Which non-Apple routers work with the Airport card?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Ok, this is my situation: We have, or will soon have 2 PCs and 1 Mac that I need to hook-up to a wireless network where all 3 computers can be online at the same time.



My question is, what company makes the best wireless routers that will work with the Airport card? I am soon ordering a new iMac or Powermac and I figured having an Airport card installed is a lot easier than having an external reciever.



I have tried Linksys and D-Link but only one computer could be online at once. Does the router need to have a specific feature, or do we need to get a router and something else? PLEASE HELP!!!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    ebbyebby Posts: 3,110member
    Anything that supports 802.11b will work with Airport and if it supports 802.11g it will support airport extreme. Things that don't work are bridging between wireless basestations and "Enhanced" wireless networks using 2 channels for twice the bandwidth.



    Also, it sounds like you have a wireless hub, not a router because routers can share your internet connection to multiple computers.
  • Reply 2 of 14
    I haven't had any problems connecting to routers of various types, including Linksys and D-Link. May the problems be in your settings? Then again, I do not have an airport extreme card. Perhaps the problem may be that you have it set to G-only, and your PC's only have B.



    I set up a Linksys G-Wireless router for my parents' house a year ago, and it seems to work great with her powerbook and Yosemite, as well as my sister's powerbook when she comes home from school. It also worked fine with my sister's Dell Latitude, which she had before she switched.
  • Reply 3 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Ebby

    Anything that supports 802.11b will work with Airport and if it supports 802.11g it will support airport extreme. Things that don't work are bridging between wireless basestations and "Enhanced" wireless networks using 2 channels for twice the bandwidth.



    Also, it sounds like you have a wireless hub, not a router because routers can share your internet connection to multiple computers.



    I don't have anything set up yet and that's exactly what I need. What's a wireless hub anyway?
  • Reply 4 of 14
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dferigmu

    I don't have anything set up yet and that's exactly what I need. What's a wireless hub anyway?



    Hub = sharing between computers, router = sharing internet between computers.





    Note: most routers also serve as hubs.
  • Reply 5 of 14
    scottscott Posts: 7,431member
    When I was shopping around for wireless it was my understanding that the hubs had one 10/100 base T connector for the cable/dls/network. The router had extra 10/100 base T connectors for other computers to hook up to directly.
  • Reply 6 of 14
    placeboplacebo Posts: 5,767member
    I highly recommend this router.



    (They've changed the styling from when I bought it, it actually looks more Apple-like this time round)
  • Reply 7 of 14
    all draytek routers work pretty well. they might be a bit pricey but they do offer lots of features.
  • Reply 8 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Placebo

    Hub = sharing between computers, router = sharing internet between computers.





    Note: most routers also serve as hubs.




    Yeah, what I need is to share the internet and be able to go online with three computers at once. If I get a Linksys or D-Link wireless-G router, will an Airport Express card in a Mac pick up the signal?
  • Reply 9 of 14
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dferigmu

    Yeah, what I need is to share the internet and be able to go online with three computers at once. If I get a Linksys or D-Link wireless-G router, will an Airport Express card in a Mac pick up the signal?



    yes, and my setup at home is similar. i bought a linksys wireless-g router. the setup goes like this:



    wall->internet outlet (dsl or cable)->router ? ? ? computer



    pretty simple, really. problem is that firmware updates make all the difference in the world for the linksys products. but they do not say any of their firmware updates can be used from a mac. in fact, they don't claim mac compatibility ANYwhere, which is just patently false. if you want to update your firmware for their products, just use the unix-based binaries, and they work like a charm.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    yes, it will if it's a 802.11g/b router. don't buy a "super leet 108+ mbit wifi " router though (i think netgear/linksys both sell those) since it requires a special wireless card that supports channel bonding (please corrent me if i'm wrong). afaik you can't get these cards to work with osx yet. so you'd pay more for features you can't use.

    hope this helps.
  • Reply 11 of 14
    rokrok Posts: 3,519member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by r3dx0r

    yes, it will if it's a 802.11g/b router. don't buy a "super leet 108+ mbit wifi " router though (i think netgear/linksys both sell those) since it requires a special wireless card that supports channel bonding (please corrent me if i'm wrong). afaik you can't get these cards to work with osx yet. so you'd pay more for features you can't use.

    hope this helps.




    if i recall correctly form a recent magazine issue write-up (macaddict, maybe?), the problem is that there has not been any ratified standard for faster 802.11g throughput. of course, that isn't stopping some vendors from releasing their own flavors, but i think apple's is sitting back and seeing which takes off before putting a lot of energy in supporting it.
  • Reply 12 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by r3dx0r

    yes, it will if it's a 802.11g/b router. don't buy a "super leet 108+ mbit wifi " router though (i think netgear/linksys both sell those) since it requires a special wireless card that supports channel bonding (please corrent me if i'm wrong). afaik you can't get these cards to work with osx yet. so you'd pay more for features you can't use.

    hope this helps.




    So you mean the AE card will only work with a regular 802.11g router and not something like Linksys's Speedbooster router and D-Link's Airfast Extreme G, or whatever it is.
  • Reply 13 of 14
    linksys wrt54G



    http://www.linksys.com/products/prod...id=35&prid=601





    works flawlessly



    59$ at frys
  • Reply 14 of 14
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dferigmu

    So you mean the AE card will only work with a regular 802.11g router and not something like Linksys's Speedbooster router and D-Link's Airfast Extreme G, or whatever it is.



    No, it'll work. It's still 802.11[b|g]. Just not at the double speed. Generally you'll need all Linksys wireless cards w/ a LInksys router to get double speed, for example.
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