I’m Tired Of My Network Connection Dropping
Apple March 16th, 2007
Throughout the last week I’ve had problems with my network connection. I currently connect via an ADSL modem connected up to a Belkin wireless router which sends signals around the house to my Mac. It was relitavely reliable up until recently, where it’s started to fade and had problems connecting.
After becoming sick and tired of my Airport connection dropping in an out dozens of times on a daily basis, I bought an Apple Airport Extreme (yes, one of the slick new ones).
I’ve wanted one of these ever since it was released at Macworld, and now I finally have it. The design of the product is amazing, it’s very slick - something we’ve come to expect from Apple in recent times. It will be connected in the family room next to the Mac mini. The design of the product is very similar to the Mac mini, it sits under it perfectly hence saving space in a minimalistic environment.
Expect a full review when I have some time to sit down and write about the product in some detail. Now, I’m off to set it up.
March 16th, 2007 at 6:47 am
I hope you set up an external HD with it. :)
March 16th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Seems like an over-priced piece of kit as there are many draft-n spec routers available with more features for less money. The NAS feature is nice but not exactly unique (netgear has routers that do this and I suspect others do as well).
NB: Rather than waste time reviewing this, why not just point people to:
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/airport-n.ars
March 16th, 2007 at 7:34 am
my linksys wrt54gs is great. comcast, however, is not but the speeds are pretty darn good.
March 16th, 2007 at 8:47 am
these new AirPort Extremes are great. I looked at one the other day, it’s exactly the same dimensions as the mac mini. Nice touch!
March 16th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Nice, I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these. I’ve been waiting to go wireless for quite some time. Now that I’m in a 3 storey townhouse, I think the time is right. And of course, as soon as I saw the new Airport Extreme, I knew that was it. So much nicer than all those other N routers with ridiculous antennas and mini dishes on them. No way I would own a contraption like that.
March 16th, 2007 at 10:12 am
Which Belkin wireless router do you have/had?
March 16th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Andre: No external HDD set up on the drive yet, I will be adding a school documents server to it soon.
Matt: I strongly suggest you do. It’s really amazing (setup now). The reception and range is so much better, I’ve had no problems so far.
Nick: I had (have) the Belkin Wireless G Router.
March 16th, 2007 at 11:24 am
new airport is pretty. but i dont think worth the cost.
March 16th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
My machines can’t use the 802.11n draft, so the extra range and speed wouldn’t be there for me. It would be even worse once my PSP joins the network, which is only 802.11b!
Also, there are other 802.11n routers out that that do exactly the same thing as the Airport Extreme, but this does have the Apple Touch™. However, that ease-of-use comes at a hefty price.
March 16th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
HOLY CRAP I LOVE THE SITE DESIGN.
::ahem::
sorry. but the little about blurb is cut off, and i tried making my text smaller, but it is still cut off.
i am so jealous of you.
March 16th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Another product in Apple’s lineup that really is stupidly overpriced and offers little to justify the price hike over other products.
I believe networking equipment should be completely passive. Never seen, never heard. You should’ve purchased yourself something like the Netgear DG834G. $299 for the Apple product or… $110 for the Netgear one.
I’ve got one and it’s absolutely fantastic.
March 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Neil- the Airport Extreme is $180, not $299…
March 16th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
w00t!
March 16th, 2007 at 11:10 pm
I visited the New Zealand Apple Store online and it said $299 including GST.
March 17th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Neil: I got it with a student discount which took the price down to $250. I agree, I paid the “Apple Premium”, but it has worked amazingly well for me so far so I’m happy to pay that little extra.
March 17th, 2007 at 7:05 am
“but it has worked amazingly well for me”
What do you mean by this? Do you mean that it was easy to setup and “just works” or are you implying its performance (range, transfer rate, etc) is amazing.
March 17th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Ryan: Firstly the setup was very easy - but secondly my internet speed has increased dramatically, the range has improved, and it’s not dropping out.
March 17th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Glenn, do you happen to know if the new Extreme is compatible with the old 802.11g Extreme and Express WDS? I’m currently using WDS with the last-gen Extreme and two Expresses through my house. I’d love to move to 802.11n, but I can’t justify phasing out all that hardware if it’s not compatible.
March 19th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
@Glenn, did you check out the Mac Address Access Control option on aebs? it’s so counter-intuitive(productive) on how you add mac address of machines in your lan. My old-school 30bucks d-link router takes 2 clicks to add mac address. On aebs, i need to find out what the client’s address is by going to advanced -> Logging&SNMP -> Logs &Statistics -> Wireless Clients / DHCP clients. Even after burrowing through so many steps, it does not let me copy an address from the list. *&^$! I gotta either copy it manually or export the log so i can copy the address i want to add.
Second issue, did you also try the ‘wireless client setup assistant’? /*Menu -> Base Station -> Add Wireless Client*/ When it asks for a temp. pin, it wont let me type on the field despite the blinking cursor waiting for input. it seemed like this particular feature is half-finished.
How about your experience?
March 20th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I’ve been thinking about getting that, along with a new iMac after WWDC.
March 27th, 2007 at 6:19 am
This is interesting. I have had the same trouble with my fairly new Belkin wireless router. It kept dropping out and now it’s virtually impossible to connect to. I’ve just disconnected it in disgust and cast my mind to getting an Airport as I never had drop out issues with my old airport express.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:30 am
If you get drop outs you might want to change the network channel. Sometimes there are multiple WLANs interfering with each other - changing the channel often solves this problem.
October 10th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Would you reccommend this product highly? Is the N really worth it?
October 10th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Highly recommended. I love the USB port for NAS.