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dj_frankle · 12:13 AM

Here is the story:

I wanted a Gigabit Wireless-N router about 2 months ago so I went and purchased a Netgear WNR854T as it seemed to be the best at the time and I didn't know that the Extreme was about to be updated. Gigabit is required as I have a storage server for my Pro-Tools files and I want to transfer them as fast as possible to and from my PowerBook (which has gigabit as well).

Now most of the time it works well, I can connect 3-4 computers wirelessly like a dream, multiple computers torrenting and nothing else slows down, it is great, while it works! My issue is that about once a week it seems to drop wireless connection to all computers. It also seems to stop port forwarding every now and again (to my FTP server) which is an issue.

Does anyone have one of these that works??

Now onto the new Gigabit Extreme, my question is ... how much have people had their new Extreme doing without noticable slowing of the net etc ... ? I will need it to do multiple torrents (wireless), stream internet radio (wireless), provide FTP access (wired), and provide internet for 4 computers (3 wireless and 1 wired). The main concern here is that the net must not slow down on the computer the misses uses ('cos she's impatient) while everything else is going on.

I am seriously considering moving the WNR854T on eBay and getting the Extreme but I need to know that it will keep up with what I need it to do ...

dj_frankle · Sep 5, 2007, 09:49 AM

So does anyone use their Airport Extreme for more than a pretty white box with a basic wireless internet connection??

Somebody must have tested it out with multiple laptops doing various tasks??

ghporter · Sep 6, 2007, 08:12 AM

Maybe they're too busy playing to post here.

Anyway, patience helps with this sort of question. Hopefully someone who has experience will chime in-I'm curious about it myself.

dj_frankle · Sep 6, 2007, 11:46 PM

Thank-you G ... I guess people are doing too much with their Airport Extreme to post!

50 views so far though, we will wait and see ...

dj_frankle · Sep 12, 2007, 12:44 PM

110 views ... this must be an anticipated topic, we just need some Airport Extreme owners to post some results ...

C'mon, SOMEONE out there must be pushing the limits of it ...

dj_frankle · Sep 18, 2007, 10:18 AM

160 views ... looks like I might have to buy an Airport Extreme just to find out what it can do ...

I must say that I am a bit disappointed in the lack of response here, there must be SOMEONE who uses their Airport Extreme for more than just a basic internet connection?

ANYBODY?????????

ghporter · Sep 18, 2007, 12:15 PM

Sorry, I don't own ANY AirPort base station at all. I'd love to be able to chat about what the Extreme does, but... No experience. Sorry.

dj_frankle · Sep 23, 2007, 09:41 AM

All good Glenn, still waiting for someone else to reply, 210 views ...

If this thread reaches 500 I am just gonna buy an Airport Extreme and run it as hard as I can. Seems like everyone here has theirs for show ...

dj_frankle · Oct 5, 2007, 05:33 PM

285 views ... I couldn't wait any longer, I purchased an Airport Extreme Gigabit yesterday morning before work.

About 8 minutes and I had everything running nice including port forwarding ... both Mac and PC work a treat so far.

So yeah, I have 2 of the top home wireless routers now ... the comparisons will be done when I have time ...

ghporter · Oct 6, 2007, 08:15 AM

I have to say you've been a lot more patient than most people around here. Like me-I got the new, aluminum iMac the day after it came out. Glad to hear you're happy with the AirPort box.

I'mDaMac · Oct 6, 2007, 12:45 PM

Do NOT buy an Airport Extreme if you plan on running torrents. There is a bug in the firmware that will crash the router and force a restart. It's pretty widely discussed on Apple's discussion forums. There is an Airport Disk bug that is also worth mentioning. If your computer goes to sleep while the Airport Disk is mounted on the desktop (or the connection is interrupted in any other way) you will not be able to log back into the Airport Disk. You will have to re-start the base station. These two bugs prompted me to return my Airport Extreme to the Apple store.

Cold Warrior · Oct 6, 2007, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by I'mDaMac

Do NOT buy an Airport Extreme if you plan on running torrents. There is a bug in the firmware that will crash the router and force a restart. It's pretty widely discussed on Apple's discussion forums. There is an Airport Disk bug t

Good to know. Thanks. I use an airport express and Azureus' UPnP options, and that works very well for me.

dj_frankle · Oct 9, 2007, 07:09 AM

OK ... here are some results from real world testing, I only have 3 computers at home at the moment so this is what I have running right now:

12" Powerbook running wireless, streaming 256kbps internet radio and transferring 2GB of music (all WAV files) onto Airport Disk, as well as on the net right now.

15" Powerbook running wireless, playing back AVI file (700MB) movie from Airport Disk, and on the net surfing.

PC laptop running via 10/100 ethernet, downloading a 2GB torrent @ 250kB/s (uTorrent) and transferring it to Airport Disk.

If I had more computers I would try to do more!

I am using the PC wired with the torrenting and there have been no problems so far. I have also had both of my Powerbooks go to sleep with the Airport Disk on the desktop and have woken with no issues connecting to Airport Disk upon waking.

All in all I am having a good amount of success with the Airport Extreme Gigabit, my only problem at the moment is that my FTP port forwarding is not quite right.

ginoledesma · Oct 10, 2007, 02:07 PM

I bought an AEBS to replace an old Netgear 802.11b wireless router. I was deciding between the D-Link DIR-655 and the AEBS, but decided on the AEBS instead (Gigabit LAN was a requirement for my needs).

Gigabit LAN-to-WAN transfer speeds are a boon at 8-9MB/s sustained. While not as fast as wired Gigabit, it definitely beats 802.11g and easily matches 100Mbps wired. I do a lot of file transfers between the internal networks (especially with backup jobs). I only have 3 clients (2 wired, 1 wireless), so I can't stress out the wireless portion as much.

I've noticed that performance is *much* better when the AEBS operates in the 5GHz range. Airport reports the speed to be 300Mbps, whereas it's only 130Mbps when operating in the 2.4GHz channel.

One concern I have is that it has somewhat poor reception. According to iStumbler, I have better reception with my neighbor's Linksys that's over 30 feet away (68% signal vs 60% signal)! I'll have to play around with the positioning of the AEBS to see if I can improve things.

The biggest problem I have right now, though, is that the AEBS "disappears" -- my MacBook Pro won't find it in the wireless network, but the LAN clients are fine. This has happened 5x in the course of the 1 week I've owned it.

I'm hoping its an interference issue in my current setup. I'll be playing around more with it.