and specifically the Time Capsule.

I don't need all of the settings tweaking stuff, I just need something that's going to work, and work well.

We are also looking for a backup solution, hence the time capsule. We have a small space, so the less wires and boxes around, the better.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

The guy said he was in a house and needed range to a basement suite... which is why I made the initial recommendation that 5Ghz isn't really necessary for his situation cuz he shouldn't be in range of more than 6-7 networks. Hopefully.

I think my iMac picks up about 20 wireless networks sometimes. Most of them pretty weak.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

thanks guys for all of your input. I'm leaning towards Apple, and specifically the Time Capsule.

I don't need all of the settings tweaking stuff, I just need something that's going to work, and work well.

We are also looking for a backup solution, hence the time capsule. We have a small space, so the less wires and boxes around, the better.

Unless I am mistaken, you can get an Airport Extreme, and just plug a hard drive into it to make it into a Time Capsule. Cost will probably be able the same, but it will allow you to use a larger drive. Also, it has the added benefit of being easier to swap out one part or the other if they fail.

[DownhillGoat]

+1 for Rathjis suggestion. The mac already has the backup software. You're better off just getting a standard external.