Sorry for posting only a semi-related question but I figure many router experts are reading this.
I have a three month old Airport Extreme. It works very well except it takes seemingly forever for my Dell laptop to acquire a network address. Forever means 30 seconds to perhaps a minute. The Belkin router this replaced took 5 seconds or so. I can't say how long it takes for my Mac to wirelessly acquire a network address as I have it linked by ethernet to the AE. It does get its address almost instantly, though.
Security is set to WPA2/WPA. Running on the B/G band only.
Is this common or normal? If not, any thoughts come to mind? Thanks.
beware people : radio is not so easy now. there are MANY THINGS emitting in 5ghz band.
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why would like to pay other things and take time to recreate a simple tool like the time capsule ? I don't care AT ALL if I have to pay a little more. It's a service I'm glad to pay.
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aperture 3 can take a long time to convert a huge library. and yes your hard drive is very used. your hd is an important part of your computer, you _HAVE_ to backup ALL data EVERY day, every time, every where. you have to. I you are a professional user of aperture, you will know that.
and let the software convert the huge library, yes it can take hourS.
We have the Airport - no Time Capsule, and have had no problems that I have noticed.
However, we have had a lot of trouble mounting servers between my desktop and laptop computers. Originally we had no problem at all. We could mount and do screen sharing at will. Later, we could not mount the desktop on the laptop. Now we cannot mount either on the other - tho can always see listed in the finder.
I get the following Msg:
The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "afp://10.0.1.4/" could not be read or written.
(Error code -36)
Of course I have been over the sharing settings many times.
Time Capsule was a great idea, but it's a pretty bad piece of hardware. It overheats all the time, the network is flaky, and Time Machine just doesn't work very fluidly using a remote file store.
just as with all apple products, great idea, good software, but the hardware is a bit not up the price...
5ghz performance on my late 2009 Airport Extreme is shockingly bad. So much so that I only use it in 2.4ghz mode. If it's a hardware problem then firmware updates are going to be useless. But then some people are not having the same problem then it can't be hardware can it?
No issues here at all - plugged it in, it just worked, has done for several years. Reliable, functional and looks nice on the side. Plagued indeed?! If you mean "sporadic issues" or "some users have reported an issue" then why not say that?
this article refers to the latest models... not the one you bought years ago.
My AirPort Extreme purchased about 2 months ago is working just fine. My MBP & AppleTV use the 5GHz band and my iPhone and older devices use the 2.4GHz band without a problem.
Ditto. I'm getting ready to review a book on Airports by Glenn Fleishman. He has a lot of information about channels that might be helpful to people having problems.
My late 2009 model works great with 5ghz right out of the box.
What dualband routers will save me lots of money hillstones?
I have the same problem with my older (can't recall the model, but it is flat shaped) Airport extreme. It loses the connection to the internet regularly and has to be restarted. It also takes down my PPPoE connection.
The problem occurs with my older G5 as well as my new iMac 27". I can't use my wireless connection to transfer large number of movies to my Apple TV, the wireless service goes down. I had to resort to using an ethernet connection to do the job. Syncing a single movie is OK though.
This must be a recurring issue. Why some people have problems and others don't, who knows, but it is frustrating to say the least.
Same here with the predecessor model (Airport Extrem simultaneous dual-band). It needs to be constantly rebooted if I do massive file transfers or downloads.
Sometimes there also seems to be a protocol issue, because the computers stop being able to successfully connect to the WiFi network, even though they can see the signal. Only rebooting the computer works.
So I think we have a variety of issues here: driver/demon issues on the Mac side (they crash or get confused by something, possibly out of spec responses from the base), and either base stations that over heat and/or have buggy software.
If you're in an air conditioned environment and only use the device for casual web browsing and backing up a few changed documents, then it works well. If you work with large files and have tens of GB that are being transferred on a semi-regular basis, you're in a world of pain.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find ANY WiFi product that "just works". They all have thermal management issues, underpowered hardware, and buggy software. I think eventually it may be cheaper to get a NetBook and run something like pfSense on it as a dedicated software base station with way more capabilities and backup power (laptop battery), than to deal with all the hassles of the various WiFi base stations. Too bad, because the ease of management for a simple network is great in the AirPort product line.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find ANY WiFi product that "just works". They all have thermal management issues, underpowered hardware, and buggy software.
I have found that Apple's routers are easiest to set up and maintain, but as I stated earlier they are missing some common features.
Performance wise I find they are the best those with fast connections but not nearly as powerful as they should be in this day and age. I hope there is a redesign coming with the ability to process at least 50Mbps from an ISP, along with the dual-band WiFi and 1Gbps hub in use.
I know many people with 40Gbps to their home with DOCSIS 3. Their routers are just overworked at this point between the ISP and the local network pushing excessive amounts of data.
I'd also like to see the OS updated. I wonder if we're getting to a point that Darwin would not be a better foundation than what they are currently using.
I have also gone through a number of cheaper routers before going with the Airport Extreme. We have a mixed network and a shared printer and the router just works. Set it and forget it.
A bit off topic but, I wish Apple would buy up Data Robotics and refashion the Drobo as an apple backup appliance. Time Machine is great but once your disk is full you start to lose older backups. Plus the problems with the Time Capsule mentioned here.
But a Drobo type device that lets you replace smaller driver with larger ones, hook into your router and work seamlessly with time Machine would be the cat's ass. If they made a PC version of Time Machine as well that would open up the whole PC market as well.
Drobo as it is right now seems pretty good but with a bit of Apple polish it could be a runaway hit - if the price was right.
I can't believe people waste money on Apple's wireless base station hardware. The same can be done with third party solutions for far less money. Time Capsule is an overpriced joke. I would much rather backup over FireWire than wireless or Ethernet.
In the year before I bought my Airport Extreme, I went through three of those lower-priced third-party 'solutions'. Every one of them died within a few months. One was never able to remember the administrator password, forcing me to reset the device to factory specs every time I wanted to open a new port or add a new MAC address.
I finally got sick of the troubles and of having to buy new devices every few months, so I took a chance and forked over the money for a decent base station. It's been running solid for two years now. Since I paid less for it than I would have paid for the six new devices I'd likely have had to buy in those two years, I'd say the Apple device has saved me money (as well as headaches).
Sure, I hate that I have to install software to make changes, and I hate that every single change (including something as simple as opening a port) requires a full reboot of the router. Still, I don't regret my decision to 'waste money on Apple's wireless base station hardware' for a moment.
Drobo as it is right now seems pretty good but with a bit of Apple polish it could be a runaway hit - if the price was right.
Been eying a Drobo for over a year now. I shy away because of the cost, and because my setup sits in a spare bedroom - I hear the Drobo is a noisy piece of kit.
Been eying a Drobo for over a year now. I shy away because of the cost, and because my setup sits in a spare bedroom - I hear the Drobo is a noisy piece of kit.
Did I waste money buying a MBP when I could have purchased an Acer for far less money?\
Your comparison is pointless. Two computers that don't run the same operating system isn't the same as a Linksys Wireless Router that does the same thing as an Apple Wireless router. Your comparison would be more valid if you compared an expensive PC to a generic PC. Learn how to compare similar products next time.
One backup for one machine is fine for your setup but TC has its benefits.
I can also back up my other Macs that are connected to the network with the single hard drive connected via FireWire. External hard drives via FireWire or USB do show up on a network too. I don't need a Time Capsule to do it. The complaints that people have about the TC, it doesn't sound like a reliable back up solution.
My overpriced joke is the best router I've ever had. Easy to set up, use and fast, fast, fast. No problems whatsoever thus far.
I am sorry you spent your money on Apple's Wireless Router. My Linksys router which was far less expensive was also easy to set up, use, and it is just as fast.
You may not be the intended target for the product. The AEBS is easier to setup.
I've used Linksys productions (G and N) before - it wasn't hard. But the AEBS is much easier for the average person. I prefer less time spent on setting up and more on the fun stuff. I have more $ than time.
I've had very bad luck with Linksys over the years, every unit I've bought from them has destructed. That includes a professional business router. Their wireless router simply wasn't reliable as to signal. It would lose connection to devices constantly. I took it back.
I'm using the Extreme, which I bought a bit over a month ago, with an Express downstairs.
Apple's base stations are the most solid routers on the market (at least, they were a year ago). I tried, and gave up on, 4 different brand routers (all significantly cheaper than the Apple base station) including linksys and belkin before settling for the more expensive solution. None of the other routers could sustain a constantly open AIM connection, and many required a couple hours or so of fiddling every week or two to make sure things kept working properly. I've set my Apple base station up once... and haven't touched it since (not to mention that the setup process is so incredibly easy). The extra price you pay saves you time, headaches, and hassles. Trust me, I've tried the competition, and I'm far from a novice.
Perhaps you don't know how to set one up. I don't have any drop outs with my Linksys router, wired or wireless. I don't have to spend hours fiddling with them to make sure they work. My Linksys router is years old and incredibly stable. Maybe you had firmware issues and never bothered to update. Or maybe it was your internet provider that caused problems, or your AIM software that couldn't maintain a connection to the network.
Comments
I have a three month old Airport Extreme. It works very well except it takes seemingly forever for my Dell laptop to acquire a network address. Forever means 30 seconds to perhaps a minute. The Belkin router this replaced took 5 seconds or so. I can't say how long it takes for my Mac to wirelessly acquire a network address as I have it linked by ethernet to the AE. It does get its address almost instantly, though.
Security is set to WPA2/WPA. Running on the B/G band only.
Is this common or normal? If not, any thoughts come to mind? Thanks.
beware people : radio is not so easy now. there are MANY THINGS emitting in 5ghz band.
-
why would like to pay other things and take time to recreate a simple tool like the time capsule ? I don't care AT ALL if I have to pay a little more. It's a service I'm glad to pay.
-
aperture 3 can take a long time to convert a huge library. and yes your hard drive is very used. your hd is an important part of your computer, you _HAVE_ to backup ALL data EVERY day, every time, every where. you have to. I you are a professional user of aperture, you will know that.
and let the software convert the huge library, yes it can take hourS.
We have the Airport - no Time Capsule, and have had no problems that I have noticed.
However, we have had a lot of trouble mounting servers between my desktop and laptop computers. Originally we had no problem at all. We could mount and do screen sharing at will. Later, we could not mount the desktop on the laptop. Now we cannot mount either on the other - tho can always see listed in the finder.
I get the following Msg:
The Finder cannot complete the operation because some data in "afp://10.0.1.4/" could not be read or written.
(Error code -36)
Of course I have been over the sharing settings many times.
Anyone have any ideas?
Time Capsule was a great idea, but it's a pretty bad piece of hardware. It overheats all the time, the network is flaky, and Time Machine just doesn't work very fluidly using a remote file store.
just as with all apple products, great idea, good software, but the hardware is a bit not up the price...
No issues here at all - plugged it in, it just worked, has done for several years. Reliable, functional and looks nice on the side. Plagued indeed?! If you mean "sporadic issues" or "some users have reported an issue" then why not say that?
this article refers to the latest models... not the one you bought years ago.
My AirPort Extreme purchased about 2 months ago is working just fine. My MBP & AppleTV use the 5GHz band and my iPhone and older devices use the 2.4GHz band without a problem.
Ditto. I'm getting ready to review a book on Airports by Glenn Fleishman. He has a lot of information about channels that might be helpful to people having problems.
My late 2009 model works great with 5ghz right out of the box.
What dualband routers will save me lots of money hillstones?
I have the same problem with my older (can't recall the model, but it is flat shaped) Airport extreme. It loses the connection to the internet regularly and has to be restarted. It also takes down my PPPoE connection.
The problem occurs with my older G5 as well as my new iMac 27". I can't use my wireless connection to transfer large number of movies to my Apple TV, the wireless service goes down. I had to resort to using an ethernet connection to do the job. Syncing a single movie is OK though.
This must be a recurring issue. Why some people have problems and others don't, who knows, but it is frustrating to say the least.
Same here with the predecessor model (Airport Extrem simultaneous dual-band). It needs to be constantly rebooted if I do massive file transfers or downloads.
Sometimes there also seems to be a protocol issue, because the computers stop being able to successfully connect to the WiFi network, even though they can see the signal. Only rebooting the computer works.
So I think we have a variety of issues here: driver/demon issues on the Mac side (they crash or get confused by something, possibly out of spec responses from the base), and either base stations that over heat and/or have buggy software.
If you're in an air conditioned environment and only use the device for casual web browsing and backing up a few changed documents, then it works well. If you work with large files and have tens of GB that are being transferred on a semi-regular basis, you're in a world of pain.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find ANY WiFi product that "just works". They all have thermal management issues, underpowered hardware, and buggy software. I think eventually it may be cheaper to get a NetBook and run something like pfSense on it as a dedicated software base station with way more capabilities and backup power (laptop battery), than to deal with all the hassles of the various WiFi base stations. Too bad, because the ease of management for a simple network is great in the AirPort product line.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find ANY WiFi product that "just works". They all have thermal management issues, underpowered hardware, and buggy software.
I have found that Apple's routers are easiest to set up and maintain, but as I stated earlier they are missing some common features.
Performance wise I find they are the best those with fast connections but not nearly as powerful as they should be in this day and age. I hope there is a redesign coming with the ability to process at least 50Mbps from an ISP, along with the dual-band WiFi and 1Gbps hub in use.
I know many people with 40Gbps to their home with DOCSIS 3. Their routers are just overworked at this point between the ISP and the local network pushing excessive amounts of data.
I'd also like to see the OS updated. I wonder if we're getting to a point that Darwin would not be a better foundation than what they are currently using.
A bit off topic but, I wish Apple would buy up Data Robotics and refashion the Drobo as an apple backup appliance. Time Machine is great but once your disk is full you start to lose older backups. Plus the problems with the Time Capsule mentioned here.
But a Drobo type device that lets you replace smaller driver with larger ones, hook into your router and work seamlessly with time Machine would be the cat's ass. If they made a PC version of Time Machine as well that would open up the whole PC market as well.
Drobo as it is right now seems pretty good but with a bit of Apple polish it could be a runaway hit - if the price was right.
I can't believe people waste money on Apple's wireless base station hardware. The same can be done with third party solutions for far less money. Time Capsule is an overpriced joke. I would much rather backup over FireWire than wireless or Ethernet.
In the year before I bought my Airport Extreme, I went through three of those lower-priced third-party 'solutions'. Every one of them died within a few months. One was never able to remember the administrator password, forcing me to reset the device to factory specs every time I wanted to open a new port or add a new MAC address.
I finally got sick of the troubles and of having to buy new devices every few months, so I took a chance and forked over the money for a decent base station. It's been running solid for two years now. Since I paid less for it than I would have paid for the six new devices I'd likely have had to buy in those two years, I'd say the Apple device has saved me money (as well as headaches).
Sure, I hate that I have to install software to make changes, and I hate that every single change (including something as simple as opening a port) requires a full reboot of the router. Still, I don't regret my decision to 'waste money on Apple's wireless base station hardware' for a moment.
Drobo as it is right now seems pretty good but with a bit of Apple polish it could be a runaway hit - if the price was right.
Been eying a Drobo for over a year now. I shy away because of the cost, and because my setup sits in a spare bedroom - I hear the Drobo is a noisy piece of kit.
Writing this from one right now using a 13" MBP.
Been eying a Drobo for over a year now. I shy away because of the cost, and because my setup sits in a spare bedroom - I hear the Drobo is a noisy piece of kit.
Lot's of Drobo horror stories across the net.
Here's a couple:
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/...38936&hl=drobo
http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/...30983&hl=drobo
Did I waste money buying a MBP when I could have purchased an Acer for far less money?
Your comparison is pointless. Two computers that don't run the same operating system isn't the same as a Linksys Wireless Router that does the same thing as an Apple Wireless router. Your comparison would be more valid if you compared an expensive PC to a generic PC. Learn how to compare similar products next time.
One backup for one machine is fine for your setup but TC has its benefits.
I can also back up my other Macs that are connected to the network with the single hard drive connected via FireWire. External hard drives via FireWire or USB do show up on a network too. I don't need a Time Capsule to do it. The complaints that people have about the TC, it doesn't sound like a reliable back up solution.
My overpriced joke is the best router I've ever had. Easy to set up, use and fast, fast, fast. No problems whatsoever thus far.
I am sorry you spent your money on Apple's Wireless Router. My Linksys router which was far less expensive was also easy to set up, use, and it is just as fast.
You may not be the intended target for the product. The AEBS is easier to setup.
I've used Linksys productions (G and N) before - it wasn't hard. But the AEBS is much easier for the average person. I prefer less time spent on setting up and more on the fun stuff. I have more $ than time.
I've had very bad luck with Linksys over the years, every unit I've bought from them has destructed. That includes a professional business router. Their wireless router simply wasn't reliable as to signal. It would lose connection to devices constantly. I took it back.
I'm using the Extreme, which I bought a bit over a month ago, with an Express downstairs.
No problems at all.
Apple's base stations are the most solid routers on the market (at least, they were a year ago). I tried, and gave up on, 4 different brand routers (all significantly cheaper than the Apple base station) including linksys and belkin before settling for the more expensive solution. None of the other routers could sustain a constantly open AIM connection, and many required a couple hours or so of fiddling every week or two to make sure things kept working properly. I've set my Apple base station up once... and haven't touched it since (not to mention that the setup process is so incredibly easy). The extra price you pay saves you time, headaches, and hassles. Trust me, I've tried the competition, and I'm far from a novice.
Perhaps you don't know how to set one up. I don't have any drop outs with my Linksys router, wired or wireless. I don't have to spend hours fiddling with them to make sure they work. My Linksys router is years old and incredibly stable. Maybe you had firmware issues and never bothered to update. Or maybe it was your internet provider that caused problems, or your AIM software that couldn't maintain a connection to the network.