[MichaelSullivan]

So, I have been investigating the powerbook g4's accessories-of which the Airport Extreme base station seemed most impressive. Until I research it's performace, that is. I'm aware that at times manufacturers may exaggerate claims (IE: the 4.5 hour advertised battery life on a 15" g4 powerbook), but I couldn't imagine that the AP Extreme would be so overrated. Yet, there it was in print, and ruining my dreams of wireless internet connectivity...

http://www.creativemac.com/articles/...jsp?id=17320-2
http://reviews.cnet.com/Apple_AirPor...2.html?tag=top
http://www.jiwire.com/apple-airport-...t-review-1.htm

And what's worse, I head over to the local Comp-USA and test out their powerbooks coupled with the Airport Extreme Base Station, and I was consistently dropped from a distance of less than 15 feet. Not good. The local Apple store wouldn't comment on the reviews that I took in, simply quoting the APextreme specs. I noticed that the display models were all plugged directly into a LAN, so I couldn't test further.

My goal is simply to take one G4 powerbook and be able to surf the net wirelessly from anywhere in my home, nothing else. However, I'm hesitant to invest $199 in something reviewed this poorly. (I will have only the one powerbook accessing, no other computers, no network).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[ism]

I've got one. Ethernet connection to my router, wireless connection to my powerbook and Canon printer.

Well the creativemac review just seems wierd. Cnet do (apparently) give mac stuff bad reviews (but I don't know how true this is, it's just what I've heard). The jiwire review seems more balanced.

I live in an old terraced house that is pretty damp and has thick walls and it's fair to say that I can be upstairs above my base station and drop from the 54Mbps to around the 11Mbps when transferring a load of files. (The walls, etc obviously effect things since my bluetooth signal can be lost walking through a doorway). My basestation isn't situation in the best position, It's 'wallmounted' but quite low down out of the way (below my iMacG3). So I don't think the AEBS has the strongest signal, but it's OK all things considered in my set-up.

Setup was incredibly easy and it's worked flawlessly ever since. (a couple of months)

My house isn't really big enough to comment on losing the signal over 15ft, although at the greatest distance I will be over this. Distance to my printer is maybe upto 32ft, can't really measure through walls.

So have I helped you decide? Probably not. It's not all bad is all I can say. Signal strength probably isn't the best, but it works easily.

[Steve]

Off to networking...