Airport Alternatives?

jaynyjayny
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Does anyone know of any good alternatives for a wireless cable modem router. I like the idea of the airport but can't stomach the 400 dollar setup cost. I have seen many alternatives in computer stores but they all seem to be for windows.



Any Suggestions?



[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: jayny ]</p>

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    scifiencescifience Posts: 55member
    [quote]Originally posted by jayny:

    <strong>Does anyone know of any good alternatives for a wireless cable modem router. I like the idea of the airport but can't stomach the 400 dollar setup cost. I have seen many alternatives in computer stores but they all seem to be for windows.



    Any Suggestions?



    [ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: jayny ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I just had the same problem, but for a different reason. I just purchased an AirPort base station and card for my new Mac, but have an old PowerBook G3 that doesn't support AirPort cards. Any router should work with any OS, provided you have a compatible 802.11b network card for the computer. If you have a Mac that can take an AirPort card, and just don't want to pay for the base station, just buy one of the cards, as they are compatible with any 802.11b network. Then, find an 802.11b compatible router at a computer store. Setup the router, and you should be ready to go. Another option is to go with a third party card as well. Asante's AL1011 PCMCIA card has OS X drivers in beta, and full support for OS 9. Hope this helps.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    Almost all routers are setup using the web browser. Since Mozilla and IE work fine in my experience. Netscape 4.x should work too. Some routers used to use a USB connection to a PC to setup though, so make sure that you don't get one of those.



    802.11b is a standard that isn't platform specific. Just like you can have USB on both a Mac or a PC. Same as that you can have ethernet on a Mac or a PC. Apple just calls 802.11b Airport. Just like Apple calls IEEE1394 as 'firewire' instead. And Sony calls it something else. It's all the same thing, jsut different names.
  • Reply 3 of 11
    scifiencescifience Posts: 55member
    [quote]Originally posted by pyr3:

    <strong>And Sony calls it something else.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I believe Sony calls it iLink.
  • Reply 4 of 11
    chweave1chweave1 Posts: 164member
    My mom and I just moved (yes i still live with my mom. I'm only 19 you know!) from NJ to VA, and the she didn't want me to wire the house with ethernet, but she had to have cable broadband for all her computers through one modem, so I made her buy the Linksys system. It's pricey, but the nice thing with the linksys wireless network router is that on top of having wireless capabilities, it has a five port network hub in the back, so that allowed me to save some cash and not buy a wireless card for the one computer that is next to the router and cable modem. In total I think we spent 159 for the router, 100 for one wireless card, and i sitll have to buy something to connect her original bondi-blue iMac to the network. So when it's all said and done, I/she will have spent close to $400 dollars. That said, it MIGHT be possible to do better, but i went with linksys cause i've used their stuff before and it's worked GREAT. But don't forget, ontop of the wireless you get a 5 port ethernet network hub in the back which you don't get with the airport.



    [ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: chweave1 ]</p>
  • Reply 5 of 11
    scifiencescifience Posts: 55member
    [quote]Originally posted by chweave1:

    <strong>In total I think we spent 159 for the router, 100 for one wireless card, and i sitll have to buy something to connect her original bondi-blue iMac to the network.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    I honestly don't think you are going to find much of anything to connect an original iMac with. The newer "old" iMacs offer some AirPort support, but you still have to purchase an adapter so that it fits in right. The only thing that would work easily and cheaply would be a USB adapter, which they don't seem to make for Macs. You also might be able to find a device which would allow you to use PCMCIA cards on your iMac (I have seen such things, I just don't remember where). Then, you could buy a PCMCIA card that woudl work with the Mac (such as the one I reccomended in my previous post). My personal thoughts on the matter? An old Bondi Blue iMac like that can't do much at all anymore, and those new 17" things look awful nice....get the drift?
  • Reply 6 of 11
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by Scifience:

    <strong>



    I honestly don't think you are going to find much of anything to connect an original iMac with. The newer "old" iMacs offer some AirPort support, but you still have to purchase an adapter so that it fits in right. The only thing that would work easily and cheaply would be a USB adapter, which they don't seem to make for Macs. You also might be able to find a device which would allow you to use PCMCIA cards on your iMac (I have seen such things, I just don't remember where). Then, you could buy a PCMCIA card that woudl work with the Mac (such as the one I reccomended in my previous post). My personal thoughts on the matter? An old Bondi Blue iMac like that can't do much at all anymore, and those new 17" things look awful nice....get the drift? </strong><hr></blockquote>





    You could try the 802.11b to USB adapters, but the one I have sucks personally (I have the Linksys one). I don't know if it's just the specific one I have or all of them in general that suck. But that should work, if you're willing to try it.
  • Reply 7 of 11
    blizaineblizaine Posts: 239member
    As far as Airport alternatives go, MacCentral did a review of wireless broadband routers about a month or so ago...



    <a href="http://www.macworld.com/2002/07/reviews/routers.html"; target="_blank">Link</a>



    Netgear and Zoom both got "4 mice".



    Hope this helps,

    Blizaine
  • Reply 8 of 11
    bellebelle Posts: 1,574member
    [quote]Originally posted by jayny:

    <strong>Does anyone know of any good alternatives for a wireless cable modem router.</strong><hr></blockquote>

    Try the Linksys WAP11. It works fine with Apple hardware, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005854B/"; target="_blank">Amazon</a> has it for $118.46!



    If it's not advanced enough for you, there are several other Linksys products that come in under the price of Apple's AirPort.
  • Reply 9 of 11
    babarbabar Posts: 28member
    You should look out for the Cisco Aironet 350 Series too.. full support on OSX/OS9. 100mw Antenna, very large range. One of the best 802.11X solution avail.
  • Reply 10 of 11
    chweave1chweave1 Posts: 164member
    Scifience



    I get your drift, and would normally say 'Yes he's right, i'll look into buying a new one.' But, alas, its my mom's computer, and I have no say in its retirement/decommission. But if I find that there really is no way of hooking it up, ill relay what you said to my mom. THanks!



    PYR3



    Call me stupid, but i have to ask. Wouldn't the fact that it's hooked up to the computer thru USB nullify the advantage of having broadband OR is USB's speed equivalent to 802.11b?



    [ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: chweave1 ]</p>
  • Reply 11 of 11
    pyr3pyr3 Posts: 946member
    [quote]Originally posted by chweave1:

    <strong>Scifience



    I get your drift, and would normally say 'Yes he's right, i'll look into buying a new one.' But, alas, its my mom's computer, and I have no say in its retirement/decommission. But if I find that there really is no way of hooking it up, ill relay what you said to my mom. THanks!



    PYR3



    Call me stupid, but i have to ask. Wouldn't the fact that it's hooked up to the computer thru USB nullify the advantage of having broadband OR is USB's speed equivalent to 802.11b?



    [ 08-01-2002: Message edited by: chweave1 ]</strong><hr></blockquote>



    802.11b is 11Mbps. Most broadband is 1.5Mbps or 3Mbps or less for Cable or DSL(most college connections are 10Mbps). USB is 12Mbps. Granted that 12Mbps is shared by all devices strung together, but I seriously doubt that my printer (which I barely use) and my USB mouse use all that much bandwidth. Might be different with you, but I don't think that the 1.5Mbps from your broadband will be that affected by other devices since that's only a fraction of the USB theoretical bandwidth and even your broadband bandwidth is subject to network conjection and the like. This is assuming USB 1.1, which you most likely have since USB 2.0 isn't integrated into Macs, USB2.0 is a whole different ballpark (post if you want me to expand on USB2.0)
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