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flahdah · May 14, 2003, 10:14 PM

I need to pick up a wireless base station but i dont want to bother with apples overpriced ufo, whats the best to buy? id like to spend $150 or less. it has to be able to share a cable modem too (not sure if thats standard on them, never used wireless networking before).

aaanorton · May 15, 2003, 12:18 AM

Well, for that kind of money, you get the pick of the litter. Anything you want. You can get a perfectly respectable Netgear MR814 for for as little as 50 bucks at buy.com.
The Apple AEBS have 2 nice features that can justify their cost: USB printer sharing and wireless bridging. If you are interested in either of these, take another look at the AEBS. Adding either one of these features to another existing LAN would be quite expensive and much more difficult. If it's all about the bottom line, get the Netgear no doubt.

klinux · May 15, 2003, 05:41 AM

Yup, any 802.11b base station would do. Many of them also act as a "printer server" as well so that is not just a feature found on Apple.

-Q- · May 15, 2003, 08:44 AM

If you're in the states, Microcenter has an SMC wireless router for $40 after rebate.

Been using one at work and it has great range.

aaanorton · May 15, 2003, 12:06 PM

Originally posted by klinux:
Many of them also act as a "printer server" as well so that is not just a feature found on Apple.

The built-in print servers on other routers will be parallel ports, not USB. Besides the fact that USB is more desireable for Mac users, keep in mind that no parallel port on any of these will bridge AppleTalk. This means it will have to be set up as LPR, which most inkjets don't like too much. They'll either print sloooow or possibly not at all. If you've got a compatable printer, that AEBS option is very attractive.

klinux · May 15, 2003, 12:20 PM

Originally posted by aaanorton:
The built-in print servers on other routers will be parallel ports, not USB.

Are you sure about that? I am pretty sure Linksys, among others, make ones with USB ports.

aaanorton · May 15, 2003, 12:36 PM

Originally posted by klinux:
Are you sure about that? I am pretty sure Linksys, among others, make ones with USB ports.

Well, Linksys doesn't bridge AppleTalk from wireless to wired on any of its' products. I don't know of any other USB based printer sharing routers, but that's not to say there couldn't be one I'm not familiar with. Of the big, popular models, though, they'll be parallel.

klinux · May 15, 2003, 05:17 PM

Comon aaanorton, stop changing the target on me, man! First you said others don't have USB ports and I said they do, then you said, oh yeah, they don't support Appletalk. Throw me a bone here!

I would say too that Linksys is a big, popular model.

aaanorton · May 16, 2003, 09:00 AM

Originally posted by klinux:
I would say too that Linksys is a big, popular model.

Hmmm... Yeah, but I'm still not convinced that Linksys even offers a USB printer sharing model. If you'd care to provide a link, that'd be great. I could go search their site, but they have WAY too many products, I don't like the site and, in the end, I know any product I find won't bridge AppleTalk anyway.