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Apple Airport router

Apple Airport router

Postby Craigular.B » Wed May 26, 2010 11:13 pm

Hey all,

So, it looks like our D-Link DIR-625 is going on the fritz :bashhead and I'm looking at some replacement routers...I'd really like to get a simultaneous dual-band router since we have some N-clients and some G-clients in our house. I'd like to go with the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (we're slowly migrating toward a more Apple-friendly household) and also extend the wireless with their Airport Express Base Station via WDS; our current router has issues pumping signal to our upper floor and I'm hoping this would solve a lot of the problems we have (the DIR-625 is also an N-router but only operates on the 2.4GHz frequency).

The N-clients include 2 laptops and a desktop, and would include the new Express as well (and all of the N-clients are capable of using the 5GHz frequency), and our G-clients include iPod touches, an iPhone, a Wii, an older Express (that I'd probably use to extend the 2.4GHz network) and an XBox 360 with a wired-to-wireless bridge (though this may become an N-adapter soon). We only have 1 computer wired directly to the router so the fact that the Extreme only has 3 LAN ports is not a big deal. The lack of a browser interface is depressing but not a deal-breaker, and we really don't need features like website filtering. The only things that I've ever used (I'm the only one that messes with settings) are the static-IP DHCP reservations and port forwarding for XBox Live and SSH tunnels and Skype and various other things.

What do you guys think? Yay, nay, maybe?
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby NT50 » Thu May 27, 2010 12:25 pm

I have programmed a lot of Routers. And the Airport was a peace of junk to program sorry to say. I fyou want a router to buy and set it on desk then I guess it will be OK but to go changing it was the biggest pain in the rump know to man. it was so bad that the ownere finally bought another router.
The link to the router below is a b/G/N router and in June; Buffalo is releaseing the firmware update that is FULLY DD-WRT(yes they are installing a branded DD-WRT). They can also be use for wireless extenders also. I have one on my desk that I'm playing with but very soon I will be switching to them once the DD-WRT is fully released. So far what little I have played with it, I like it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby Craigular.B » Thu May 27, 2010 12:42 pm

NT50 wrote:I have programmed a lot of Routers. And the Airport was a peace of junk to program sorry to say. I fyou want a router to buy and set it on desk then I guess it will be OK but to go changing it was the biggest pain in the rump know to man. it was so bad that the ownere finally bought another router.
The link to the router below is a b/G/N router and in June; Buffalo is releaseing the firmware update that is FULLY DD-WRT(yes they are installing a branded DD-WRT). They can also be use for wireless extenders also. I have one on my desk that I'm playing with but very soon I will be switching to them once the DD-WRT is fully released. So far what little I have played with it, I like it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product


Why was it difficult to program? Just the lack of the web interface or was the management software a pain?

I've used Apple's Airport Utility on my MBP to manage our older Airport Express and that doesn't seem too bad to me.

The Buffalo looks nice (and I've always wanted to try out DD-WRT firmware) but unfortunately it's not a dual-band router (or even a 5GHz router), and that's really what I'm going for here.

Thanks for the info though :yesnod:
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby mnemonicj » Thu May 27, 2010 9:35 pm

DD-WRT is the way to go if you want the ability to customize like you want. I have a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 that has 802.11b/g and I like it so much that I haven't wanted to upgrade and I haven't found a good dual band N router to replace it. I have thought about getting a wireless N access point and attaching it to my router. I might start looking around again so I will let you know what I find.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby NT50 » Fri May 28, 2010 8:41 pm

You need to remember the higher the frequency the lower the output range. So if you are already having trouble with 2.4 GHz range; you will have more trouble with the higher frequency.
Your best bet is to buy a good 2.4 GHz router and a good WDS or two and setup that way. I am getting ready in June or so to redo my wired/wireless in my house and I'm going solely Buffalo that I gave you a link to. And when I do it; I will use DD-WRT and control the bandwidth that each person gets.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby mnemonicj » Sat May 29, 2010 1:51 am

Jeff, the point of a dual band router is to have the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies. This allows the N devices to communicate over 5 GHz, but if 5 GHz is not available they fall back to 2.4 GHz.

Also, you have to think about how congested the 2.4 GHz band is where the person lives. I live in a housing edition with quarter acre lots and I can see at least eight 2.4 GHz Wifi signals from my house. All of those signals become noise to your router and wireless adapters. So with the 5 GHz band being less crowded, in my area, and many others, it may be the best solution... until everyone else is on 5 GHz too.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby NT50 » Sat May 29, 2010 4:54 am

Remember cordless phones are 5GHz also.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby mnemonicj » Sat May 29, 2010 7:29 pm

Some cordless phones are 5.8 GHz, but still that is a very different band from 5 GHz due to the several hundred Megahertz of separation. Newer cordless phones use a band called DECT 6.0 which operate at 1.9 GHz and they are becoming much more common due to that frequency being reserved for cordless phones.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby NT50 » Sat May 29, 2010 11:35 pm

And 1.9 Ghz is less than the 2.4, that is the reason they work so good.
I have a set of 4 in the hosue working off one base station. I can go outside and walk down the road and it still picks up good. Now they will use battery quick.
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Re: Apple Airport router

Postby Craigular.B » Sun Aug 15, 2010 4:35 pm

Hello everyone, sorry for the very late reply (I haven't been home much this summer and convincing my dad to upgrade took some doing from a distance).

We ended up going with the Airport Extreme and it looks like we'll be returning it; my dad had told me our phones were 2.4GHz, but he had forgotten we got new phones a while ago that were 5.8GHz (and whenever I was home for a short bit I always forgot to look at them for myself)...And, of course, as soon as you turn one on, it totally kills the 5GHz band from the AEBS. Since we're only using the 2.4GHz band now anyway, we'll return this one and I'll probably pick up the Buffalo router you suggested, NT50. It's $57 on Newegg/Amazon right now and that's like a third of what we paid for the AEBS.

I also managed to convince my dad to physically move the router to a different room (it was originally downstairs on one end of the house...Yuck!), and that has significantly improved the wireless coverage (I don't think we'll need to worry about doing WDS anymore, which is nice, even though we could buy 2 of those Buffalo's for 2/3 what we paid for the AEBS).

Too bad about the 5GHz, though. I had faster speeds on SpeetTest.net than I'd ever had before. If it wasn't for the phones we'd probably be keeping the AEBS, but since it's not worth it we'll return it and sped $61 total (including $4 one-day shipping ^*^ ). And another upside is, I'll be able to mess around with DD-WRT :)

So thanks for the advice everyone! Wish I had had the information to accurately follow it earlier :embarrassed: . I guess it'll all work out in the end.

-Craig
EDIT: Well maybe we won't be getting the Buffalo. My dad would like a router with a USB port so we can move a printer, and the DIR-655 fits that bill (it's in stock at a local Office Max). I've got a feeling he'll want to go with that one.
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