Hi all. I'm seriously considering setting up a wireless router to provide connectivity to a new MacBook my daughter will be getting, and to hook up an existing iBook. I'm looking at non-Airport purely for financial reasons. There seems to be a lot of "g" wireless routers on sale now, and I think I could get one, along with a usb receiver for the iBook for less than $100.

I'd like to see opinions on which non-Apple wireless option would be best. Which ones will support Macs, and where enabling software can be found. I've never delved into routers, never mind wireless ones, before, so I'm quite the newbie on this topic. Any advice, thoughts, opinions, guidance would be gratefully received.


TIA!

Pretty much any brand will do the trick. There is nothing really all that special about the Airport other than the price. :eek:

The Airport Express is an effortless reliable router and requires no learning curve whatsoever.

http://www.ehmac.ca/anything-mac/67268-great-deal-airport-express-ae-thoughts.html

It's a deal at twice the price, so check Chapters, check SIG, check the Apple refurb store.

Hey, well if you can get the Express for $40 bucks then that is special!

My experience is that you get what you pay for. I had a D-Link one before that I never could figure out. Got an Apple Extreme 802.11n and never looked back. For less than $200, it was worth the investment. Our Intel iMac as well as four more G3's with Airport cards are all hooked up to it. They can all use the same printers, hook up to the internet even from the backyard, swap files from computer to computer, save to a common drive, no problem.

I use a D-Link wireless N router - over a year now and the only problem I've ever had was one 10.5 update (can't remember which one) changed an airport setting ever so slightly. I did a little research to find that most users had the same problem and a solution was found by tweaking one of the settings slightly.

Other than that, flawless performance, easy to set up, easy to program and only about $70. I believe that you do get what you pay for.....to a point, and that Apple makes some of the finest computer hardware on the market, but $200 for a router seemed a little steep to me, and I have no regrets with the "bargain" brand that I chose. Of course, as always and often repeated on these posts: Your mileage may vary!

given that your daughter is receiving a new macbook, you could look into getting a wireless-n router.

Should you update other computers over the years, you'll at least have a router which can deliver higher transfer speeds within your home network.

I stream 1 Gb movies from my iMac to other computers and XBox360 in the house, without wireless-n, it would be so choppy.

I have been using mac for a long time and have never use airport in any form at home. Any wireless router will be ok. Setting up a wireless router is easy, make sure you read the manual ahead before you start.

Choose N router if you plan to stream thing between computer or to media extenders that all support N. If any of you equipment is non N, the router will default to g(that is base on apple airport extreme). If you need it for internet sharing purpose then g will work great since if you are in Canada or US there is no way a residential internet connect be faster than the theoretical limit speed of g.

HowEver nailed it.

Any router will do the job, but the Airport is the no-hassle, easy-to-configure Porsche of routers. Furthermore, testing by David Pogue showed that the Airport was the only model that actually met advertised claims.

It's worth the money.

For the past 4 years, I've used 2 Linksys routers... absolutely no problems whatsoever. Very reliable and very cost-effective too. AirPort really, as far as I know, offers nothing spectacular over a standard Wireless-G or Wireless-N router. Maybe it looks prettier?

Broken_g3: didn't you say you were still running OS 9?

i had the D-Link DIR615 wireless N router, download speeds are awsome with it and so is connectivity. I Would suggest it. it ran me 50 bucks on boxing day :P but its not like 70 - 80 bucks.

For the past 4 years, I've used 2 Linksys routers... absolutely no problems whatsoever. Very reliable and very cost-effective too. AirPort really, as far as I know, offers nothing spectacular over a standard Wireless-G or Wireless-N router. Maybe it looks prettier?

Well, there's that, but no the Apple brand does in fact offer significant advantages over other brands.

First of all, it's among the very few routers that has NATIVE SOFTWARE for Mac and PC instead of going through one of those HORRIBLE web-interface things. For people who are old hands at translating the various terms different companies uses for the same thing* and are geeky enough to figure out the poorly-designed interfaces, YES once you get them going they tend to work fine. Until you need to adjust something, heaven forbid.

The Apple routers are NOTHING like that. The experience is much smoother, more likely to be glitch-free, and in parts they even use English!! :)

Second, as I mentioned before, at least one reviewer found that Apple's N router was the ONLY such router to perform anywhere near advertised speed and range.

Third, the interface to the router is very Mac-like, and that's always a good thing.

Finally, Apple Airports are to routers what HP was to laser printers. I've got TWO old gray original Airports and an older white one that just ... won't ... die!! All my clients who have airport routers are still on their original one, regardless of when they bought it (except one person who had a lightning issue). When it comes to "set it and forget it," the Airport Base Station (all editions) is the ones to beat.

Whether that's worth the extra $40 or whatever the difference is to you is up to you, of course, but if I want more hassle and aggravation in my life, I'll watch the news.

Thanks for all the very useful comments. :clap: I confess I hadn't even thought of Airport Express (I told you I was a router newbie!). So, it behaves like a regular, full-bore Airport unit? Cool!

My needs are pretty basic. I doubt I'll be too concerned with streaming video at this point. I will be going into town in the next few days, so maybe I'll check out Chapters.

Any thoughts on those little usb wireless antennas? The iBook is somewhat elderly, and it wouldn't be worth it to open it up to install an Apple Airport antenna, if I could find one to fit!

Thanks again, everybody. This has been a REALLY useful exercise for me!

...instead of going through one of those HORRIBLE web-interface things. For people who are old hands at translating the various terms different companies uses for the same thing* and are geeky enough to figure out the poorly-designed interfaces, YES once you get them going they tend to work fine. Until you need to adjust something, heaven forbid.


I've been using wireless routers before Apple was even on the wireless router scene and in my experience, the web interfaces are just fine to get you up and running in a home environment, they aren't hard to configure, just follow the instructions.

In fact while I was working from home and conversing with a colleague who was also working from home, he was havinig great difficulty getting his Airport to play nice with his Macs and PC while I had no difficulties what-so-ever getting myself up and running in a cross platform environment using a Netgear wireless router.

Obviously depending on your own personal setup your mileage will vary, but on a bang for buck basis, the Airport Extreme at least, is a lot of buck for basically the same bang.

My only caveat would be that getting WDS up and going has been more challenging than I expected it to be. My network is centered on a Time Capsule and has a G Express running my speakers in another room. The XBox in the basement couldn't quite reach the Time Capsule, so I use WDS to extend the signal down there, via the Express.

Getting WDS up seems to be a shot-in-the-dark endeavour. When I tried to manually configure it, I'd get yellow blinkies on one or both of my Apple devices. Eventually, I stumbled into a wizard on the Express for WDS, and it configured quite nicely. It was all humming along until a few nights ago when the Time Capsule lost its marbles for reasons unknown. The subsequent restarts blew WDS away and I had to start over. Mutter, mutter.

This time, I've documented my steps and am hoping that I'll not have to do it again for a long time.

Are you sure the iBook doesn't already *have* an Apple Airport card? Lifting up the keyboard (turn the screw at its top if needed, pull back the tabs) and checking takes half a minute; installing a new card if you don't already have one takes about the same. But I'd check first to see if you have one! You can also check by going into the profiler (under the Apple) depending on which OS you have.

The Apple Airport card is a vastly better solution than any USB version, though I've heard the d-link one is good for this purpose.

Oh, and the Airport Express in addition to serving 10 computers can be used in other ways: play music through iTunes, wirelessly, just by plugging in a stereo; print to a USB printer, wirelessly, obviously, just as easily.

Given the price drop in these units, you might even go for the new version at Apple (or SIG) for $80 or $90 or less--they were $130 when 2008 started, and now they have "N" in addition to a, b and g, as pointed out above.



Thanks for all the very useful comments. :clap: I confess I hadn't even thought of Airport Express (I told you I was a router newbie!). So, it behaves like a regular, full-bore Airport unit? Cool!

My needs are pretty basic. I doubt I'll be too concerned with streaming video at this point. I will be going into town in the next few days, so maybe I'll check out Chapters.

Any thoughts on those little usb wireless antennas? The iBook is somewhat elderly, and it wouldn't be worth it to open it up to install an Apple Airport antenna, if I could find one to fit!

Thanks again, everybody. This has been a REALLY useful exercise for me!

Well, there's that, but no the Apple brand does in fact offer significant advantages over other brands.

First of all, it's among the very few routers that has NATIVE SOFTWARE for Mac and PC instead of going through one of those HORRIBLE web-interface things. For people who are old hands at translating the various terms different companies uses for the same thing* and are geeky enough to figure out the poorly-designed interfaces, YES once you get them going they tend to work fine. Until you need to adjust something, heaven forbid.

The Apple routers are NOTHING like that. The experience is much smoother, more likely to be glitch-free, and in parts they even use English!! :)

Second, as I mentioned before, at least one reviewer found that Apple's N router was the ONLY such router to perform anywhere near advertised speed and range.

Third, the interface to the router is very Mac-like, and that's always a good thing.

Finally, Apple Airports are to routers what HP was to laser printers. I've got TWO old gray original Airports and an older white one that just ... won't ... die!! All my clients who have airport routers are still on their original one, regardless of when they bought it (except one person who had a lightning issue). When it comes to "set it and forget it," the Airport Base Station (all editions) is the ones to beat.

Whether that's worth the extra $40 or whatever the difference is to you is up to you, of course, but if I want more hassle and aggravation in my life, I'll watch the news.

Good answer, Chas, good answer. Survey SAYS……

don't have experience with competing products, but one thing the airports have going for them is security and channel selection... depending on where you live (i live in metro toronto and don't want people 'borrowing' my broadband) having the best security possible that's easy to implement could be a big plus... and if you live in an area with several other wi-fi networks being able to select the channel you're using can make a big difference (there are dashboard apps that screen for wi-fi, you can note which channel others in your neighborhood are using, and then select a wi-fi channel that doesn't have any traffic). good luck!

I agree with Chas & others who've pointed out the Airport's strengths. I owned at least three wireless routers (D-Link, Linksys) and one wired router (MacSense) before giving up in frustration and getting an Airport Extreme Base Station. The MacSense was a great router - but it was from a Mac friendly company. The other routers were no problem to configure, but they were not reliable. The Linksys was the final straw; it dropped the WIRED connections with amazing regularity, despite all manner of trouble-shooting and CAT5 cable switching.

The Airport Extreme has performed flawlessly for 2 years now and was well worth the extra $$. We also have two Airport Express units - one for music and one for extending the network.

The only problem I still have is that the microwave does interrupt the wireless signal. No problem for me - I'm usually the one using the microwave, but there are occasional howls of protest from my WoW-loving sons.:rolleyes: We solved that problem with the cordless phones by getting a DECT 6 set, but the microwave remains the lone signal disturbance.

The only problem I still have is that the microwave does interrupt the wireless signal. No problem for me - I'm usually the one using the microwave, but there are occasional howls of protest from my WoW-loving sons.:rolleyes: We solved that problem with the cordless phones by getting a DECT 6 set, but the microwave remains the lone signal disturbance.

Have you tried changing the channel in your Airport Utility settings?

Yes - though haven't fiddled with it lately. Is there any channel in particular that seems to work best or is it just trial and error?

Interference robustness doesn't seem to take care of microwave interference in my experience...

fjnmusic: Yes, I am still running OS 9. Best Ever! Unfortunately, due to the lack of a wireless card, it's tethered to an ethernet cable. My Windows XP and my Windows 2000 computers are on wireless.

chas_M: What horrible web interface thing? I configured mine through the software provided with the router... easy as anything. Up and running in 5 minutes. What router were you using?

It is a good point that Apple provides the new Wireless-N standards... forgot about that. I'm using Wireless G. It's got good enough range for me, but then there are some who like to surf the net from their backyards. You do have to watch for cheap, third-party routers. I totally agree. My friend has some sort of D-Link... absolute crap. But Linksys... I use it at home, we use it at the office... never skips a beat. Paddy's sounds more like a lemon. Linksys is generally known for high-quality products. I did have to buy a new Linksys router, but that was because I was upgrading from the original 54g to the faster one (I think 100mbps or something like that). The point is that the best stuff doesn't always come from Apple.

chas_M: What horrible web interface thing?

Linksys, D-Link, Hawking, Netgear ... that's all I can think of off-hand ... use a web interface to configure their routers. It does have the advantage of being platform-neutral, I'll grant em that.

I configured mine through the software provided with the router... easy as anything. Up and running in 5 minutes.

And indeed yours might be, but generally when geeks/nerds like us say something is easy, we mean "easy with the requisite background geekery to understand the concepts behind the way they've designed this stuff."

"Easy" doesn't always pass the "grandma test." If it did, I'd be out of business, since I teach mostly "newbie" courses (and am CONSTANTLY amazed at the conclusions people come to about tech stuff that seems obvious to me).

Linksys is generally known for high-quality products.

Not in my experience. They tend to die a heat death in cramped quarters, and it seems about 80% of their customers stop configuring it before they get to the part where they are supposed to set a password. A long-standing joke in the geek community goes something like this:

Q: When is my city going to get blanket free internet?
A: It already has it. Look for the network name "linksys."

The point is that the best stuff doesn't always come from Apple.

When it comes to routers, the reviewers (Mac and PC) agree: the best stuff does come from Apple. Maybe not with everything, but in this arena they rule.

I agree that apple routers are easier to use etc. i had an Express unit (pre-N) and loved it.

However, I bought a new one after it was upgraded to N standard, and my XBOX 360 couldn't see it. You can point the finger at anyone obviously, but I had apple tech on the phone for an hour trying to get it to be visable. Eventually, we gave up. There are peculiarities with how Apple's routers work that might not affect the majority - but in the end I took it back and bought a really cheap Linksys router. Horrible set up, but it works.

I am a recent convert to the Mac world. In the past, I have gone through 2 Linksys routers (kept dropping connections!!). I consider myself fairly heavy on the "tech" side so I didn't have any problem setting them up and keeping them updated wrt firmware updates. After the second one died I switched to a D-Link and it worked OK, although it did have its moments.

Our daughter recently purchased a Macbook at Future Shop for an Advertising program she will be starting in the fall. Instead of the "free" iPod offer, they were offering iWorks, a free printer-scanner and an Airport Express. They ran out of Airport Expresses, so they subbed an Airport Extreme at no additional cost!

I quickly replaced the D-Link with the Airport Extreme. This is a solid product! Setup is much more straight forward than the other units. It also now allows wireless Time Machine backups if you connect a USB harddrive to it. There are only 3 wired ports (4 on the other units).

I have also noticed that my iPod Touch seems to establish a wireless connection much faster than with the D-Link, however, that may also be due to the 2.0 software recently put on the iPod.

Paul

Thanks to everyone for their very interesting input. After reading all the comments I was leaning towards an Airport Express, but when I looked closely at the connections, I realized it wouldn't work for my situation. You see, my G4 Mac Mini does not have the built-in Airport antenna and card, so I have to have a direct ethernet connection into the wireless router. Bummer, 'cause there are refurbed Airport Express units on sale for $79 at the online Apple store.

*sigh* I guess this means breathing deeply and getting an Airport Extreme unit, when I can.

As for the iBook I want to have connected, it definitely does not have an internal Airport card/antenna, so the external usb dongle thing seems the most cost effective way to go. Anybody have experience with these?

Thanks again.

Well, a decision was made, and an order placed. I'm awaiting the arrival of a new Airport Extreme n base station, along with my daughter's new MacBook and iPod.

*sigh*

I feel poor, now....:-( ;)

Oh, well, looking forward to setting it up. I'll have to stop by Best Buy and see what 802.11 usb dongles are available/on sale. It'll be nice to have the iBook set up to access the interweb!

Thanks again to everyone for their advice and guidance. :clap:

Which model of iBook is it?

Dongles are inexpensive but inconvenient for a laptop. Compatibility is an issue but D-Link units get good reviews.

If you can though, go for the Apple Airport Original Card (for iBook G3) or Apple Airport Extreme Card (for iBook G4). It's a 30 second install (right under the keyboard. The original cards are harder to find, but the the Extreme Card shows up as a refurb on the Apple site for a third what it used to cost.


Well, a decision was made, and an order placed. I'm awaiting the arrival of a new Airport Extreme n base station, along with my daughter's new MacBook and iPod.

*sigh*

I feel poor, now....:-( ;)

Oh, well, looking forward to setting it up. I'll have to stop by Best Buy and see what 802.11 usb dongles are available/on sale. It'll be nice to have the iBook set up to access the interweb!

Thanks again to everyone for their advice and guidance. :clap:

The iBook is a G4 900 mHz model. It will really only be used "semi-portably" so having the minor inconvenience of a usb device is not really an issue. I will have a look at the Apple web site to see if there are any refurbed units on offer before I run out and buy a usb unit.

Thanks again!

Linksys, D-Link, Hawking, Netgear ... that's all I can think of off-hand ... use a web interface to configure their routers. It does have the advantage of being platform-neutral, I'll grant em that.

Though late to the discussion, I gotta mention a few things...

Standard setup wizard with Linksys are usually very easy to follow, and platform neutrality goes a long long way in my books. It is possible to use some other software products to talk to an AE over SNMP for those using other OSs like Linux. But I honestly don't think I should have to go to the trouble of installing more software on a workstation. The easiest solution is to offer a clean, straight foward web interface. The last thing I want to do is buy a router or USB storage device, and realize I've got to install software in order to use it.

I've had a Linksys router work for four years without any significant issue. I've got a second one for running a Vonage phone which has great uptime. Last year I ended up replacing the old Linksys WRT54G with an Apple Airport Extreme, so I could then get an external drive for Time Machine backups. Overall, excellent range, no significant problems, but I just feel the thing should be doing more for me. Traffic priority? FTP? WebServer? More verbose logs? You get better configuration options with some cheaper Linksys and Netgear routers, though honestly, you need to know what you are doing thru a terminal window.



When it comes to routers, the reviewers (Mac and PC) agree: the best stuff does come from Apple. Maybe not with everything, but in this arena they rule.

I remember when Pogue reviewed the N routers. The trouble of course, is that he was testing with a non-ratified standard in the very early days of WiFi-N. I know the guy puts a lot of praise on Apple products, but what was the point of this exercise? This is like testing out space travel options thru Russia, Virgin and whomever else is developing crafts to one day carry you and I in to space. Iron out the details, and wake me when you're all officially done.

From the limited reviews I've read, and testing that I've done, I give Apple a nod for at least giving decent range with their N router. The problem with wifi of course, is that transmission speed gets significantly impacted by any B devices you have floating around the house (Nintendo DS, maybe an old USB dongle, etc).

Every router suffers thru that one, regardless of brand.

In the end, something with a good return policy if it doesn't suit your needs is probably the best advice I can give.

Well, I thought I'd update everyone on what is happening. The AirPort Extreme unit arrived on Friday, and I've tried everything to get it to work, but no joy.:( Since my G4 Mini does not have any wireless capability, I've used ethernet cables to hook up to the modem, the computer, and the AirPort Extreme unit, as per instructions. I have swapped cables, several times, so I know they're good, but I can't get the AirPort Utility to see the base unit, so I can't configure it! I've gone through the reset process more times than I can count, still nothing! :confused:

I'm now convinced that this is a defective AirPort unit. Hey, it happens. I'm going to call Apple technical assistance tomorrow, and if that doesn't work, I'll ask for a swap.

This is the first piece of Apple hardware that hasn't worked as advertised right out of the box. Frustrating, but we're talking technology, not perfection, right?

Success! Turns out the DHCP had to be selected for the AirPort to talk to the modem and computer. Who knew? Apple Tech Support was excellent.

I'm happy!:D