Hands-on with Apple's AirPort Extreme 802.11n Base Station
So, here's the rundown of what we found: setup was exceedingly easy (obviously), although only having three hard 100Mbps Ethernet ports kind of hurts for a power user's home router. (It also made totally unthrottled bandwidth testing to gig Ethernet impossible, bummer.)
After we ran the install software and the 802.11n updater, even with our Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro sitting basically on top of the Base Station (ok, it was a foot away) we only got about 150Mbps -- not terrible, but not 10x. Sustained transfer didn't exceed 35Mbps even in burst, which was kind of a bummer, but apparently your mileage may vary, since other tests demonstrated a kicking performance increase.
On the other hand, it's certainly the least aesthetically offensive of the 802.11n routers out there, with a flat, compact MIMO antenna array that doesn't look like a soviet satellite installation. Hey, just saying, you take the good and you take the bad.
Update: We fiddled around with some of the settings and did indeed have better luck as we moved to 802.11n-only mode, especially in the 5GHz band. Although we couldn't get that base 802.11n (in b/g/n compatibility mode on 2.4GHz) rate to boost up any higher, we might recommend that you consider which kinds of machines will be living on your network, and whether a .11n-native 5GHz setup would be an appropriate compatibility tradeoff to get up to the full theoretical 300Mbps.
When we were connected on 5GHz at 300Mbps, we saw performance jump from an average of about 30Mbps to between 65-75Mbps sustained; still pretty good, but not pushing the typical cap of 88-92Mbps we get to hard Ethernet-to-Ethernet machines on that network. However, again, YMMV, as radio interference and thus network performance can vary from lab to lab, room to room, and household to household.
Filed under: Features, Wireless, Networking
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
EDawg @ Feb 15th 2007 1:37PM
I want an Engadget knife, damnit!
PeteC @ Feb 15th 2007 5:22PM
Yes, me too damnit. How about a free Engadget knife to anyone who unboxes anything exclusively for Engadget? :-P Now, since I'm unlikely to get anything that new, can I possibly just have one for suggesting the idea?
TMD @ Feb 15th 2007 1:41PM
While I have no 802.11n devices (until Apple TV ships), I found that using this as a a/b/g wifi and as a replacement router for my 6 year old Netgear, it gave me quite an improvement. I didn't realize that my trusty old Netgear router was actually slowing down my bandwidth. It apparently was giving me less than half of my 12mbps from Cox. Now with the new Apple, I get as much as 10mbps - haven't seen those final 2mbps yet. :) I also get a very strong/consistent signal to my wife's 17" iMac, whereas the previous Airtunes wifi wasn't quite as strong and dropped regularly.
Jeff Foster @ Feb 15th 2007 1:41PM
I still think they should have named it "Airport More Extremer"
Arno @ Feb 15th 2007 1:50PM
No, "Apple Airport More Better."
Johnny @ Feb 15th 2007 2:14PM
If you want a substantial review, rather than pictures of a white box and wireless setup screenshots, MacInTouch did a really thorough job of putting the new AirPort Extreme through its paces. Definitely worth a read if you're considering whether to purchase one.
Johnny @ Feb 15th 2007 2:15PM
Here's the link -- forgot that you can't put HTML links in Engadget comments:
http://www.macintouch.com/reviews/airportn/
whistler @ Feb 15th 2007 2:20PM
where is the updater to unlock the 802.11n. I ran the software, but didn't see it.
I also moved my printer from regular usb to the APE.. and i can't get it to work now :(
dA @ Feb 15th 2007 2:22PM
I bought this and was shocked to find out that my NTFS external Hard drive is not compatible. They done tell you this in the specs. You have to reformat the drive to FAT32. Very disappointed, but I am forced to keep it for its ability to maintain VPN connections.
Mike @ Feb 15th 2007 2:33PM
Ryan,
Did you perform your speed tests at 2.4 or 5 GHz? Apparently 5 GHz yields a more significant speed increase at the expense of range.
Cheers,
Mike
apeguero @ Feb 15th 2007 2:52PM
Hey Ryan,
Please hook me up with one of those leatherman style Engadget knives please? Pretty please?
LukeA @ Feb 15th 2007 5:47PM
That's just a specially engraved Leatherman Squirt.
caesar Lima @ Feb 15th 2007 2:54PM
Is there a place to add an antenna?
Caesar
Jean-Michel Decombe @ Feb 15th 2007 2:57PM
I am passing on this until they fix the problems. Why is this thing only half as performant as the equivalent offering from Cisco/LinkSys? I love the idea of wifi volumes, though.
dubious @ Feb 15th 2007 3:16PM
This is so frustrating. Apple has been integrating gigabit network cards in their professional products since 2000. SEVEN years later you would think that they could figure it out and included gigabit in their routers. That is just ridiculous!
Hildy @ Feb 15th 2007 3:44PM
I fully agree with dubious, why is the man keeping us down still?
geoff @ Feb 15th 2007 4:15PM
Can anyone point me to instructions for connecting my tivo to my Airport Extreme? We gave up our phone land line, and I am thinking there must be some way to use my Airport Extreme to update our tivo.
VC-Kadath @ Feb 15th 2007 4:20PM
Can you hook up a USB drive please and see how well it works as a NAS from OUTSIDE your local network?
michael @ Feb 15th 2007 4:41PM
Do you think Airport Extreme is extreme enough to overload? And explode into many little pieces? Like 802.11 pieces? I couldn't help but wonder, because I saw it on a YouTube video.
Dave Zatz @ Feb 15th 2007 6:00PM
Whoa, that's a kick-ass Engadget pocket knife - I think we need a web store!
ernest leitch @ Feb 15th 2007 6:08PM
When you were testing the routers wireless speed was it on a encrypted or open network?
Alex @ Feb 15th 2007 6:25PM
Why on earth is there only one USB slot if you are able to add a printer and a harddrive to it? Wouldn´t want to have another gadget in form of a USB hub hanging with the whole set-up just for not having to switch cables if needed. This really should have had at least 2 USB slots.
Josh @ Feb 15th 2007 6:29PM
I don't get the big deal over this thing. It's a router. Why are there blog posts all over about it?
As far as I am concerned, wireless routers are commodity items. They are made to sit on a shelf and be forgotten about and just do their job. Why the excitement?
John Doe @ Feb 15th 2007 7:58PM
No 1000BASE-T? WTF Apple?!?
Giltronic @ Feb 15th 2007 8:09PM
what is the usb port for?
just curious
gecko @ Feb 15th 2007 8:33PM
About your lackluster speeds:
Have you considered taking your base station OFF of your other wireless router? HELLO!?
I can't believe Apple sent you one of these babies for free just for you to give it a so-so report. It appears their judgment is just as good as your own.
Mitch @ Feb 15th 2007 8:35PM
No gigabit is ridiculous.
I can't believe that Apple won't disclose / doesn't know which adapters are compatible (for PCs).
I also am disappointed that there isn't a usb adapter for use with Apple legacy hardware (It seems weired to call my 8 month old Macbook legacy hardware).
The airport extreme is not up to Apple's usual high standards. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.
freezur @ Feb 15th 2007 10:25PM
Apple's inclusion of IPv6 routing is a great step in the right direction. We should hope that other home networking vendors will follow their lead. Home routers/firewalls have always been the biggest obstacle to ipv6 adoption in my opinion. People have had Operating Systems that support v6 autoconfiguration for years, but their linkydink POS has always gotten in the way.
I long for the day when the Internet works as it was intended to again. Any host having the ability to communicate with any other host. Real P2P applications - not this NAT-encumbered crap we have to deal with nowadays. IPv6 will bring about a re-democratization of the Internet, with the ability to share content no longer exclusive to those with a public ipv4 address. Firewalling will shift to the individual host and the world will abandon the illusion of security that is NAT.
I'm happy to see Apple leading the way on this issue, even though I wont personally be buying this product. (I run Linux, use IPv6 already, and find the lack of advanced permissions and user accounts for the printer and disk sharing a bit primitive.) Still, this is great. Everyone demand IPv6 and the world will be a better place.
Dolomite @ Feb 15th 2007 10:36PM
give me one of those knifes too.
Ron Hands @ Feb 16th 2007 12:57AM
Apple claims 5x speed increase, why were you disappointed when you didn't get 10x. If the product does what the manufacurer states then you should't slam it.
Urbanose @ Feb 16th 2007 3:11AM
100 MBps Ethernet only... So lame... What's the use for USB2 (480MBps) then ?
I would have bought it if there were gigabit ethernet ports and a second USB2 port. *That* would be a kick-ass configuration. The actual one is just crap.
Rynth @ Feb 16th 2007 4:27AM
Gotta love the little bit of blatant knife carried advertising there - sweet knife by the way, wanna post me one of them?
Anyhoo, I wont be buying one of these, Mr Job's has far to much of my money as it is, he aint getting any more. The bastard.
Jovanny Munoz @ Feb 16th 2007 8:49AM
I want the knife also!
Rusty Farrell @ Feb 16th 2007 1:53PM
Pardon my Mac ignorance but what do they mean when they have a checkbox option in the set-up as follows: Remember this password in my keychain?
hams @ Feb 16th 2007 5:46PM
Do the port mapping feature allow entering ranges and specifing mappings for all IP addresses? that is my biggest gripe with my current airport.
Mark Bradley @ Mar 1st 2007 11:04PM
I have just implemented one of these devices and agree with the comments in the review. I have migrated from the Belkin pre-N. Basically I find with all of my network which has PCs attached I get a very stable 54mb/s signal but when I connect my Mac Pro the rate ranged between 140-170mb/s. Coverage over a 100 m2 apartment was even and consistent. I think this will pair well with Apple TV but time will tell once we all start testing this combination. Overall impressed and a good choice of upgrade even for a mixed computer network environment.
Smith @ May 10th 2007 9:50PM
Well, my ISP tells me the DSL modem connects using PPPoE. However, after three days of an amber flashing light and a Toshiba and G4 iBook not working at all I called Apple support. After reseting the AE 802.11 n I tried connecting using Ethernet and DCHP. Once those changes were made we got a solid green light. BUT, it took 2 hours on the phone with Apple support to get things working.