Wireless N upgrade free after all?

[taylorwilsdon]

http://www.digg.com/apple/Apple_Wireless_N_for_Core_2_Duo_Free_After_All

As of 10:09PM Pacific, Apple released the Airport Extreme 2007-001 update.

This update is recommended for all Intel-based Macintosh computers and provides compatibility with AirPort Extreme base stations and networks.

Could this mean that the fabled Draft-n compatibility will come free after all? Seems that the accounting story was a about as legitimate as it was made out to be.

 

[After G]

Apple was just covering themselves, I'd guess.

 

[richard4339]

*cough*

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/273607/

*cough*

There's already at least one thread on this elsewhere. No, it did not just give us wireless N.

 

[taylorwilsdon]

You're very wrong!

View the post for the update, but Apple's site confirms that the new update "you and up to 50 of your friends, colleagues, or family members can enjoy a robust wireless network offering up to five times the performance and up to twice the range of networks created with the earlier 802.11g standard."

 

[vansouza]

going faster now

I know it sounds nuts, but I tested at test.lvcm.com and got 6 on my MBP, after the update it is not downloading at 10+.

 

[bearbo]

I know it sounds nuts, but I tested at test.lvcm.com and got 6 on my MBP, after the update it is not downloading at 10+.

i somehow didn't think G would give 6MB/s

 

[AlexGFX88]

Yeh, I can confirm much faster speeds, at speak easy 15 minutes ago, I was at 6+, after the update heres my results

Last Result:
Download Speed: 9608 kbps (1201 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 973 kbps (121.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

 

[glib]

Out of curiosity, I also ran a bandwidth test at speakeasy with a close mirror and got 1024kb/s, then updated, restarted, and got 2100kb/s. Upload speed was slightly faster, but only 10%ish, not the near doubling that I got in my down speed. Not sure if it was just the restart that did it or what, but sweet!

 

[adrianblaine]

Out of curiosity, I also ran a bandwidth test at speakeasy with a close mirror and got 1024kb/s, then updated, restarted, and got 2100kb/s. Upload speed was slightly faster, but only 10%ish, not the near doubling that I got in my down speed. Not sure if it was just the restart that did it or what, but sweet!

You guys do realize that the router and airport speed have little to do with how fast your internet is right? It has more to do with your actual internet connection. Just because you get an N-router does not mean all-of-a-sudden you'll have much faster internet. Sure, anything you do over the local network will be tons faster, but it is still broadcasting your same slow internet (in a matter of speaking). At least that's what I was always under the impression of.

 

[AvMac]

You guys do realize that the router and airport speed have little to do with how fast your internet is right? It has more to do with your actual internet connection. Just because you get an N-router does not mean all-of-a-sudden you'll have much faster internet. Sure, anything you do over the local network will be tons faster, but it is still broadcasting your same slow internet (in a matter of speaking). At least that's what I was always under the impression of.

I second that opinion.

There will be an increase only in the wireless range due to the N specifications. Internet download/upload speed should remain the same.

 

[glib]

You guys do realize that the router and airport speed have little to do with how fast your internet is right? It has more to do with your actual internet connection. Just because you get an N-router does not mean all-of-a-sudden you'll have much faster internet. Sure, anything you do over the local network will be tons faster, but it is still broadcasting your same slow internet (in a matter of speaking). At least that's what I was always under the impression of.

And you realize that the local network speeds could be a limiting factor to your internet speed, seeing it must be routed through the local network. All I'm saying is, my internet was the same slowish speed of 1Mbps for hours (and I did restart once in that time) and after the update and a restart, it was over double that.

I'm not saying I think my internet connection has gotten faster. I'm saying the connection between my wireless laptop and my wireless router has gotten stronger.

 

[jimytheassassin]

can you see proof that it's operating in N mode? Have you tried limiting your router to just accept/broadcast N signals? I want to believe there's real proof since apples own page even says it, but there are many doubters here and elsewhere. "I WANT THE TRUTH"-a few good men

 

[ilkevinli]

I don't know what this update does, but I don't think it is updating the wireless card to "N" capability. The reason I say this is because after updating in OSX and then rebooting into Windows, there is no re-detection if the wireless acrd as there should be with a firmware update to the wireless card. Windows is still only showing a connection speed of 54mbps.

 

[26139]

Yep...

You guys do realize that the router and airport speed have little to do with how fast your internet is right? It has more to do with your actual internet connection. Just because you get an N-router does not mean all-of-a-sudden you'll have much faster internet. Sure, anything you do over the local network will be tons faster, but it is still broadcasting your same slow internet (in a matter of speaking). At least that's what I was always under the impression of.

I agree as well. I wish everyone understood the real world benefits of 802.11n, and while it's convenient, it's not a huge improvement to most of us.

 

[Peace]

The new airport extreme allows for 802.11g and 802.11n to work together without losing any speed on either spec.You can have a Mac with 802.11g using the Extreme at the same time as a Mac using 802.11n without losing bandwidth.

This update
A. fixed a bug.
B. Allows Intel Macs with Core Duo to keep from dragging the Extreme base station down to 802.11g.

This IS NOT a firmware update to 802.11n

See : http://www.technewsworld.com/story/55410.html

 

[killmoms]

And you realize that the local network speeds could be a limiting factor to your internet speed, seeing it must be routed through the local network. All I'm saying is, my internet was the same slowish speed of 1Mbps for hours (and I did restart once in that time) and after the update and a restart, it was over double that.

I'm not saying I think my internet connection has gotten faster. I'm saying the connection between my wireless laptop and my wireless router has gotten stronger.

So your wireless access point was also magically updated to N somehow? I mean, if you actually have a draft-N wireless access point/router, I won't doubt you... but even if you get 802.11n on your card, it makes NO difference to ANY speed if your router only supports 802.11a/b/g. (EDIT: Okay, if you had TWO machines with draft-N cards and made an ad-hoc network between them, THEN there would be a difference in speed.)

Apple said they're charging $1.99 to upgrade to 802.11n if you don't buy the new 802.11n Airport Extreme, and I believe that's true. I don't think they'd release the update for free mere days later. This is just a regular old Airport Extreme update like any other.

 

[glib]

I never said anything about 802.11n. I'm just referring to the 'other
improvements' mentioned in that other thread linked at the top of this one. I couldn't dig up the release notes anywhere for clarification.

I just assumed they streamlined the implementation of the wireless-g protocol a bit more and fixed a few bugs that might have been slowing it down.

All I know is that it's faster than it was before, and that's nice.

 

[AlexGFX88]

I second that opinion.

There will be an increase only in the wireless range due to the N specifications. Internet download/upload speed should remain the same.

It doesn't stay the same for me, I have a drastic increase in speed browsing and downloading.

 

[daneoni]

It doesn't stay the same for me, I have a drastic increase in speed browsing and downloading.

Probably because the update increases the size of Packets (TCP Window) (that go out and come in).