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Simon · Mar 3, 2009, 04:40 AM

It appears the FCC has received filings from Apple for a new AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule. Apparently they will support dual-band operation so both 802.11n and 80.211g devices can transmit at their full speeds concurrently.

The current products have a compatibility mode, but traffic between the AEBS/TC and 802.11n clients is slowed down while in 802.11g compatibility mode (2.4 GHz).

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._extremes.html

The new products might be arriving quite soon actually.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

While Apple has reflected relatively healthy inventory of AirPort Extremes in the US and Canada, availability of the wireless routers has been close to non-existant for the past 2-3 weeks in parts of Europe, such as Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, and Italy.

An AppleInsider blog post published earlier today noted rumors of six new Apple product part numbers that have turned up in the inventory systems of some of the company's overseas resellers. Typically when the FCC publishes authorization documentation for a new Apple product, that product hits the market within days of the grant being made public.

It should also be noted that Amazon recently slashed the price of the current generation Time Capsules by 13 - 22 percent, a move which may now be seen as an inventory clearing measure ahead of new models. The 1TB Time Capsule was marked down $112 to $387.92 while the 500GB model was reduced by about $40 to $259.31.

Simon · Mar 3, 2009, 09:51 AM

Update. Both the new TC and the new AEBS have just been launched.

$179 for the AEBS.

$299 for 500 GB. $499 for 1 TB.

http://www.apple.com/wifi/

jokell82 · Mar 3, 2009, 03:58 PM

Dual band and guest networking are fantastic features. I'm just trying to decide if I want to go for the Time Capsule or the AEBS...

Dakar V · Mar 3, 2009, 04:00 PM

Great stuff. I think I'll be getting around my wish for dual-band by upgrading my old iMac with a wireless-n USB adaptor.

Simon · Mar 3, 2009, 04:04 PM

Dual-band's cool, but guest networking is what I really dig (since I essentially already had dual-band networking with two AEBS).

Stogieman · Mar 3, 2009, 04:11 PM

Damn, I just bought a 500GB time capsule less than 2 weeks ago.

jokell82 · Mar 3, 2009, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Stogieman

Damn, I just bought a 500GB time capsule less than 2 weeks ago.

14 day return policy...

Dakar V · Mar 3, 2009, 04:23 PM

That doesn't count if you pick it up from Amazon, or somewhere else, though, does it?

jokell82 · Mar 3, 2009, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar V

That doesn't count if you pick it up from Amazon, or somewhere else, though, does it?

Most places you could buy it from have a more liberal return policy than Apple does. Amazon has a 30 day policy, for example...

turtle777 · Mar 3, 2009, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by jokell82

Dual band and guest networking are fantastic features.

I'm trying to find out more about Guest Networking, but couldn't find anything on Apple's pages.

Does anybody have a link ?

-t

Stogieman · Mar 3, 2009, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by jokell82

14 day return policy...

Yeah, I'm going to do that. I bought it at the Apple store and I got until Friday to return it. I wonder if the Apple stores already have the new Time Capsules in stock.

BurpetheadX · Mar 3, 2009, 07:00 PM

Any chance of the dual-band being a firmware update for existing Extremes & Time Capsules? Or does dual-band have extra hardware differences...

jokell82 · Mar 3, 2009, 07:37 PM

Originally Posted by BurpetheadX

Any chance of the dual-band being a firmware update for existing Extremes & Time Capsules? Or does dual-band have extra hardware differences...

It's got a whole 'nother antenna.

Simon · Mar 4, 2009, 04:20 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I'm trying to find out more about Guest Networking, but couldn't find anything on Apple's pages.
Does anybody have a link ?

Share the Internet securely with guest networking.
Now it’s easier than ever to allow guests to use your Internet connection without sharing your password or giving them access to the rest of your network. Simply enable the new guest networking feature using the AirPort Utility application and create a separate Wi-Fi network just for your friends. You can set up this guest network with a different password or with none at all. Your primary network — including your printer, attached drives, or other devices — remains secure.

http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/...frequency.html

Simon · Mar 4, 2009, 04:22 AM

Can Guest Networking and dual-band networking both be used at the same time?

Since they apparently implemented Guest Networking as a second network, wouldn't that use the second antenna you'd otherwise use for dual-band networking?

turtle777 · Mar 4, 2009, 11:30 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Can Guest Networking and dual-band networking both be used at the same time?

Since they apparently implemented Guest Networking as a second network, wouldn't that use the second antenna you'd otherwise use for dual-band networking?

Excellent question.

I would hope yes, and from a technical perspective, it should be possible, too.
Guest Network seems to be just another way of authentication, not a discrete second network.

-t

Simon · Mar 4, 2009, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by turtle777

I would hope yes, and from a technical perspective, it should be possible, too.
Guest Network seems to be just another way of authentication, not a discrete second network.

That's what I thought too. But then I read Apple's description:

Originally Posted by Apple

Simply enable the new guest networking feature using the AirPort Utility application and create a separate Wi-Fi network just for your friends.

I hope that's just PR baloney and not the way it's actually implemented.

BZ · Mar 4, 2009, 01:24 PM

Anyone have any idea how the speeds will be better with the dual band?

10%? 20%?

Obviously the internet won't matter, but transferring from my Mac to AEBS (Time Machine) and to Apple TV should have some improvement.

Obviously enough to build the darn thing.

BZ

Simon · Mar 4, 2009, 04:43 PM

AEBS/TimeMachine and TC probably won't see an improvement because file transfer performance is dominated by the CPU and not the network. Both of these units have slow processors (like all consuemr NAS solutions BTW) and that's what's making TM slow, not necessarily the wireless network.

David Mathias · Mar 5, 2009, 07:03 PM

I got one of the 500GB units today. I'm still doing the initial backup via ethernet so I can't speak to wireless speeds. I do have an interesting first impression, however. The disk in this unit is MUCH quieter than the one in my previous TC (a relatively new unit). I think the unit may run a little cooler as well though I haven't collected any data to verify that.

David

turtle777 · Mar 6, 2009, 02:02 PM

Originally Posted by Simon

AEBS/TimeMachine and TC probably won't see an improvement because file transfer performance is dominated by the CPU and not the network. Both of these units have slow processors (like all consuemr NAS solutions BTW) and that's what's making TM slow, not necessarily the wireless network.

Wait, would the AEBS CPU even influence file transfers between two connected computers ?

-t

Simon · Mar 6, 2009, 02:21 PM

That's not was I was thinking about. The CPU plays a role there too for the routing but that's minimal. What I was thinking about are disks attached to the AEBS's USB port. That AFP/SMB sharing is limited by the AEBS's CPU.

kylef · Mar 6, 2009, 03:21 PM

Anyone got any data transfer figure comparisons? Interested to see how justified this extra £50 is.

Simon · Mar 10, 2009, 05:14 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

I hope that's just PR baloney and not the way it's actually implemented.

Fortunately it did turn out to be PR.

Guest Networking and dual-band networks work fine side by side.
http://db.tidbits.com/article/10125

The top one is the GN. Then there's the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz dual-band networks (they pop up separately because he chose to set it up that way and suppress the built-in dual-band romaing, but it's optional). All three are running concurrently on the same AEBS.

Want one.