[ajh]

so I have a macbook. and want broadband installed, i don't want the macbook wired to the broadband, so basically what does the airport express/extreme do? could i set up broadband by connecting the phoneline to that? or what

[sanford]

you'd connect the broadband (dsl or cable modem) to the airport express, and then the airport extreme card in your macbook will connect wirelessly to the airport express -- giving you access to the outside world, or in this case the Internet, which often passes for the outside world.

The airport extreme basestation is just a version of the express basestation that's a little more advanced in areas that you'd probably never use around the home.