I don’t think anybody has brought up the idea that a 1.3 GHz apple router express or time capsule might bottleneck the faster throughput of modern Wi-Fi and hardwired systems is that true is bottlenecking still an issue or still a cause that happens when old networking is joined with new faster networking like for example I have a 10 GB switch and three switches next to it or one gigabit and to time Time capsules and if I hook all these together is the 10 GB switch going to be bottlenecked
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How good is AirPort Extreme as router in 2022?
- Thread starter Mike Boreham
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Two years ago I stopped using my AirPort Extreme for a new TP-LInk AX3000 Wi Fi 6 router. After about one month of anywhere between 3-5 disconnects a week, I went back to my AirPort extreme that hardly ever disconnects. I stream 3 TV's and 2 Mac computers with it flawlessly, plus other items. It simply still works fine.
I got a free "modern" Wifi Router from my cable internet service provider. It sucked. The AirPort Extreme is still more reliable. I reboot it every night, though. Still need a reason to replace it.
My AirPort Extreme almost never needs to be rebooted. Another reason why I continue to use it. With that said, I don't have a clue as to what to buy , if I did need to replace it.
I ditched my ISP-supplied gateway for a D-Link AX router when WiFi 6 started becoming available. D-Link stopped updating it shortly after and it constantly needed rebooting. Absolute piece of junk. Eventually I got frustrated and replaced it for an ASUS RT-AX82U and it has been rock solid and much more powerful than the D-Link to boot. ASUS (despite their recent goof-up) has a good reputation for supporting their devices for a long time.
It's kind of a bummer that Apple got out of the WiFi game. Those AirPort routers sound like they were awesome.
My mom & dad's AE 6th gen network is still going strong, with 2 AEs connected with Ethernet as a roaming network.
I have an 8-port switch filled on the one AE, to connect extra devices/computers to get full ethernet speed.
TBH I am mortified at the thought of upgrading their wifi, after how rock-solid stable the Apple AEs have been.
I hear so much about how many modern routers need to be rebooted often, and many routers only have 2 ethernet ports - and I don't want to have to buy a bigger switch.
Seems like the Eeros are top-dog these days; but they only have 2 ports and require a subscription to get any features above basic router services. lol
I am having pretty good stability with an Asus RT-AX86 Pro at my home; maybe I'll end up with a couple of those for my folks' AE replacement.
I have an 8-port switch filled on the one AE, to connect extra devices/computers to get full ethernet speed.
TBH I am mortified at the thought of upgrading their wifi, after how rock-solid stable the Apple AEs have been.
I hear so much about how many modern routers need to be rebooted often, and many routers only have 2 ethernet ports - and I don't want to have to buy a bigger switch.
Seems like the Eeros are top-dog these days; but they only have 2 ports and require a subscription to get any features above basic router services. lol
I am having pretty good stability with an Asus RT-AX86 Pro at my home; maybe I'll end up with a couple of those for my folks' AE replacement.
So much excellent information here regards AirPort Extreme. First a heart felt "Thank You" to all the posters. I have used Airports without any issues since 2007. Now I am using 2 of the latest model Extremes (one as main router & the other to extend wireless at the other end of my 1 story modest size home. My entire house is wired with Cat 6 cable & every one of the hard wired devices (21) gets right at or over 500. (500 is my plan for now)
All my wireless apple devices (all 8 of them!) get about 350. I figure since there is no circuitry to prioritize/monitor the wifi requirements in the AE then that may well be my max on the wifi. However I am upgrading my WOW service to 1.2 GB & will be interested to see IF my wireless Apple devices increase their download speeds. I fully expect to get close to the 1.2 GB on my wired devices. I have used Airport to stream music with the help of Expresses without ANY latency to 6 separate sound systems starting in 2008. No issues until Airplay 2 came along then all my Airplay (1) devices still worked but the Airplay 2 devices would not play along. It was either the 1's or 2's but not both at the same time. That is another story for another day however. I wish Apple had the good sense to get back into the home networking market. I never spoke to or heard from anyone who did not have positive experiences with the Airports. Seems to me part of the company has gotten off track by leaving Airports & also not trying hard enough to give Siri a top shelf education!!
All my wireless apple devices (all 8 of them!) get about 350. I figure since there is no circuitry to prioritize/monitor the wifi requirements in the AE then that may well be my max on the wifi. However I am upgrading my WOW service to 1.2 GB & will be interested to see IF my wireless Apple devices increase their download speeds. I fully expect to get close to the 1.2 GB on my wired devices. I have used Airport to stream music with the help of Expresses without ANY latency to 6 separate sound systems starting in 2008. No issues until Airplay 2 came along then all my Airplay (1) devices still worked but the Airplay 2 devices would not play along. It was either the 1's or 2's but not both at the same time. That is another story for another day however. I wish Apple had the good sense to get back into the home networking market. I never spoke to or heard from anyone who did not have positive experiences with the Airports. Seems to me part of the company has gotten off track by leaving Airports & also not trying hard enough to give Siri a top shelf education!!
We're still using AirPort extreme across our entire enterprise.
Nothing is more robust and secure than this product.
Nothing is more robust and secure than this product.
Still using Airport Extremes here too. 5th Generation as the main router with an additional 5th generation extending along with a 6th generation extending in the new build part of our house.
For some reason I can’t get the 6th generation to replace the 5th generation as it won’t set up properly and fails to create a new network.
For some reason I can’t get the 6th generation to replace the 5th generation as it won’t set up properly and fails to create a new network.
We use an AEBS A1408 since new in 2011 and it is still delivering rock-solid performance. I'm looking into connecting a second one with CAT6 on the first floor of our three-storey house to increase performance on the top floor.
Just before the pandemic I bought a used tower AEBS (the A1521 I believe) and I was seriously disappointed with its performance. It didn't seem to broadcast the wifi signal as well as the A1408 does in our house. Perhaps I set it up poorly but I decided to return it.
Just before the pandemic I bought a used tower AEBS (the A1521 I believe) and I was seriously disappointed with its performance. It didn't seem to broadcast the wifi signal as well as the A1408 does in our house. Perhaps I set it up poorly but I decided to return it.
So you are NOT using the Apple router's WiFi? Then ignore all the comments on this thread. No one else seems to have noticed that you have disabled Wi-Fi and are using only the Ethernet ports.
Your router is fast enough to get full wired speed. You can't go faster than that.
Apple has gotten out of the router market. I don't know why but their latest products are already at least a generation behind. The "extreme" does what we now call "wifi 5". "wifi 6e" is the current best standard and "wifi 7" is coming soon. Apple is not going to sell more routers. I happen to like Asus routers, you might look into them. I have a mesh network with wired backhaul and it was very easy to setup and Asus allows you to upgrade a mash network, piecemeal, one router at a time.
At some point, before upgrading the APs to WiFi-7 you will need to replace the wired router with oe that can do 2.5 or even 10 Gb Ethernet. as the "Extreme will be too slow to drive WiFi-7 APs.
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Thanks Chis. I tried to emphasise this in the thread title. My main concern was about security and updates, than speed. I already know the WiFi on the Extreme was not adequate for my needs, hence the BT Mesh system.
Since I started the thread, a year ago, I have replaced both Extreme and BT Wi-Fi with a Linksys Router and mesh system.
Since I started the thread, a year ago, I have replaced both Extreme and BT Wi-Fi with a Linksys Router and mesh system.
I’m sorry but the broadcast signal on these routers is absolute garbage. I have starlink at the farm I manage, running off solar, in a steel clad shed I get 2 bars on my iPhone from its router at 150m away outside on the mulch piles. At home I have 3 of these Apple gen 2 routers in extended setup in a gyprock clad one level house and have 2 bars signal when I’m 3m away from any access point.
they are **** sorry to say.
When I have good signal the speed on my local net is satisfactory and I can stream 1080p from my iTunes library no problems but it sux trying to video chat while walking around the house a the signal is so weak.
if anyone know a mod or hack to boat the signal I’m all ears.
they are **** sorry to say.
When I have good signal the speed on my local net is satisfactory and I can stream 1080p from my iTunes library no problems but it sux trying to video chat while walking around the house a the signal is so weak.
if anyone know a mod or hack to boat the signal I’m all ears.
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I'd be intrigued to hear about what upgrades you went with. I've just replaced my Virgin cable with AE attached to the cable modem with BT 500Mbps FTTP. The AE's were wholly inadequate for the speed coming in surprisingly and at best was getting 200Mbps in close proximity to the main router and 100Mbps on the others in Bridge mode.
To be honest since my last posts I have come to same conclusion. They are dated and at best poor performers but you have to consider these are decade old routers that embraced AC wifi when it was in it's infancy.
Are you talking about the Airport Extreme generation 2? Those were introduced way back in 2008. 802.11ac wifi didn't come along until the 6th generation in 2013.
AirPort Extreme - Wikipedia
As I posted before, mine is still working, it's fast and covers my whole house. Can't see any reason to upgrade yet.
How quick is your broadband/internet speed?Are you talking about the Airport Extreme generation 2? Those were introduced way back in 2008. 802.11ac wifi didn't come along until the 6th generation in 2013.
AirPort Extreme - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
As I posted before, mine is still working, it's fast and covers my whole house. Can't see any reason to upgrade yet.
I upgraded to Virgin GIG1 service with Virgin Hub 5, and replaced the AEBS and BT WholeHome wifi mesh with a Linksys (MX12600) Velop AX4200 Tri-Band Mesh WiFi 6 System, A (Pack of 3). The Virgin Hub 5 is in modem mode. This choice wasn't the result of exhaustive research but an opportunistic move to but a used set of three cheaply.
I get 500-600 Mbps down, 50Mbps up typically, on devices around the house.
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I have 500/500 mbit FIOS. I only use wifi for my ipad (mostly used to watch streaming TV), iPhone (for calling and web) and an AppleTV HD. Everything else (3 macs and another Apple TV) are hard-wired on gigabit ethernet. Back when I was still using my 2013 MacBook Air, I clocked the 802.11ac wifi at around 60 MBytes/sec when writing to a shared network drive (~480 mbits/sec).
It won't last forever, but for now it suits my needs just fine and I don't have money to spend fixing things that ain't broke.
That's really good. I'm thinking of getting a TP-Link AX5400 or a Mercusys AX3000 Router to replace the BTHH2.
Not going to go for Mesh I as understand the system reduces the speed significantly or so I understand. Hoping 1 decent router will cover my whole 3 bed semi.
I do remember years ago that my AEBS 5th Gen never struggled to cover the whole house. I wonder what's changed? More interference?
This is not true. A simple extender reduces speed because it has to use bandwidth to check back with the primary. I am not expert on this and may have wrong terminology, but pretty sure Mesh does not reduce speed. See this article for more:
https://uk.pcmag.com/how-to/117310/wi-fi-range-extender-vs-mesh-network-whats-the-difference
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You either need mesh or you don't. In my experience, signal degradation of a single router is worse than the slower speeds of a secondary node of a mesh system. Maybe there's a sweet spot ~40 feet away where a single router could give me 500 Mbps over the 350 Mbps I'm getting, but it's not worth trading the 100 Mbps I get towards the edge of my network that would be 0 with a single router.
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Placed the AEBS connected to FO>MoCa in the attic (high temps and all) for a decade. Covers all rooms and both in-yard patios at full speed. Super reliable, so far.
I wouldnt use them as a router today, just because they're not being actively updated against current threats but they are thee best access points for apple devices. I still have 3 of them and run my own UTM 9 firewall using an old computer and a free home license from Sophos.