software base station v. airport base station?

augustwestaugustwest
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I'm currently running a desktop/laptop combination where each computer has an airport card and the desktop is connected to DSL via the ethernet port. I've been told this is called a "software base station," because I'm able to access the internet on the laptop via the airport cards.



Does anyone know how the effective range of a software base station compares with a real airport extreme base station? I'm trying to figure out whether to buy the airport base station or make do with the setup I've got. The "reception" is currently spotty at best when I enter another room with the laptop. Would it be better if I had the base station? or better yet with the base station and the "extender antenna?"

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    torifiletorifile Posts: 4,024member
    What kind of laptop do you have? If it's a Ti, you might be out of luck. The early revs of the Ti have pretty bad airport range. My family has an iMac serving as a basestation and we can get range throughout the house. The range doesn't seem to be any less than the range I get on my hardware ABS. That said, the AE basestations NEED the extender antenna to get the same range as the snow basestations. Without it, you're looking at like 50 feet versus the 150 you get with the snow and AEBS with antenna.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    augustwestaugustwest Posts: 157member
    Thanks for the reply. I'm using a relatively new iBook, but I've heard the pbook reception was not as good.
  • Reply 3 of 3
    paulpaul Posts: 5,278member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by torifile

    What kind of laptop do you have? If it's a Ti, you might be out of luck. The early revs of the Ti have pretty bad airport range. My family has an iMac serving as a basestation and we can get range throughout the house. The range doesn't seem to be any less than the range I get on my hardware ABS. That said, the AE basestations NEED the extender antenna to get the same range as the snow basestations. Without it, you're looking at like 50 feet versus the 150 you get with the snow and AEBS with antenna.



    That is not good at all... I was looking forward to getting an AEBS cheap for the house when I go back to school... guess i wont...
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