Airport Base Stations (Extreme, Express, Time Capsule) and more . . .

[mydave]

Hello everyone,

Our connection to the internet is thru:
. An SB6183 Modem --> TWC
. A Netgear Nighthawk AC1900 router which provides DHCP to all equipment, wired and wireless.
. Some AC Bridges which wireless connect to the router to provide LAN (Ethernet) to Media Player or PC that has Ethernet but no wifi.

The above set-up has been in place for almost a year now. No interruption and good connection thru-out our 2800 sqf home. But, I'm starting to have an interest in Apple base stations for the reasons of back-up and longevity.

I've been searching thru the net, Apple website and Mac forums for info about the set-up, the uses, the reliability, the usefulness and the longevity of Apple Base Stations vs non-Apple equipment. I've learned quite a bit. But prior to venturing into an alternate replacement of current setup, I wish to learn from the experiences of users of this forum, whom I gained much knowledge from the past.

I've asked the blessing from Kevin to post this thread and I'm asking the generosity from all to share the knowledge & experiences, please. Again, please share your current set-up, how you use them, how reliable is your set up, and how long have you had them. As much info as you are willing to share for the benefit of others (myself included) who may be in need.

Please note: non-Apple equipment would be welcome too, if you feel that they are better then Apple base stations.

Cheers and thanks to all.

 

[Mickey330]

At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, may I recommend you NOT get any Apple base stations.

I got an Airport Express about a year ago because I wanted to immerse myself in Apple gear - as I figured an Apple WiFi router would work great with my Mac Mini, AppleTV4 and various iDevices.

I thought I was fine. Until I couldn't keep my WiFi Epson printer connected. I had to use the cable for it to print from the Mini and never could get it to print from an iDevice.

Then, I couldn't keep my WiFi repeater working (an ASUS product that was hard-wired via an Ethernet cable).

Then, my iDevices could not get on the Internet. I'd have the full WiFi fans, yet neither my phone nor my iPad would bring up a web page or open anything that required an Internet connection. The only solution was for me to reboot the Airport Express.

The above got worse and worse to where I was rebooting almost daily (and remember, I still had my wireless printer connected to the computer via the cable in order to print!). I made many a Google search to find out what was wrong. Nothing. And please note that these problems only started after I moved from an ASUS router (RTN-R66U Dark Knight) to the Airport Express. Still to my regret today, I tried to fix the issues for w-a-y longer than I should have.

Finally, in July of this year (2016), I had enough (!). I was tired of the [almost] daily rebooting. So, I went out and bought a new WiFi router - a TP-LINK Archer C7 AC1750.

Now, all my issues are gone. My printer works as a WiFi printer for both my Mac Mini and all my iDevices. I've been using the ASUS router as a wired SSID/WiFi extender with no issues and I've not had to reboot the TP-LINK WiFi router. As in, I have had no issues since.

So, for me, the Airport Express is now an expensive space-taker-upper in my closet. I regret the decision to buy it and I wish I never had.

As always, this is my story; YMMV. But I cannot and will not recommend an Apple Airport Express.

Marilyn

P.S. I will heartily recommend the TP-LINK router. This thing is a nice working router and it was very easy to set up. I am very pleased with it.

 

[mydave]

Thanks for the info. Marilyn.
I've seen some complaints about the Express, which was similar to yours, during the searching, but was doubtful since I don't know the quality of the posts. Now it confirmed. Beside, I would be reluctant to go with the express, since its LAN port is not gigabit. Perhaps it is useful as a mean for listening to iTunes music or for extending a solid wireless networking ?.
TP-LINK routers are great and at very reasonable prices. Agreed with you on that.
The Extreme has higher components and controls. There are many good reviews, and well, hate ones as well. Time Capsule is kind of expensive for what it does. The google OnHub appears to use similar concept.
Thanks again for sharing. Still hope to see more and more shared experiences.

 

[KevinJS]

This thread came about as a result of a conversation that @mydave and I have been having for several days, to explain the reference to me in the lead post. I've already given my opinions and experiences and the thread is intended to reach a wider audience and elicit more experiences.

I've been following @Mickey330's posts now for over five years, and if there's one thing I've learned in that time it's that Marilyn knows her stuff. If she says there are hardware problems, then there are hardware problems. End of story. I'll guarantee that this is not the experience of someone who didn't know how to set up the equipment. On the basis of her post, I would not touch an Apple router with a ten-foot pole. However, as Marilyn says, your mileage may vary, and I already had a functioning network with 4 Apple routers on it, so I'll briefly recap my experiences for the thread.

Like Marilyn, I decided to go all-Apple at some point. My network was doing fine, but I came across an Airport Extreme (old style) for a decent price (probably open box at BestBuy) and bought it. Now I think about it, I did have some difficulties with it, but eventually it settled down and behaved itself.

Then one day it didn't. I reset it any number of times and it wouldn't play, so, thinking it had died, I bought a new Extreme (new style) and set up again. The new Extreme behaved impeccably. Having found out about the capability of the Express to run speakers, I bought one of those and set it up to extend the network. The optical output is connected to a DAC, which gives my 2 channel hifi system AirPlay capability. I acquired another Express recently for a ridiculous price so I added that to the network. In the interim, I had connected my old Extreme to the power and found that it worked.

Time was when visiting children used to ask for directions to the bathroom. Not any more. The first thing they ask for nowadays is the wifi password. So there are more devices than I care to think about that have access to my network, and when a kid visits for second and subsequent times, they always log on with no problems. My MBP and iPhone 5s log in within seconds, as does my wife's Samsung phone and HP laptop.

I have an LG smart TV, a Panasonic BluRay player, a Yamaha HT receiver and AppleTV hardwired to the network, a Vista PC and various Apple devices linked by wifi. Other devices include XboxOne and whatever else my son might have in his dungeon.

My experience with Apple routers has been as good as Marilyn's has been bad. Your mileage, indeed, may vary.

 

[Mickey330]

Oops, my apologies! I had/was using/talking about an AirPort Extreme. My bad

I was talking from memory, cause the thing is stuck in the closet. My words still apply cause it didn't work for me. I do, however, wish I'd had Kevin's experience, cause I liked the idea of the Extreme (with the Time Capsule storage and all the other "stuff"). But, what can ya do...?

Marilyn

 

[KevinJS]

Thought I'd update this thread with some recent observations.

I've recently been having trouble with my Internet service, resulting in multiple visits from the cable guy.

Last visit resulted in a very purposeful looking new cable modem. For the first time, I was actually around when the tech showed up, so I was able to pick his brains for some info.

So I now have 2 concurrent networks, 2.4G and 5G with (just for a change) a password which I actually know.

I decided to take advantage of this and reset all of my routers, setting them up to extend the supplied network rather than accepting the default which sets up "Kevin's Wifi Network".

And the experiment was a total disaster. Routers kept dropping out of the network. iTunes couldn't see my iPhone wirelessly, although it continued to see my iPad 2. My HT system wouldn't find Internet radio stations. I solved this one by manually inputting DNS server addresses. And everything was SOOOOOOOOOO slow.

Having put everything back to normal, I'm back in business. The stability of the network has returned. Inexplicably, my Mac is presently on the cable network while everything else is on "Kevin's WiFi Network", yet iTunes continues to see my iDevices. I'm not going to knock that. It works, so I'm content to leave it alone.

 

[giradman]

Well, so far this thread seems to be a mixed opinion of the Apple Base Stations, so I'll just add my experience - in the spring of 2013, I switched to Apple computers - had a Cisco 802.11n wireless router which I just could not get to work w/ my new iMac; so, bought an 802.11n AirPort Extreme (5th generation - as shown below) - this worked immediately w/ my new equipment (on a Time Warner cabled modem) and has established a home Wi-Fi network for nearly 4 years - I have one printer cabled to the iMac and another working over Wi-Fi (both do AirPrint from our iDevices); two Roku devices have worked fine; Wi-Fi to my Apple laptops and our iDevices also functional. So, my experience has been positive - for a review of these routers, check this Recent Review.

Recently, I was considering upgrading to the next generation of the AirPort Extreme w/ 802.11ac and may still do, BUT Apple has announced a discontinuation of their wireless router division (see short quote below and link, if interested) - should one purchase a potentially non-supported product? Not sure? Dave

Apple has closed the division responsible for designing its wireless routers, reassigning the employees within the company and putting an end to its 17-year-old AirPort product line, sources close to the company have confirmed (Source).

.

 

[scifan57]

They may not be designing future replacements for the Airport routers but Apple should continue to provide warranty and out of warranty service for their existing lineup.

 

[woesong01]

I've asked the blessing from Kevin to post this thread and I'm asking the generosity from all to share the knowledge & experiences, please. Again, please share your current set-up, how you use them, how reliable is your set up, and how long have you had them. As much info as you are willing to share for the benefit of others (myself included) who may be in need.

Cheers and thanks to all.

Gladly, my friend. I am a tech-challenged old one who does not know right away what DHCC means, but I love devices and what they can do, so bear with me please.

From an Arris cable modem we run a Netgear Nighthawk router, and nothing I've seen beats it for range. To that Ethernet cables connect the Panasonic big screen plus a couple of accoutrements plus ...

... another Ethernet cable runs under the house to connect with the AirPort Extreme in the living room. That router has Ethernet cables feeding Nest, Ooma, and something I've forgotten.

I have also an Airport Express, which connects over the air easily with the Extreme wherever I place it.

The objective is to not have to change networks while walking from one room to another, which we have done for years of experience with daisy-chained networks, and the  setup would do that EXCEPT I cannot make the Extreme connect with the Express by Ethernet cable. I am simply not smart enough. (My frustration tolerance for  is quite low due to the fact that AppleTV never worked for us either, which is why we run Amazon Fire TV and Roku in this house -

- which is essentially a cabin with addition, two sections with two upstairs and lots of thick walls, say 1,800 sq'.

Were we to walk in with no baggage, we would not consider the  hobbies at all. (I'm sure everyone has read the rumors by now that  is quitting the router business, which means in time our Airport Extreme will be an Amazon Fire phone.)

Now somebody else talk some.