[garetjax]

I'm looking to get an airport extreme base station for the house and wondering if I should spring for the one with antenna and modem ($250), or just the plain one ($200), or even the previous 802.11b base station ($180 refurb). I have broadband and don't need the modem. Is the antenna a useful feature? My house is about 2000sf and one-story.

I thought about getting cheaper 3rd party wireless routers like D-link, Netgear and Linksys but don't want the configuration headaches and poor support from these products.

I have a PC desktop, a ibook, a Pismo, and will soon get a PB. Thanks for any suggestions.

Peter,

[aaanorton]

foUnless you:

a. need the higher speeds of 802.11g for large file transfers,

b. are going to use the USB printer sharing port,

c. are definitely going to get another AEBS for wireless bridging,

there's no reason to spend the money on the AEBS. And there's ABSOLUELY no reason to spend it on an older ABS, especially a refurbished one. Just get one of the Netgear MR814's from buy.com for 50 bucks. They are not more difficult to set up and have more features than Apple's. Plus, for the money, you can hardly go wrong.

[garetjax]

Thanks norton, I think I'll try out netgear. Like you said, can't beat the price.

[aaanorton]

Cool. Re-post when you get it, if you have any difficulties.

[Angus_D]

The MR814 is 802.11b only... Netgear does a similar one for 802.11g, called the WG602.

[Jens Peter]

I'm soooo looking forward to get wireles internet at home! Only 2 weeks left before my package arrives...

Jens Peter

// Not really on-topic, but I just needed to share...

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by Angus_D:
The MR814 is 802.11b only... Netgear does a similar one for 802.11g, called the WG602.

The whole g thing is over-rated and more expensive. Plus, the original poster doesn't even own a computer with g support. And once he connects with, say, his iBook, the whole LAN will default to b to accomodate. If you want a g LAN, everything must be g.

[TazmanDman]

I can't decide if I should go with an AEBS or third party as well... it definitely must have g support though since everything is going that direction.

does the AE have a more reliable signal than the other third party D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, etc. access points?

Anyone know?


-Taz

[aaanorton]

Originally posted by TazmanDman:
I can't decide if I should go with an AEBS or third party as well... it definitely must have g support though since everything is going that direction.

But what are you going to be moving across the LAN (and on what equipment)? That is more important.
Oh, and reliability-wise, b is definitely more stable. The g standard has not officially even been published. Check the Networking forum. DNS dropouts from g bases are common. For a mere fifty bucks, you could get youself wireless on a Netgear MR814 (b) unit and sit back and wait til g gets standardized. By then, the new WAP security may be in place too. Who knows if this new security system will be compatable with existing b or g equipment? To me, the WAP security is far more important than the speed of g. That's when I'll upgrade.