Is Airport Worth it?
My dad is thinking about getting DSL for us, and we're trying to decide if we should get airport or not. Is it worth it? After all, it is more expensive that just using ethernet. Is the convenience and ease of setup worth the extra money? Thanks.
Also, I have talked to some people who have said that wired connections are more reliable and faster than wireless. Is this true?
Also, I have talked to some people who have said that wired connections are more reliable and faster than wireless. Is this true?
Comments
DSL in the states pretty much maxes at 7mbps if you want to spend a fortune. Wireless supports 11mbps so speedwise you're fine. If I had an ibook or powerbook I'd probably go for it myself because I like being untethered. Also with Rendezvous coming in Jaguar I know that I will easily be able to use Airport to grab files from my Desktop Macs.
a suggestion though. look at other companies basestations. the airport base is quite pricey compared to some of the other ones you can get (I have a linksys meself and i like it. i have also heard good things about the netgear and dlink)
[ 08-03-2002: Message edited by: macXusr ]</p>
<strong>My dad is thinking about getting DSL for us, and we're trying to decide if we should get airport or not. Is it worth it? After all, it is more expensive that just using ethernet. Is the convenience and ease of setup worth the extra money? Thanks.
Also, I have talked to some people who have said that wired connections are more reliable and faster than wireless. Is this true?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Well we have DSL together with a Powerbook 800 and iMac G4 800 hooked up to the net using Airport and its great!!!! There is no reliability problems ever infact it is much better IMHO than a wired setup. And whats more you can take your laptop or computer anywhere in or out of your house and not worry about having a long enough cable so you can get on the net!
Aquatik: I don't think that non-Airport cards will work in the Airport slot.
ting5
If it did would all the Apple utilities work with it?
<strong>Nothing else besides the official Airport card will work in an iBook 500?
If it did would all the Apple utilities work with it?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Because most of them for portables (if not all of them) go in a PC Card slot, which the iBook's don't have.
<strong>Nothing else besides the official Airport card will work in an iBook 500?
If it did would all the Apple utilities work with it?</strong><hr></blockquote>
Most 802.11 cards have an antenna attached to them. The Airport card has a small port that goes to the already bult-in antenna in the iBook. Since the Airport card is located underneath the keyboard, there is no room for the attached antenna of a non-Airport card.
ting5
To topic: I love my airport and couldn't imagine using anything else. It has built in firewall which can be tweaked and is very reliable.
why is it that you put your 2 cents in, but it is a penny for your thoughts? Somebody is making a penny.
From my post in the BlueTooth incorporation thread,
[quote]bluetooth will be integrated into the airport card at the same price point. <hr></blockquote>
I will buy that. Maybe that would make the damn Airport cards worth the 100 bucks they've been charging since they came out years ago.
I have a friend (even though he is a PC buff) who has been trying to get WiFi to work, both in his company and for several other friends and colleagues. According to him, two out of five systems/constellations managed to work, but the throughput was low and became almost nil as soon as there was a wall between. Three of the systems, as I mentioned, he couldn't get to work at all - not even with the help of hotline assistance.
Please bear in mind that this was on PC's, and on a mix of laptops and desktops. Also, according to what he said, all the cards were from the same company and did not have any antenna sticking out anywhere.
Does anyone here have similar, negative experiences? Any constructive comments?
I'm considering establishing a home network with three Apple laptops (one of them a WallStreet, the others recent iBooks), based on AirPort/WiFi, but his earnest warnings left me rather spooked....
engpjp
1) instant gratification of getting your computer right then and there and
2) for the most part it really isn't that much cheaper than retail, (except for $30 off ipod )
When you take a look at any retail computer store you will find the price for wireless equipment to be approx $79-$129 for the wireless card. I don't believe it's the Airport Cards themselves that are overpriced, I believe it's the base stations.
Do NOT buy the base station. Do you have PC's? This is hardly Apple's fault but I'll bet you that your mac plays nicer with any standard 802.11 base than your PC's would play the AirPort base station. Blame Linksys, SMC, et all. It's supposed to be standard, but...
You won't ever hook up 50 computers in your house. You can get a much cheaper 802.11 base station with good encryption, support for 5-10 users, admin and set-up from EITHER a PC or a Mac, firewall, and a gamers port (an ethernet connection in front of the firewall, usefull for a mail server too).
What I don't from Apple is the whole hullabaloo about AOL ??? I know that cable companies in some areas want you to pay for any extra computers tied to your connection and some take measures to stop you from 'sharing' you connection. My cable provider doesn't like you too, but I know two people in my area running small networks (at home and business) and they only buy one connection and share it. Everything's behind one IP and as far as the cable company is concerned they have only one connection. Never experienced any problems, mail, streaming, web forms all work. What gives???
[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Matsu ]</p>
<img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Don't know how important this is for you, but SMC can pass Appletalk packets though the wireless connection (most others can't). I believe the Orinoco can too with its own firmware, though I'm not positive; if it can't, it should be able to if flashed with the Airport firmware.
Linksys doesn't provide tech support when using their stuff on Macs, though they say their products are Mac compatible.
<strong>However, my brother's room which is two doors down on the same floor gets a weaker signal than my iBook does outside. </strong><hr></blockquote>
Could be the USB adpater, or could be funky interference coming from your brother's room. Have you tried using the iBook from there?