Apple updates AirPort Express With 802.11n - Page 2

The delay is due to the buffering needed to account for interuptions in communication and has very little to do with network speed. "G" is plenty fast enough to handle it. It's sort of like how there is a delay when changing channels on digital cable vs analoge cable. The system needs a small buffer of data to work with.


I foget the company, but someone made a AirTunes remote that plugged into the USB port so you could remotely control your iTunes playback. I assume that's still compatible with the new Express. I wouldn't expect Apple would add AirDisk support as that would eat into Exreme sales.


They say having b or g on your n network will reduce speeds and range, but they aren't clear if that means "reduce to b/g levels" or "reduce to something lower than n levels" (for the range).

Sticking with a single vendor for extending the range of your network is usually best. It may be better these days, but a few years ago it was extremely difficult to get routers from different vendors to work well together.


It would still be a waste. Even if you had gigabit to the Express, where is it going to go from there? You are still limited by the n speeds of the wireless part. It makes sense on the Extreme, because you can have more than one computer hooked up via wire. So those computers can talk at gigabit speeds. But as soon as you have any part of the connection wireless, even with n, 100 Mbps will be sufficient to keep up with the wireless part. (Note: If you have a 100 Mbps connection on one port of an Extreme, that does not impact the other ports from communicating with each other a gigabit speeds, if that's what you are worried about.)


Wireless n has two frequencies. 2.4 MHz and 5 MHz. Your microwave is near the 2.4 MHz frequency. If you only have n devices, I believe you can tell the Express to only use the 5 MHz frequency. Any b/g devices will still need to use the 2.4 MHz frequency.


Are there any wireless print servers that provide that type of support? If you have a network printer (ie, it has an Ethernet port) it knows how to conduct network communication with your computer. Otherwise, it's expecting a dedicated USB connection to a single host computer that has the drivers installed to know how to use some functions. The Express (and I think all wireless print servers) can't support the full funtions of some printers because you don't install drivers on them. It can pass on the print file, but that's about it. So for the most part, if you have an MFP, card readers, or other features that require some amount of control from the host device, you aren't going to be able to make use of it with any wireless print server. It is, after all, a print server. In fact, I'm not even sure you can check ink levels over a wireless print server as that, too, requires two way communction with the host computer.

Some companies do make wireless USB ports that can mimick an actual USB connection over your network. That might do what you are looking for.

I use Imacs and MBP at home with HP2700 series mutifunction printer all WIFI
I can print to it from any of the computers (obviously) also check ink levels by using the printer fax utility inside system preferences. Also I can SCAN wirelessly to any computer by using just the utilities included in Leopard.
Am I missing something?

Question:
is it possible to used this airport express with CAT5 for VOD for DirectTV?

Is the printer directly on the network? Does it have it's own wireless connection, or does it think it's plugged into a USB port? I'm guessing your printer is directly on the network, so it knows how to conduct network communication.

That would be KeySpan. Works great, although in my case I have an old 17" AlBook in the living room now and it's easier for me to just use Leopard's Screen Sharing to connect to my MacBook Pro in the back of the house to twiddle with iTunes, or if I'm lazy and want two machines to do the work I connect to the MacBook Pro via iTunes' sharing from the AlBook and play stuff off the AlBook's iTunes.

All I can say about this upgrade is "It's about time!". I bought an 802.11n nQuicky CardBus card from QuickerTek for the AlBook, and upgraded the MacBook Pro's AirPort card to the 802.11n Mac Pro version. I have been ready to Rock'n'Roll with 802.11n for awhile now but haven't been able to upgrade my old AirPort Extreme Base Station to the new 802.11n one because of having an AirPort Express for the living room stereo. Now I can move to 802.11n across the board. I'll be interested to see what impact it has, if any, on trying to play videos on my DirecTV HR21-700 set-top box (which is connected to the present AirPort Express via hardwired Ethernet) from my MacBook Pro's hard drive. Color me happy

I use the present AirPort Express with CAT5 for Video On Demand from DirecTV, so it ought to be able to use the new 802.11n Express for the same purpose.

It is on its own built in WiFi, NO USB or direct ethernet cable.
hope this helps

Great. well it means since this new one is an N, it will be faster. do you have any problem with it ?

I hear you re: the mini, but i myself would rather see an updated aiport extreme card for my mac pro.

i bought an 8-core refurbished and therefore didn't have the option to add airport/bluetooth when i purchased it. i wish they would let us at least sell the module and let us deal with the installation, (i would have gladly paid for it to be done), but the only option is the separate airport only card, which is still at 8021.11g.

I understand that apple likes to keep options to new purchases only, but it would be nice if they'd throw us a bone every now and then...

Yeah, but does it have to range to cover my 5,000 sq. ft. suite at the Ritz Carlton?

Just highlighting for others why your multifunction device works on the network while their USB connected device has only limited functionality via an Airport Express. Yours is "network aware" while their printer is not (since it's a USB device).

In this case I would expect there to be no issues connecting to your printer functions wirelessly. My original comment was about printers that don't have built-in wifi (the majority of printers out there, including all of Canon's printers).

I find it surprising that Apple hasn't worked through with manufacturers on whatever it takes to get MFPs to work all their functions (not just printing but also scanning and faxing) through the Airport Express. There are other networking products with USB connections that allow these functions to work wirelessly, as well as dedicated print servers from various manufacturers.

Another option, for example, could be to use a second Airport Express's Ethernet port as a print server connected to a printer's Ethernet port but this isn't supported either.

Overall it seems that Apple is leaving the wireless functionality on the side of the printer manufacturers. If you look at HP's newest line of printers they have built in wifi that makes ad-hoc connections to wireless computers. I'm surprised Canon doesn't have this feature on ANY of their newest printers, including the expensive ones.

I think you've already answered your own question about making these devices fully functional. Apple doesn't need to work with the device manufacturers because the solution is aleady available. The manufacturers need to include network features into their printers. Some do that, apparently from your comments, Canon does not. Sounds like you need to take that up with Canon.

As far as using a 2nd Express's Ethernet to connect to a printer's Ethernet port? Are you sure that would not work? I believe it would. But again, you still need a printer that is network aware.

USB is not a "networking" connection. It's bus. There is a reason you don't hook up two different computers to a single USB hub. USB is meant to be a single computer connected to multiple peripherals. A network aware printer knows how to operate on a network with potentially more than one computer, which you have in the case of using an Express. Don't blame Apple for your printer not being network aware.

This is a classic example of expecting a device to act as something it is not. The Express is not a wireless USB port. Most wireless print servers are not. If you want a fully fucntional wireless USB port, Apple doesn't make one. Oh, and you'll pay twice as much for it, and it sets up its own wireless, non-wifi, network for it's communicaiton (one example).

Edit: But to your point, Apple should do a better job of pointing out on their website that some printer functions may not be supported to avoid any confusion.

Hell yeah, I'm expecting an update. It's ridiculous to update ANY machine only once per year (and the last update was a crappy one and left it STILL out of date). You really think it's anything but an embarrassment to Apple to have one glaring omission at this point for wireless N networking?

Companies like Belkin and IOgear make wireless USB interfaces that allow you to (supposedly) interact with a USB device exactly as if it were directly connected.

I don't see why Apple couldn't translate USB into TCP/IP and redirect it to the USB port on an Airport Express.

But is that wireless WiFi?
IIRC the USB interfaces you are talking about are special purpose RF connections that connect USB devices to you computer via transceivers connected to the computer USB ports. They replace physical wires and have nothing to do with TCP/IP networks.

New version is still not available on the UK Apple Store!

People are dissing how slight an upgrade it is, but I'm a little unsure of how this affects vanilla home use, just wireless net, no printing, no wireless music etc. How far does the signal extend by itself? With 2 users on will it be slower than my normal no-router wired DSL? Are the benefits of the Extreme not applicable to such a plebian home set up?


Thanks for explaining to a networking noob.

My 802.11n is significantly faster than my wired 100Mbps ethernet. It is not as fast as a gigabit connection but nonetheless, I would prefer the Express to have gigabit so that it's 100Mbps port is not the bottleneck of the system.

If you want, I can sell you a wired WiFi cable. Cheap too.


In the past, I've found that there is a way to do USB over IP. I forget why I didn't try to use it.