advice needed on wifi setup

kumrabaikumrabai
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
A friend is about to buy a new iBook with Airport Extreme, and wants to find a way of transmitting his Verizon DSL in his appartment. They have no 'base' computer to fit the modem to, so I was wondering if there is a product you can buy that you can fit directly to the DSL modem, thus moving straight to the wifi setup, without having to deal with wires etc.



Reading the product description, it seems that Airport Extreme Base Station can plug directly into a modem. But then, how do you set it up? Also, AE base station is very expensive - any suggestions for an alternative?



Cheers

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    clayton magnetclayton magnet Posts: 110member
    Plug the modem into the base station, run the setup assistant, and you're done. That's what the base station is intended for - no other computer needed.
  • Reply 2 of 6
    kumrabaikumrabai Posts: 66member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Clayton Magnet

    Plug the modem into the base station, run the setup assistant, and you're done. That's what the base station is intended for - no other computer needed.



    Thanks for your response.



    I take it you have to have a computer connected to run the setup assistant though, at least to set up WEP etc.



    Also, are there any competitors to the Apple unit?
  • Reply 3 of 6
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Many.



    The Apple base station is pretty solid (as long as it works with your setup - there are some providers with whom it argues... I had to take mine back because of it), and the setup is by far the easiest I've seen. It's also one of the more expensive solutions, unfortunately, but if you want ease of setup, it's possibly the best choice.



    Netlink and Linksys both make good choices, with a wide (confusingly so) array of options and configurations, from $50 to $300.
  • Reply 4 of 6
    obieobie Posts: 11member
    There are some base stations/WAP's that you can configure via web browser. The Linksys WAP11 we use at our office is not connected to a Computer at all, just straight to the Broadcom DSL modem. I can connect with my ibook via Airport by typing the WAP's IP address. It has all the menus there to configure WEP and such. I'm sure there are plenty of competitor's products that function similarly.
  • Reply 5 of 6
    jambojambo Posts: 3,036member
    Moving to Genius Bar...
  • Reply 6 of 6
    1337_5l4xx0r1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member
    Virtually any wireless router (802.11b or 802.11g) will do. Many 802.11b's can be had for far less than $100 and are configurable via a web browser, and 802.11b provides more than enough bandwidth for broadband internet access.



    The cheapest solution is probably the best solution. Search google.
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