Can I do this with Airport Extreme?

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idudeidude
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
The netgear MR814 router I have is acting up (aka not working at all), so I am looking to replace it with the new cheaper airport one. I was wondering if this is possible though.



I have two laptops with airport and three desktope without it. Can I connect a standard four port router to the airport base station and then connect the computers to it? It would certainly be cheaper than buying three more cards, and I already have wire run all over the house. Thanks.



Philip

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    robmaurizirobmaurizi Posts: 11member
    I'm running a 1st-gen AP base station out of a standard LinkSys 4-port router. This way all of the hardwire machines get their own port and the wireless machines use the airport as their router.



    I have to do it this way, as the older airports only have 1 10/100 jack on them.



    -Rob





    [quote]Originally posted by iDude:

    <strong>The netgear MR814 router I have is acting up (aka not working at all), so I am looking to replace it with the new cheaper airport one. I was wondering if this is possible though.



    I have two laptops with airport and three desktope without it. Can I connect a standard four port router to the airport base station and then connect the computers to it? It would certainly be cheaper than buying three more cards, and I already have wire run all over the house. Thanks.



    Philip</strong><hr></blockquote>
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  • Reply 1 of 15
    cosmocosmo Posts: 662member
    I believe this is possible. Just use the built in airport cards on teh laptops (obviously) and connect from the basestation's wan port to your internet connection and run an eithernet wire from the basestations eithernet port into the uplink port on any eithernet hub/switch.

    then set the desktop's network connection to configure automaticly via DHCP



    correct me if i'm wrong
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  • Reply 3 of 15
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    [quote]Originally posted by iDude:

    <strong>I have two laptops with airport and three desktope without it. Can I connect a standard four port router to the airport base station and then connect the computers to it?</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You could, but that's a waste of money since the Airport base station includes a router. Just attach a 5-port switch to the LAN port of the Airport and connect the computers to the switch.
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  • Reply 4 of 15
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    What the heck is the difference between a router and a switch? I always thought they were the exact same.
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  • Reply 5 of 15
    airslufairsluf Posts: 1,861member
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  • Reply 6 of 15
    der kopfder kopf Posts: 2,275member
    Shouldn't it be more like a regular hub you need? As far as I know, that's the lowest cost network divider you can get. Isn't a switch already one step up from a hub?
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  • Reply 7 of 15
    g3joelg3joel Posts: 29member
    I think a hub is the same as a switch, and a router is the same as a gateway. Different terms that companies like to use for products that do the same thing, can get pretty confusing.
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  • Reply 8 of 15
    123123 Posts: 278member
    [quote]Originally posted by g3joel:

    <strong>I think a hub is the same as a switch</strong><hr></blockquote>



    A hub sends all incoming packets to all connected computers (security + bandwidth(shared by all connections) issues) whereas a switch only sends packets to their destination device (multiple connections running at full speed). Nowadays, hubs have almost disappeared, the ones you see are most likely switches.
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  • Reply 9 of 15
    amoryaamorya Posts: 1,103member
    [quote]Originally posted by 123:

    <strong>



    A hub sends all incoming packets to all connected computers (security + bandwidth(shared by all connections) issues) whereas a switch only sends packets to their destination device (multiple connections running at full speed). Nowadays, hubs have almost disappeared, the ones you see are most likely switches.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    You can get a four port hub for about £15 here - they're still there if you look, and cheaper than switches.
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  • Reply 10 of 15
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    So should I buy a switch or a hub? Price doesn't matter much anymore. After the hassles I've had with the netgear, I'm willing to fork out a little more to get it to work.
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  • Reply 11 of 15
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    I have a second gen (Snow) ABS, and my wired network config is basically this:



    Broadband -&gt; AirPort Base Station -&gt; 4-port hub -&gt; Wired Computers



    The AirPort Extreme is capable of doing the same thing, with the addition of network printing which is just to die for, hence why I ordered an AirPort Extreme Base Station with my PowerBook order (well, and the speed ). Should be fun, bridging between the hubs!
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  • Reply 12 of 15
    idudeidude Posts: 352member
    [quote]Originally posted by bradbower:

    <strong>I have a second gen (Snow) ABS, and my wired network config is basically this:



    Broadband -&gt; AirPort Base Station -&gt; 4-port hub -&gt; Wired Computers



    The AirPort Extreme is capable of doing the same thing, with the addition of network printing which is just to die for, hence why I ordered an AirPort Extreme Base Station with my PowerBook order (well, and the speed ). Should be fun, bridging between the hubs! </strong><hr></blockquote>





    So... You plugged the hub into the baststation's LAN port and then plugged the computers into the hub. How well does that work?
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  • Reply 13 of 15
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    Works great, broadband in the WAN port and hub in the LAN. The base station functions perfectly as a wired router. And it's wireless, too, of course. I especially appreciate Apple's convenient AirPort Admin Utility.
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  • Reply 14 of 15
    bradbowerbradbower Posts: 1,068member
    BTW, I don't think that it will matter if you get a hub or a switch, if you're going to use the base station as a router (in fact, I'd recommend a hub, for simplicity's sake). Before I had the base station or any kind of a router, though, the differences between a hub and a switch caused my hub to route LAN traffic through my WAN, which slowed things immensely, but I digress. It won't matter with a base station.
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  • Reply 15 of 15
    wmfwmf Posts: 1,164member
    bradbower knows what he's talking about. I would still recommend a switch since you get more performance (in some cases) for only a few extra $$.
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