Anyone own an AirPort Extreme 802.11n base station?

[dparm]

The Apple Store has the AirPort Extreme 802.11n base stations for $139 (refurbished). I'm really considering getting one at that price. You get three 10/100 LAN ports, USB for printer/disk sharing, 2.4 and 5.0GHz 802.11abgn connectivity.

Does anyone have one of these? If so, please share your experiences with it as this N stuff seems to be all over the place.

The only thing else similar that's rated well are:

Linksys WRT150N (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124085) (cheap, no-frills, Broadcom chipset)
ZyXEL NBG-415N (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833181026&Tpk=nbg-415n) (good warranty, rated as very stable, Atheros chipset)
D-Link DIR-655 (http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203534049&SearchEngine=PriceGrabber&SearchTerm=203534049&Type=PE&Category=Comp&dcaid=15890) (gigabit LAN, performance-oriented, Atheros chipset)

It's really down to the D-Link or the AirPort Extreme. The ZyXEL and Linksys are on there only because they're cheap.

I really like how the AirPort supports the 5GHz band for better performance and less noise, but the D-Link has the 4 gigabit LAN ports and top-rated intelligent QoS. Both are Atheros chipsets, which seem to offer the broadest compatibility.

[fischerm]

I know Limell' has one of the Airport N stations at home, I'll try and see what she thinks of it.

[dcv]

I thought the Airports got upgraded to Gigabit ports? Or is the refurbished model one of the older ones?

[gka]

I have two Airport Ns at home, opted to get them for a couple reasons: the setup is super flexible and I am able to use one as a 'repeater' to reach all parts of my house, and because they have the USB port that allows sharing printers and hard drives. We have two printers shared to three computers in the house. I can bring the manual to work with me tomorrow... On Windows machines you have to install Bonjour for the shared devices to work. I don't really know how well they perform in comparison to the other models, though.

[dparm]

I thought the Airports got upgraded to Gigabit ports? Or is the refurbished model one of the older ones?


Refurbs are the slightly older ones with Fast Ethernet ports, not Gigabit Ethernet. Small quibble I suppose.

Refurb (w/Fast Ethernet) = $139 @ Apple Store
New (w/Gigabit Ethernet) = $159 @ bookstore

[dparm]

The more I read up on the 802.11N devices, the more convinced I am that the AirPort Extreme or D-Link DIR-655 is the smartest choice.

The D-Link is consistently top-rated and seems to offer a great blend of features at a reasonable price ($129). It also supports the draft 2.0 standard, making compatibility with non-N devices significantly better. Many similarly priced N-routers do not support version 2.0, which leads to all the disgruntled reports of not being able to connect. Draft 2.0 is also easier to upgrade to the final N spec, whenever that is released. Unfortunately, D-Link does not allow USB disk/printer sharing on this router.

Apple also supports draft 2.0. Unlike the D-Link, they DO allow for disk and printer sharing over the USB port. You basically get a cheap NAS box! I'm not thrilled about the 3 switched gigabit LAN ports and lack of activity/status LEDs, but Apple has never been one to load up their devices with LEDs and distracting lights.


It also appears that the cheaper N routers use the 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports for wired connections, and this actually prevents EVERYONE from breaking through the 80Mbps barrier. Since they have 10/100 switched ports, this means the [internal] backplane is probably not even fast enough to take full advantage of the N capabilities. The better routers, like the DIR-655 and AirPort Extreme, offer 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet to make sure you get the most of the N radio.


Basically the $30 price difference gets you one less LAN port, but adds 5.0GHz compatibility for A & N clients as well as file/print sharing on the USB port. Both use Atheros chipsets, FYI.