Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

jamesl · Jul 28, 2004, 05:04 AM

Hi

I have recently purchased a G3 apple ibook - onje of the newer models. However, i understand that the airport extereme cards are not compatible with any g3 computers. Does anybody know if there are any prodiucts out there, that are mac compatible, which would offer the same speed as airport extrreme, rather than the standard 11Mbps.

My main reason for asking is because i would like to be able to use my ibook at school, without slowing the entire wireless syetem down to the older specification.

Look forward to hearing nfrom you

Kind regards

James

rytc · Jul 30, 2004, 06:15 AM

Originally posted by jamesl:
My main reason for asking is because i would like to be able to use my ibook at school, without slowing the entire wireless syetem down to the older specification.

Are you inferring that by connecting to the school network using the 11 MiB Aiport card you'll slow down the whole system for everyone else? Or do you mean that you yourself want the faster speed? Because if it's the former then I think you don't need to worry, the rest of the wireless network will operate as per normal, the only part of the network that will be limited to 11 MiB will be the link to your laptop. Wireless routers generally support a/b or the faster g standard and don't slow down to whatever the slowest card accessing the network is using.

Cheers

jamesl · Jul 31, 2004, 03:03 PM

Oh right. i had been told that if i was to use a standard airport card in my ibook, it would slow the airport, because the apple airport reduces the speed to 11mbps for every user connected, because i am not using an airport extreme card. is this correct?

jamesl · Jul 31, 2004, 03:04 PM

Also, is there any way i could get the faster speed on a g3 ibook?

rytc · Aug 1, 2004, 03:25 AM

Originally posted by jamesl:
Oh right. i had been told that if i was to use a standard airport card in my ibook, it would slow the airport, because the apple airport reduces the speed to 11mbps for every user connected, because i am not using an airport extreme card. is this correct?

As far as I know this isn't correct, I don't see how wireless would operate any different than wired ethernet and this doesn't happen for that, i.e the network doesn't operate at the speed of the slowest connection.

The only time what you were told would happen is if your laptop is acting as the base, i.e. you're connected to the net and are sharing it via airport to everyone else, in that case everyone is limited to the speed of you comp. If you are just connecting to an existing network you won't be slowing anyone down.

rytc · Aug 1, 2004, 03:26 AM

Originally posted by jamesl:
Also, is there any way i could get the faster speed on a g3 ibook?

Well if the iBooks had PC cards then you probably could, as it is I think you're stuck with plain old Airport. However, there may be a third party variant...

SupahCoolX · Aug 1, 2004, 05:03 PM

Also remember that 11mpbs is more than enough for most broadband internet connections anyway (Cable, DSL, etc). The faster 54mbps standard only really helps for regular networking (file sharing), or possibly some super-fast internet connections.

rytc · Aug 1, 2004, 10:22 PM

(3) AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme use the 802.11g wireless standard. Achieving data rates of 54 Mbps requires that all users have an AirPort Extreme or Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g enabled computer and connect to an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station. If a user of a Wi-Fi-certified 802.11b product joins the network, that user will get up to 11 Mbps and AirPort Extreme and Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g users will get less than 54 Mbps. Actual speed will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors.

Okay so looking at this it sounds like if someone with a slower card access the network it is slowed down, but note they say other users will get less than 54Mbs i.e. sounds like marginally less, you'd be the only one "slowed" to 11Mbs. Besides I'd be very suprised if everyone else is using Wireless cards at 54Mbs, 11Mbs PC Cards are pretty cheap and common and the majority of PCs are probably still using it, as are the majority of Macs. Don't worry about it just use the network using your Airport card.

jamesl · Aug 5, 2004, 04:22 PM

Oh right, Its just that every other ibook used on site (we only have macs) has got an airport extreme card, so i was wondering if what i had been told was actually true.

James

kafoochy · Aug 5, 2004, 04:41 PM

Originally posted by jamesl:
Oh right, Its just that every other ibook used on site (we only have macs) has got an airport extreme card, so i was wondering if what i had been told was actually true.

James

I don't know of any 802.11g USB dongles that are compatible with OS X. Netgear makes one but I don't think there are mac drivers. My mom bought an 802.11b USB adapter for her powerbook G3 though, so although you may be out of luck now, there may be someone that will make a 802.11g USB adapter soon with Mac drivers. Belkin makes one as well. Contact their tech support and ask about a Mac driver. Otherwise just get an 802.11b standard Airport card. Most people at my school are probably running 802.11b anyways. There's probably someone at your school that doesn't have an AE-802.11g card and is running 802.11b so it wouldn't matter if you do as well. The Apple Airport card would be the easiest route to go for you.

d4nth3m4n · Aug 7, 2004, 02:48 PM

Originally posted by SupahCoolX:
Also remember that 11mpbs is more than enough for most broadband internet connections anyway (Cable, DSL, etc). The faster 54mbps standard only really helps for regular networking (file sharing), or possibly some super-fast internet connections.

i was under this impression as well, in my experience, the 11mbps is more than the connection, and the advantages of 54mbps only show in LAN transfers.

might want to talk to the networking forum folk about this though.

Juggler · Nov 27, 2004, 04:18 AM

O.K., does anybody know where can one buy an original airport card compatible with the old G3 iBooks?

darthslacker · Nov 27, 2004, 03:20 PM

One other way you could get 802.11g on a G3 iBook is with a ethernet to wireless bridge such as this one from Belkin.

I've used 802.11b versions on iMacs without Airport Card slots. No drivers are required so any brand would work. Often they are advertised on the box as compatible with Xbox and Playstation 2. They usually won't list Mac compatibility on the box but that's not a problem since, again, they don't require drivers and the computer just thinks it's connected through ethernet.

I have yet to see any of the USB 802.11g adapters that are Mac compatible because those DO require drivers.

As for finding older Airport Cards (non-Extreme) you could always check eBay. Last time I checked, most online retailers that still had them were selling them with quite a large markup.

D'Espice · Nov 28, 2004, 08:06 AM

Originally posted by rytc:
(3) AirPort Express and AirPort Extreme use the 802.11g wireless standard. Achieving data rates of 54 Mbps requires that all users have an AirPort Extreme or Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g enabled computer and connect to an AirPort Express or AirPort Extreme Base Station. If a user of a Wi-Fi-certified 802.11b product joins the network, that user will get up to 11 Mbps and AirPort Extreme and Wi-Fi-certified 802.11g users will get less than 54 Mbps. Actual speed will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors.

This only goes for Airport Extreme or Express Base Stations (which makes them pretty crappy btw). You can be fairly sure, that your school does NOT have one of these. So using a 11Mbps WLAN card does not slow down anything for anybody else - you will be the only one with 11 Mbps.