Airport -- A few questions

Comments

• Reply 1 of 8

  jambo Posts: 3,036member

  March 10, 2003 12:25PM

  Sorry, nope. The current 15" PowerBook uses 802.11b (Airport) and cannot use 802.11g (Airport Extreme).
  
  
  
  Moving to Genius Bar... (Does that make me a genius?)
• Reply 2 of 8

  roduk Posts: 706member

  March 10, 2003 12:45PM

  [quote]Originally posted by BuzzardsBay:
  
  <strong>Also does airport/airport extreme need to have a cable or faster connection or is it possible to run with dial up?
  
  </strong><hr></blockquote>
  
  
  
  I believe its possible to use both with a dial up connection. The airport extreme basestation comes in two versions, one of which has an RJ-11 connector and inbuilt modem for dial up connections.
  
  Even the fastest broadband connection is still relatively slow compared to the slowest airport, so the speed of the internet connection isn't relevant in that sense. Airport extreme won't give you a faster internet connection, whether its dial up or broadband.
  
  
  
  [ 03-10-2003: Message edited by: RodUK ]</p>
• Reply 3 of 8

  stoo Posts: 1,490member

  March 10, 2003 12:54PM

  [quote]Also does airport/airport extreme need to have a cable or faster connection or is it possible to run with dial up?<hr></blockquote>
  
  
  
  Both plain Airport (802.11b, 11Mbps) and Airport Extreme (802.11g, 54Mbps) are much faster than both dialup and broadband. They don't need a broadband connection.
  
  
  
  All you need to use dialup wirelessly is a router with a 56K modem in it. Options include:

  • A basestation with a dialup modem, like the some of the Airport Basestations
  
  
  • A separate dialup router, connected to the WAN port of the basestation
  
  
  • A computer as a router, with a network card connected to the basestation's WAN port, a modem and routing software (Mac OS X is capable of routing with no extra software)
  
  

  Option one is recommended .
  
  
  
  
  
  802.11g is backwards compatible with 802.11b, so you I think you can use an Airport Extreme Basestation with your PowerBook's Airport card, but it probably isn't worth upgrading unless you plan to have wireless traffic that requires faster transfer speeds in the future.
  
  
  
  Airport Extreme cards use a different connector to Airport cards. You should be able to find a Cardbus 802.11g card for the general purpose expansion slot (it's on the left of the PowerBook).
  
  
  
  If you are just using it for web surfing, etc.., then Airport will do fine: you don't need Extreme. I'd use wireless for convenience and use wires if I ever needed fast transfer rates.
  
  
  
  As for which basestation to get:

  • dialup modem required? Odd ISP dialer software (e.g. AOL)?
  
  
  • Do you need a hub/switch for wired nodes?
  
  
  • Do you need a USB port for wireless printing, like the Airport Extreme?
  
  

  Also, I'd wait until 802.11g is finalised, as it is currently in a non-final (but late) draft.
• Reply 4 of 8

  buzzardsbay Posts: 153member

  March 10, 2003 5:46PM

  Thanks for all the input. As far as dial-up is concerned I will be changing residences soon and am not sure if i will be using dial-up or cable(dsl). The wireless USB for a printer would be nice if it is possible.
  
  
  
  So if I need to transfer files and wanted a higher speed I could just plug in my ethernet (by wire) and get higher speeds say I was using cable service, but browse the web fine using the wireless airport card. If I understand correctly that sounds fine to me.
  
  
  
  Any recommendations on model of Airport base station since I don't think the extreme base station will be necessary because I will most likely be the only one using it and if I can't upgrade to extreme I dont see the point.
  
  
  
  Thanks,
  
  Dan
• Reply 5 of 8

  buzzardsbay Posts: 153member

  March 11, 2003 3:19PM

  Bump, I'm still confused over which model basestation i would need and the best place to get it.
  
  
  
  Thanks,
  
  Dan
• Reply 6 of 8

  paul Posts: 5,278member

  March 11, 2003 3:38PM

  well you said you were interested in wireless printer sharing via USB... and that option is only available on the ApE Base Stations ($199 w/o dialup, $249 with)
  
  
  
  if you dont care about printing, but still want the option to use dialup, get a Snow Rev. 2 regular Airport. it has a modem and an LAN and WAN Ethernet ports. this is what you probably want to get, the only thing is it will probably be $200-$230 because of the modem...
  
  
  
  personally i think you should get the ApE with the printer sharing and hope you get broadband... surfing the net sucks with 56k wired or not so it wont make a difference. you will still be able to print wirelessly tho
  
  
  
  as for where to get it... for older ones check out <a href="http://www.smalldog.com"; target="_blank">www.smalldog.com</a> for deals if buying new, chances are you will not see a difference between vendors... you can check <a href="http://www.dealmac.com"; target="_blank">www.dealmac.com</a> for any special bundles that may come up.
  
  
  
  happy hunting
  
  
  
  -Paul
• Reply 7 of 8

  1337_5l4xx0r Posts: 1,558member

  March 11, 2003 6:19PM

  Just thought I'd point out you can buy any third party 802.11b (airport) base station and it will work spiffy.
  
  
  
  I have a US Robotics black box I picked up for about $100USD and it has 3 100 base-T ethernet ports, and a printer port for printer sharing. It is a router/firewall/print server.
  
  
  
  You config the base station via a web browser. Ask me how I got printer sharing working (on my Samsung ML-1200) over the USR base station if you are curious.
  
  
  
  [ 03-11-2003: Message edited by: 1337_5L4Xx0R ]</p>
• Reply 8 of 8

  paul Posts: 5,278member

  March 11, 2003 8:13PM

  [quote]Originally posted by 1337_5L4Xx0R:
  
  <strong>and a printer port for printer sharing. It is a router/firewall/print server.</strong><hr></blockquote>
  
  
  
  is it serial or USB?
  
  
  
  will the serial printer work on the Mac?
  
  
  
  can you configure it from a mac?