Apple officially discontinues AirPort router product line, available while supplies last [...

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  • Reply 81 of 106
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member
    webraider said:
    mystigo said:
    I highly recommend the Netgear Orbi. It is an absolutely fantastic wireless "mesh" router system and worth every penny. 
    It may be a great router but it suffers from he same thing most of these new ones do.. NO ETHERNET PORTS.  I live in a small apartment and I'm limited on my power plugs.  To plug in two things now instead of one (router plus ethernet hub), but if you opt for a standard router that looks like a a miniature helicopter, it takes up too much space.  Would love something in the form like an Orbi that has 4-5 ports on it!  Oh wait.. that's my Extreme!  My Extreme is fairly new granted not as fast as the Orbi, but it works and it's fast enough for me!  Mesh is more for people who have houses, who will run an ethernet bridge off one of the mesh routers, plugging it in where it's convenient and calling it a day.  otherwise the rest of us are stuck with a hideously big drone looking wireless router.  This was the beauty of the Airport.   I for one was hoping (and still have a slight bit of hope) that Apple was going to do a wireless router/NAS which they had in Time capsule but something a but something that could hold like 4/5 drives.  Now this is something I would love to see. 

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's not a better system.  They just don't find MY needs. 
    Not true. The Orbi router has 3 and satellite has 4 Ethernet ports. I keep a printer, AT&T microcell and my desktop computer plugged into the base and a Wemo Bridge in the satellite.
  • Reply 82 of 106
    mystigo said:
    mystigo said:
    I highly recommend the Netgear Orbi. It is an absolutely fantastic wireless "mesh" router system and worth every penny. I upgraded my cable connection to 350 / 30 last year and the Apple basestations were only giving me about 30 / 12. I researched it very thoroughly and settled on the Orbis. They give me 330 / 20 virtually everywhere in the house. The download speed is literally 10 times better than the Airports were. They are trivially easy to set up, look nice, and are highly configurable. I get the distinct feeling that Apple gave up trying to compete in this space -they aren't even remotely close anymore.
    Which model did you get? I was hoping Apple would reconsider their unwise decision to abandon the wireless networking environment, but I could use a vastly improved Wi-Fi network and was looking at mesh networks. 
    I got the NETGEAR Orbi Home Mesh WiFi System (RBK50) which has gone down in price significantly since I bought it. I would still pay what I did for it though.The two units, base and satellite) are strong enough to cover 5000 sq feet. I bought a wall plug in satellite as well to cover a room over my garage since it was getting less than 100 / 10 up there due to pretty solid walls and cabinetry in the way. Now the bandwidth up there is back on par with the rest of the house.
    Does the Orbi system have an add on similar to the AmpliFi Teleport module?  For remote access to home network. Just wondering. 
  • Reply 83 of 106
    I’m also reading good things about the Eero v2 system. Anyone have experience with it and can share?
  • Reply 84 of 106
    mystigomystigo Posts: 183member
    Does the Orbi system have an add on similar to the AmpliFi Teleport module?  For remote access to home network. Just wondering. 
    Sorry. I have no knowledge about that.
  • Reply 85 of 106
     I replaced our Apple Time Machine router about six months ago when news of this EOL decision leaked.    I’ve used every model Apple Airport and Time Capsule ever made until then

    I installed the CradlePoint AER1600 router  because it provides automatic fall back to cellular data upon loss or failure of the primary WAN.  Our primary is fiber optic - but Frontier hickups just often enough that the fail over is worthwhile.   A street crew even managed to cause a fiber cut coming into the neighborhood.  Once was enough of that.

    The CradlePoint even supports dual cellular SIM cards from any two different carriers.  So, if necessary I could put in a T-Mobile AND a Verizon SIM.  Then, on failover, the CradlePoint delivers 2x the throughput  

     Wi-Fi coverage is great on the LAN slide.   Fall over is about two seconds on the WAN side
    edited April 2018
  • Reply 86 of 106
    [...] Interestingly, Apple says mesh networks are a good choice for areas that are large or difficult to cover.
    @Mikey Campbell: Just curious why that's "interesting." Has Apple taken a different position in the past, or do you disagree with the recommendation? To be clear, I'm not challenging your statement, I'm genuinely interested in what led you to phrase the statement that way. As someone who bought Airports because it was easier than learning more than nothing about routers, I'll be leaning heavily on the knowledge and recommendations of others. The two times I tried something other than an Airport I had trouble with things like Back to My Mac, Airdrop, etc.
  • Reply 87 of 106
    brucemcbrucemc Posts: 1,541member
    Please read @arthurba post (#22 in this thread).  It is the best explanation of why Apple moved on from this market.  I think we are all disappointed - while it didn't have all the bells and whistles, my AirPort Extreme and Express combination have been the most solid.  Hopefully they work for years to come.  I think I will pickup another Extreme if on sale, just to have for the future in event my current unit bites the dust.

    However, I can be disappointed without going into a diatribe as to why Apple is so stupid, and Tim Cook is ruining everything...

    edited April 2018 arthurba
  • Reply 88 of 106

    macxpress said:
    Apparently the AirPort Extreme is prone to fan failures...usually right around 12-16 months in. 
    Oh c'mon, you can't be serious. That's a trivial problem that can be easily fixed by a $800B company producing some of the finest, most robust hardware in the world.
    I have no idea if my experience is typical or not, but the timelines @macxpress ;describe are consistent with my personal experience. My flat Time Machine only lasted about that long. The tower Time Machine that replaced it failed in less than two years. I replaced that with a tower Extreme that lasted about a year-and-a-half. It was replaced under warranty, but the replacement also failed somewhere between one and two years old. It was also replaced under warranty so I'm not complaining, but none of them lasted more than two years in a wide-open, well-ventilated space.

    I put up with it because the two times I tried something else I couldn't figure out how to configure "side features" like Back to My Mac and the like, and because Apple's exceptional warranty coverage made the failures nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
    Rayz2016macxpress
  • Reply 89 of 106
    jcs2305jcs2305 Posts: 1,336member
    elijahg said:
    I'm not surprised, the writing has been the wall for a while; and anything that's not iPad or iPhone Cook is completely disinterested in. Cook's mantra seems to be "Would it be a Fortune 100 company by itself? No? Axe. Add Emoji and more Watch bands."

    They were good devices, I have several that've been running reliably for years. The Airport Utility 6.0 was a terrible downgrade though, like iWork '13 and FCP. Lots of features vanished and despite Apple's promise that they would return, only a small percentage did. Their ease of use was good, but for anything slightly more advanced (a subnet other than 255.255.255.0 for example) they were lacking. This likely was a contributor to their reliability software-wise though. They did however have some annoying quirks and longstanding bugs, you had to reboot the entire router when you made even the most basic config change, and the IPv6 support wouldn't work over PPPoE in newer firmwares. Originally they were fairly basic routers, though with things like Airplay and disk sharing they were ahead of the crowd. But as per usual with Apple, they let their initial lead be gradually eroded until they were at the back of the pack. Even the most basic £40 routers have QoS and 5 ethernet ports.

    I'd definitely recommend Ubiquiti gear now. I have a EdgeRouter X and it's brilliant; really powerful, fast and infinitely configurable, though not for the technically challenged. I've got a Unifi AC LR too wifi access point too, again a brilliant device standalone, but it has a Mac-compatible controller that allows you to see and configure the system in the best way possible. The range is just mad, even when compared to my 802.11n Airport Extreme base station.
    You lost me right here... 
  • Reply 90 of 106
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    sevenfeet said:
    And the reason gets back to the major ISPs....Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, etc who all now include wifi routers with their cable modems.
    Ever used one of those? THEY’RE. SHIT. Did Apple look at the cell phone market in 2008, say “Well, all these other companies are selling more than us; we’d just better not bother.” and discontinue the iPhone?
    For 95%+ people, this was just fine.
    Know what that tells you? APPLE NO LONGER CARES ABOUT THE REST OF US.
    But the fact of the matter is that this day is upon us and it's time to move on.
    “Price of progress” propaganda never sits well with me, particularly when the “progress” is degeneracy.
  • Reply 91 of 106
    Heck, maybe Apple will end up putting a mesh system in all those unsold homepods and make a killer home network/home automation/home audio system. 

    Or not. 
  • Reply 92 of 106
    tallest skil said:
    Also, why can I hear it? It’s a quiet, very high-pitched crackly buzz.
    Capacitors in the power supply failing? It''s probably not long for this world.
  • Reply 93 of 106
    macxpress said:
    Apparently the AirPort Extreme is prone to fan failures...usually right around 12-16 months in. 
    It doesn't have a fan.

    I think the Time Capsule does tho. The Extreme does not. 

    macxpress said:
    Apparently the AirPort Extreme is prone to fan failures...usually right around 12-16 months in. 
    It doesn't have a fan.

    You're both mistaken. The tower Extreme has a fan. You probably don't notice it under normal conditions, but you will when something goes wrong and the fan starts running full tilt.
  • Reply 94 of 106
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    tallest skil said:
    Also, why can I hear it? It’s a quiet, very high-pitched crackly buzz.
    Capacitors in the power supply failing? It''s probably not long for this world.
    I don’t think so; I’ve heard it since I bought it. Another site thought it might be the PLL circuitry that I can hear.
  • Reply 95 of 106
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    sevenfeet said:
    And the reason gets back to the major ISPs....Comcast, Time Warner, Charter, etc who all now include wifi routers with their cable modems.
    Ever used one of those? THEY’RE. SHIT. Did Apple look at the cell phone market in 2008, say “Well, all these other companies are selling more than us; we’d just better not bother.” and discontinue the iPhone?
    Totally agree about Comcast gateways. 

    I’d like to know if Apple will release Airport base station software as open source so we can continue to patch them and add functionality. 
    tallest skil
  • Reply 96 of 106
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    macxpress said:
    Apparently the AirPort Extreme is prone to fan failures...usually right around 12-16 months in. 
    It doesn't have a fan.


    macxpress said:
    Apparently the AirPort Extreme is prone to fan failures...usually right around 12-16 months in. 
    It doesn't have a fan.

    I think the Time Capsule does tho. The Extreme does not. 

     

    So what is that thing near the bottom left of the photo? Please research before you post! This is an AirPort Extreme, not a Time Capsule as you don't see a hard drive there. 

    https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/AirPort+Extreme+A1521+Teardown/15044

    edited April 2018
  • Reply 97 of 106
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    sflocal said:
    macxpress said:
    slurpy said:
    This is quite disappointing. Yes, there are alternatives, and yes, we knew this was coming, but I always thought that the Airport was an important part of the Apple ecosystem. 

    A logic similar to the one with this decision could easily be applied to headphones, AirPods, HomePod, AppleTV, and pretty much every Apple-made accessory for the Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, and Watch.

    No, it can't. To the vast majority of people, an airport router adds absolutely zero to the ecosystem, in terms of tangible, easily seen benefits. You cannot apply the same logic to ANY of the products you just listed. I've owned Airports, and although they were solid routers, they had pretty much zero effect on the rest of my Apple products.

    This could have been seen coming a mile away, Apple likes to develop products that it can differentiate in a big way. A router isn't one of those things. 
    I agree...were an all Apple household except 2 PC's used for gaming. We use a Linksys router and honestly, its no different from the Time Capsule it replaced. It sits in a closet and never gets touched unless there's an update or something that needs to be installed. Not having an Apple router has absolutely no effect on future Apple product purchases, nor does it using the current ones. 
    Well, my experience with Linksys was the exact opposite.  They were the biggest, steaming pile of crap ever made.  I've bought so many of them over the years, I lost track.  They kept having "hiccups" every few weeks requiring a reset, or the unit would just fail completely.  They were even connected to a big, expensive UPS to make sure the power was clean.  Didn't make a difference.

    On a whim years ago, out of desperation (I worked remotely at times) I tried an Apple Extreme router and viola, all my stress disappeared.  To this day, I have a six Apple Extremes (the non-tower versions) stacked and individually connected to separate networks.  None of them ever required a reset.  Ever.  Linksys was the crazy girlfriend that always needed attention.  

    Apple just built the best.  I wish they upped their game on this.  I guess the bean-counters finally convinced Tim Cook it needed to go.

    I assume you're thinking back in the WRT54G era...today's routers aren't quite the same. Linksys isn't even owned by the same company versus back in that era. All I know is I haven't had any issues with the router since installing it over 2-3yrs ago. It gets rebooted maybe once a year. 
  • Reply 98 of 106
    stevenozstevenoz Posts: 314member
    This feels like Apple is abandoning us. Why would they do that..?
    Merely because the income is insignificant?

    I'm not insignificant... and I have supported Apple, personally and professionally, for 30+ years.

    I tell people: Apple products like to work with Apple products. And I've sold the idea of Apple products to my clients that way... for years.

    Now what do i say? Make your products top-performing with your other products, Apple, and we'll all be happy.

    Rethink this, Tim Cook.


  • Reply 99 of 106
    ZZZekeZZZeke Posts: 1unconfirmed, member
    And what do we do with Time Machine and our automatic backups? Mine runs to an external 2 TB hard drive plugged into our Airport Extreme. This is the most disappointing thing Apple has done in many years.
  • Reply 100 of 106
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    ZZZeke said:
    And what do we do with Time Machine and our automatic backups? Mine runs to an external 2 TB hard drive plugged into our Airport Extreme. This is the most disappointing thing Apple has done in many years.
    Um, plug it into your Mac? If you want to have the files viewable to others using Macs on the network, you can just share the hard drive out, or individual folders. High Sierra has "advanced file sharing" from OS X Server. 
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