Is Airport Extreme PC-compatible?

[zephead]

We're thinking about getting a new wireless router soon since there's something wrong with ours (I'm on the neighbor's wireless I know, I'm terrible) and just wanted to know if Airport Extreme would be PC-compatible. Thanks for the replies.

 

[michaeldmartin]

Apple's airport extreme line of products is just rebraded 802.11G wifi, so yeah, it will work, but not with everything (not some pocket pcs and other perhapials) I would suggest you get a linksys. Whatever you do; stay away from belkin and netgear! (Those routers are cheaply and badly made)

 

[jayb2000]

Yes, I have it and it works great.
I have great range and its a breeze to setup.

I connect from several computers (Win and OS X) with 801.11b and 802.11g cards from Compaq, linksys, etc.

 

[cuestakid]

Apple's airport extreme line of products is just rebraded 802.11G wifi, so yeah, it will work, but not with everything (not some pocket pcs and other perhapials) I would suggest you get a linksys. Whatever you do; stay away from belkin and netgear! (Those routers are cheaply and badly made)

Ok now i am very concerned-i have a belkin router at my house right now and i am going to be getting a mac pretty soon-are u saying that belkin routers wont work with my new mac-its not a HUGE deal because i am in college and am not home that often so i guess i could just use my laptop when im home but even so i would like to know if belkin routers and apple dont mix

if it helps we have a Pre-N belkin wireless router

 

[dansgil]

Ok now i am very concerned-i have a belkin router at my house right now and i am going to be getting a mac pretty soon-are u saying that belkin routers wont work with my new mac-its not a HUGE deal because i am in college and am not home that often so i guess i could just use my laptop when im home but even so i would like to know if belkin routers and apple dont mix

if it helps we have a Pre-N belkin wireless router

Pre-N routers won't work with any Macs, sorry. For a new router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GC (more compact version). I have used both flawlessly with my Macs. Don't botehr getting version with "Speedboster" or "Rangebooster" as Macs aren't compatible with those technologies.

Hope this helps.

-DG

 

[erikamsterdam]

I can highly recommend the Airport Extreme. Great range, USB printer sharing works perfect, also for the XP box, and you can hook it up to your stereo to play music from your computer wirelessly. Fabulous!

 

[baleensavage]

stay away from belkin and netgear!

I've been using Netgear's routers at home and at work and have never had a problem (except with their VPN hardware). With that said Linksys has a really good reputation. I see no reason to buy an Airport for a Mac or PC network. They are really expensive and you are paying for the Apple name and the "cool design." Wireless routers are a dime a dozen at places like Best Buy, Circuit City and even Walmart.

 

[balamw]

For a new router, I recommend the Linksys WRT54G or WRT54GC (more compact version).

The WRTs also have the distinction of being highly customizable with third party firmware....

B

 

[DarkNetworks]

the older versions of WRTs are pretty customizable but the new ones i doubt it...

 

[benthewraith]

Apple's airport extreme line of products is just rebraded 802.11G wifi, so yeah, it will work, but not with everything (not some pocket pcs and other perhapials) I would suggest you get a linksys. Whatever you do; stay away from belkin and netgear! (Those routers are cheaply and badly made)

Okay, Michael...to let you know, do you know that Belkin uses the exact same hardware as Linksys?

In fact, with a bit editor, you can get linksys firmware on belkin routers and they'd work flawlessly.

Noteon't get v.5 of the Linksys router. Check Tom's Networking for the reason as to why.

 

[cuestakid]

why wont pre-n routers work-i have a 802.11 g wireless card in my dell laptop and i can connect to it no problem-pre n is backwards compatible

can someone elaborate on this-would the wireless card in an imac work

 

[benthewraith]

why wont pre-n routers work-i have a 802.11 g wireless card in my dell laptop and i can connect to it no problem-pre n is backwards compatible

can someone elaborate on this-would the wireless card in an imac work

It will, but if there are any computers connected via N, their bandwidth would immediately drop down to g. So if you want 100+MBps transfer rate, your actually going to get 54Mbps transfer rate for all computers.

 

[cuestakid]

well thats fine- like i said, i am in college and am not home that often and if i do come home for a weekend or something like that i will just bring my laptop-winter break however is another story but it sounds like it will at least work and be reasonably fast

EDIT-no computer in the network at my house is N-only the router

 

[benthewraith]

well thats fine- like i said, i am in college and am not home that often and if i do come home for a weekend or something like that i will just bring my laptop-winter break however is another story but it sounds like it will at least work and be reasonably fast

EDIT-no computer in the network at my house is N-only the router

No need to worry then.

I can also testify that an Airport Extreme Card will work on a Linksys WRT54g w/ Speedbooster.

 

[balamw]

the older versions of WRTs are pretty customizable but the new ones i doubt it...

They've all been hacked, including the newer V5 and V6 hardware, of course the newer ones, including the WRT54GL have less memory than their earlier counterparts so they are less functional.


Here's the no hardware mod required hack for the V5 and V6
http://www.bitsum.com/openwiking/owbase/ow.asp?WRT54G5_CFE

B