Question on Airport extreme

[dcaccount]

Hello,
I need a new access point for my home network and I was thinking of the AirPort Extreme.

First of all I have not totally understood if it is natively an access point or a router can can be used as an access point.

Secondly I would ask if it worth the money it costs or if it an outdated product.

Thanks for helping, daniele

 

[rigormortis]

Hello,
I need a new access point for my home network and I was thinking of the AirPort Extreme.

First of all I have not totally understood if it is natively an access point or a router can can be used as an access point.

Secondly I would ask if it worth the money it costs or if it an outdated product.

Thanks for helping, daniele

if you need an airport extreme , it is a good router. it makes a good access point. it is very expensive. your looking at $199

some people think the airport is limited. lets talk about some of it's limitations, so we can be fair.

no QOS. the airport extreme won't prioritize your traffic like other routers will do.
no external antenna jacks. a lot of people like external antennas.
you need 'airport utility' to configure the router, you can't use a web browser.
50 client limit, and each base station is a client.
they only meet wifi protected setup half way.*
Gigabit on all ports but you only get 1 for the net and 3 for devices. any more and you need a hub


pros of the airport extreme
you get a 5 year warranty on all airports and time capsules if you have apple care on any mac or iPhone.
it looks so darn cute
setting up an extended network is very easy.
the connection is just rock solid. i never have to reboot any of my airports.
they were one of the first routers to support 450 mbit
attaching a hard disk externally turns it into a time capsule wireless base station
it can support 1 printer and 1 usb drive using a hub
GIGABIT on all ports.
they were one of the first routers on the market to do 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz simultaneously



other ideas.
if you are a t-mobile customer and need a wireless router, they will lend you one for a $200 ASUS 802.11AC router for a $25 deposit.

*wifi protected setup requires two things , one it must be configurable with windows , which clearly the airport can't do and the other is you can add clients by using a pin number or a pressing a physical software button, apple supports it, but calls it 'adding a printer'

if you have any 'wireless device that is covered by applecare' your warranty on your time capsule or airport extreme is covered for 2 years before you bought your covered product and up to 3 years of applecare.

if i were you i would go to wikipedia and look up the power output of an airport extreme, they are widely out there, smirk. and then compare the signal strength to the router your thinking of buying

that R6400-100NAS netgear sounds pretty nice, and its only $149 . i looked at it because its rating on amazon. it took me 5 minutes to find out the warranty.

 

[dcaccount]

Thanks for your detailed comments,

Where did you find that:

....

you get a 5 year warranty on all airports and time capsules if you have apple care on any mac or iPhone.

Thanks,
daniele

 

[dcaccount]

Hello again,
it looks nice indeed, it seems it could work as a NAS as well.

What do you mean with "it took me 5 minutes to find out the warranty"? Please advise,

thanks, daniele

....

that R6400-100NAS netgear sounds pretty nice, and its only $149 . i looked at it because its rating on amazon. it took me 5 minutes to find out the warranty.

 

[rigormortis]

Thanks for your detailed comments,

Where did you find that:




Thanks,
daniele

applecare terms and conditions, north america united states.

3.2 Covered Equipment

In addition to the Apple-branded product and accessories contained in the original packaging, “Covered Equipment” includes the following according to your Plan:

(i) Under APP for Mac, (a) one compatible Apple branded display if purchased at the same time as the Covered Equipment, (b) an Apple-branded mouse, Magic Trackpad, Apple Battery Charger and keyboard if included with the Covered Equipment (or purchased with a Mac mini or Mac Pro), or (c) an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station, AirPort Time Capsule, Apple memory modules (RAM) and Apple USB SuperDrive if used with the Covered Equipment and originally purchased by you no earlier than two years before the Covered Equipment purchase.

(ii) Under APP for Apple TV, an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station and AirPort Time Capsule if used with the Covered Equipment and originally purchased by you no earlier than two years before the Covered Equipment purchase.

if you look up applecare for iPhone it will also say the airport is covered

a dedicated "nas" is always going to be better then an airport extreme or time capsule.

when i said 5 years its because the terms say 2 years prior and then apple care is 3 years max, so its 2+3 = 5

 

[rigormortis]

Hello again,
it looks nice indeed, it seems it could work as a NAS as well.

What do you mean with "it took me 5 minutes to find out the warranty"? Please advise,

thanks, daniele

i wanted to know the warranty. on netgear so i went to the netgear warranty page.. and it didn't say how long itwas good for. so i went to netgear's product page for the router i was checking out, and i download the owners manual, and product brochures and i could not find the warranty info. i went to amazon, and amazon didn't say. amazon says if i want to know the warranty i have to ask amazon customer service. i finally went to best buy and they saiy 1 year

i cant believe its so hard for me to find out how long a warranty is on a wireless router.

you try it! see if you can find anything about how long netgear cover's this router!
http://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/wifi-routers/R6400.aspx#tab-support

 

[rigormortis]

basically the important things i feel why someone would choose an airport extreme or a time capsule over another brand of router that has more features. is because the warranty that you get with applecare.

if you have applecare, then you should think about getting the airport or time capsule.

a lot of these routers with hard disks in them have warranties that are only good for a year.
some hard disks that you buy in a retail box at the store only have a warranty only good for 1 or 2 years.

so if you have own any kind of apple stuff, like an iPhone , or a mac, and you threw in applecare. its going to
cover the base station for up to 5 years.

so the way i figure if it wasn't of applecare. theres no way that the hard disk inside the time capsule would have a warranty for 5 years, because hard disk companies like WD are going back to 1 or 2 year warrranties.

the other important thing is the airport's wireless connection for me is pretty rock solid. i never have to reset the router or any wireless cards.


but there is a lot of other routers out there that are going to give you more features then what apple gives you.

apple has a 14 day return policy. i think you should take advantage of it, and try the router out for a week and see if
you like it. if you don't like it, then you can try other routers that have more features and bigger antennas, like netgear.

i think you should keep buying different routers and returning them and finding one that you like best. find the one that has the most range, find one with a good connection that you can connect to from the back yard, or across the street.

don't put the router next to a wall because it will absorb the signal

 

[WannaGoMac]

Does the 6th gen work with the Windows Utility for setup now?

 

[DJLC]

My advice would be an ASUS router of your choice. I've had one for 3 years now and haven't needed to touch it since I installed it.

Idk why people like AirPort Utility so much; honestly I find it to be an unnecessary burden. AirPort is nothing special.

 

[rigormortis]

My advice would be an ASUS router of your choice. I've had one for 3 years now and haven't needed to touch it since I installed it.

Idk why people like AirPort Utility so much; honestly I find it to be an unnecessary burden. AirPort is nothing special.

does your asus router have a 5 year warranty like an airport router has, when you have applecare?
the warranty on a ASUS RT-AC68U is 2 years. the warranty on a 3 tb time capsule is 5 years as long as you have something .. anything... that has an apple care plan

its 2 years before you bought applecare to 3 years of apple care coverage, for a total of 5 years
the minimum requirements for applecare coverage is it has to be an apple device that connects to the airport or time capsule over wifi, haha

a 5 year warranty on a time capsule is pretty significant when you realize that since the hard disk installed in the time capsule is a "component" it has no warranty at all from the manufacturer.

 

[Altemose]

no QOS. the airport extreme won't prioritize your traffic like other routers will do.

The AirPort Extreme has a QoS but it is not user configurable. That being said, I have never once had a performance issue with an AirPort Extreme managing a 150+ client network.

 

[Le Big Mac]

attaching a hard disk externally turns it into a time capsule wireless base station

Is this back on? Apple seems to go back and forth on supporting this . . . but supported now under El Capitan?

 

[Weaselboy]

Is this back on? Apple seems to go back and forth on supporting this . . . but supported now under El Capitan?

It is not related to El Capitan, but rather the Airport Extreme itself. Starting with the current, tower shaped 802.11ac Airport Extreme, Time Machine backups to an attached USB drive is officially supported by Apple. Previous models this was not the case. It is even mentioned in the manual for the new model.

 

[ZMacintosh]

In regards to the warranty and QOS there is some false info - the warranty is the typical one year with apple, it only extends up to 3 years if its purchased with a Mac with AppleCare. there was a time when it floated - ie; you upgrade a mac 3 years later you can still apply the applecare to the old router.
QOS, it doesnt do it in a manageable way, but the router will dictate priorities over content

 

[DJLC]

does your asus router have a 5 year warranty like an airport router has, when you have applecare?
the warranty on a ASUS RT-AC68U is 2 years. the warranty on a 3 tb time capsule is 5 years as long as you have something .. anything... that has an apple care plan

In regards to the warranty and QOS there is some false info - the warranty is the typical one year with apple, it only extends up to 3 years if its purchased with a Mac with AppleCare. there was a time when it floated - ie; you upgrade a mac 3 years later you can still apply the applecare to the old router.
QOS, it doesnt do it in a manageable way, but the router will dictate priorities over content

Just to defend my position...

Apple AirPort Extreme: $199.00
Purchase it alongside a Mac and add AppleCare for $249. Extend coverage to 3 full years on AirPort.
Total Cost: $448.00

ASUS RT-AC66U: $142.84 on Amazon right now
Add 2 years of coverage for $8.21
Total Cost: $151.05

The AirPort is nearly 3x more expensive, and you really don't get any extra benefit unless you want your configuration options to be limited. The warranty differs, but I can replace my ASUS 3 times before I'm paying as much as I'd pay for AirPort with AppleCare. And that's assuming I want to buy a Mac or iOS device at the same time to get AppleCare coverage.

I love an Apple device as much as anyone, but there's no benefit to their networking hardware.

 

[ZMacintosh]

to me the lack of a web interface is awesome. the ease of gaining access to web based routers is so easy its frightening from a security standpoint. so the price of admission on tht alone for an apple based router which sets up security right away is worth it. on top of that you can use it to back up disks, access your network remotely much much more easily and securely only opening access to specific users and ports.
yes you can do all this on other brand routers, but end users are not experienced on making it secure enough, the confusion and ugliness of the interfaces is hard to overcome even from seasoned technicians ive worked with.

so while you have a point on hardware, the lacking function of a secure interface easy to use portal is lacking.

 

[WannaGoMac]

Just to defend my position...

Apple AirPort Extreme: $199.00
Purchase it alongside a Mac and add AppleCare for $249. Extend coverage to 3 full years on AirPort.
Total Cost: $448.00

ASUS RT-AC66U: $142.84 on Amazon right now
Add 2 years of coverage for $8.21
Total Cost: $151.05

The AirPort is nearly 3x more expensive, and you really don't get any extra benefit unless you want your configuration options to be limited. The warranty differs, but I can replace my ASUS 3 times before I'm paying as much as I'd pay for AirPort with AppleCare. And that's assuming I want to buy a Mac or iOS device at the same time to get AppleCare coverage.

I love an Apple device as much as anyone, but there's no benefit to their networking hardware.

Or get a refurbished airport for $129. Same warranty etc