Airport Base Station-Do G devices slow down network? Parental Controls

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
I need to purchase a new Wi-Fi router and am looking at several but am looking at the Airport Base Station.

Most of my devices such as my Mac's all use N networking but other devices such as my Xbox 360 use g networking. When doing research on the Airport Base Station I read that when you connect G devices to the Airport Base Station it will slow down the entire network to G speed so that all your N devices really only get G speed.

Is this still an issue? Does the newer version of the Airport Base Station still do this? Has there been a firmware or hardware upgrade that solves this issue?

Also, when it comes to parental controls, does the AEBS have good parental controls? What I'm most interested in is being able to block specific websites such as Facebook so that all devices connected to the network would not be able to access Facebook. When I read up on the AEBS it appears to have some parental controls but you can't block specific websites. Is this true?



Another router I'm looking at is the Cisco Linksys E2000. A friend of mine has a E1000 and loves it. When doing research I became interested in the E2000 since it has gigabit ports.

Would g devices slow down all n devices connected to it though? What I'm wondering is if the issue with g devices is related to the AEBS or all n routers. What I like it is seems the E1000/E2000 has great parental controls for website blocking.

Thank you for your help.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 5
    iirc, using multiple bands on a router wont slow it down to the slowest spec band running, but it will slow it down as the antennas usually reserved to run as MIMO to provide the highest throughput are forced to run separately.



    the latest routers from Apple and others do have even more antennas to reduce this impact, but your highest throughput will always be found in running a single spec.



    and i think you're right about the AEBS or Time Capsule being unable to block specific websites. i cant confirm this since i'm not at home on my Time Capsule.
  • Reply 2 of 5
    It seems there is the newer version of the AEBS which is simultaneous dual band. I may be looking for a router on eBay and it seems there are 2-3 versions of the current design of the AEBS. How can I tell which version I'm buying? Is there a different model # and a way to find out if the one I'm looking at is simultaneous dual band?
  • Reply 3 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by markw10 View Post


    It seems there is the newer version of the AEBS which is simultaneous dual band. I may be looking for a router on eBay and it seems there are 2-3 versions of the current design of the AEBS. How can I tell which version I'm buying? Is there a different model # and a way to find out if the one I'm looking at is simultaneous dual band?



    it's a different model number. you can get the model number from the apple store website.



    and by simultaneous dual band, they're referring to 2.4 and 5GHz operation, allowing you to run an N-spec transmission on 5GHz frequency at the same time as B+G on 2.4GHz to prevent interference and keep them segregated to ensure devices using 5GHz N arent brought down by simultaneous B+G operation.
  • Reply 4 of 5
    When you do this does it show up as 2 separate wi-fi networks or just one such as for example when you log on from a Macbook Pro?
  • Reply 5 of 5
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by markw10 View Post


    When you do this does it show up as 2 separate wi-fi networks or just one such as for example when you log on from a Macbook Pro?



    You can give them separate/different names.
Sign In or Register to comment.