Here is a review I just wrote up for my new toy. Thought it would be useful here.
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How did I ever live without one of http://www.apple.com/airport/ these (Apple Airport)?
After playing with this thing for a week, EVERYONE with must own one. Don't let the Apple fool you, this is an ITEF standard for 802.11b wireless Ethernet. I can now roam around my building untethered and still surf the net, code, chat, wait for email screaming fast!
The Apple Airport is a combination Modem, Bridge (network device), and wireless Hub all in one. Apple OEM'd the
http://www.wavelan.com
Lucent Wavelan Wireless LAN PC card and put it together into a nice package (note: This is similar to Lucent's Access Point Bridge.. not as sexy as the Airport tough).
What you get out of the box is a device that allows you to build a 11 M/bit wireless network in your immediate area. Specs say 150 feet range, but I've had pretty good luck with it even out in the street (doesn't everyone compute while chasing the Ice Cream truck?) and I live on the top floor of a 4 story building.
Note: You can increase the range of these things by attaching a well designed YAGI antennae to the WaveLan Card inside the Airport. Since you have it apart, might as well upgrade it to a WaveLan gold for 128bit RC4 encryption.
Not only does the Airport act as a wireless HUB, but it is also an Internet access device (router).
As an Internet Access device, you have 2 options. Use the built in V.90 (56K modem) to connect to your ISP and share your internet connection wirelessly with everyone with a Wireless 802.11 wireless NIC. Or you can use the Ethernet Port to and use it with your current Internet access device (like dsl, cable modem, etc..).
The Airport has more built in functions that just a bridge (meaning just relaying wireless data to your Network). Out of the box, it comes with routing functions:
NAT (Network Address Translations)
Routing (to take your data out to another network, like the internet)
DHCP server (to assign IP addresses to machines that connect to your wireless network)
DHCP client (to recieve an address from the Network, like your ISP).
Here is an example of what you can do with it.
You want to share a dialup account with a friend, roomate, etc.. Configure the Airport to dial into your ISP. Get a couple of Airport Cards (or the Lucent). Set up your Airport for NAT (network address translation) and as a DHCP server.
The Airport will dialup your ISP get a real Internet Address to use. Then through the Magic of NAT, it will assign you bogus IP address to your machines with the Wireless cards. It takes your data with the fake address, replaces it with its real address from the ISP and sends it out to the Internet for you. Then gets the data back, replace it with your fake address to send back to your browser.. etc..
If you own a MAC (which I don't), all you have to do is Create a dialup connection on your MAC, run the Airport client and it will take the information from the MAC dialup profile and configure the AirPort for you. Nice! No more tech support calls to me!
Another possible use is to share a DSL connections with friends, roomates, neighbors. Each person buys a Wireless card for about $97+ depending on what level of security you need (more on this later). Which is still less than having to setup a dsl connection for each person, and in my area you can get a 7M/bit connection for about $200 a month (via Sprints new test service). Split that with a few people its cheaper and faster than a T1.
Put a crossover cable from the ND's (network device, they are not MODEMS!!!! ) Ethernet Port to the Airport. Or plug both into a hub. Configure the Airport to be
1) DHCP client (to get the address from you ISP or plug in your static address)
2) DHCP server (to assign fake address, or real if you have a subnet from your ISP, to your machines)
3) Enable NAT to translate the fake address to route out to the internet.
Security:
You data is not encrypted by default. You can encrypted it with 64 bits out of the box, because the Airport uses the Wavelan Silver Lucent card. Which provides 64 bit encryption. Or do the hack I linked to previously and use the Gold Cards for 128 bit). Also, anyone with a wireless card can have access to your network. So via the software, you can do multiple tier authentication on your network. To keep out the neighbors that are not footing the bill for the 7Mbit connection.
First Tier:
Create a network name. Then only client cards configured for that network name can access the network.
Advance Restrictions:
Every NIC needs to have a MAC (media access layer) address, it uses this to map an IP layer address to physical address. With the airport, you can restrict who can access your network based on these physical MAC addresses (they are programmed into the card, and difficult to change). Also if you enable encryption, the only way that someone can access the network is to know your encryption key. Thus adding another layer of security.
Conclusion.
This is a great toy because it can do so much. If you're looking to share a connection and don't want to deal with wiring your place, a wireless setup is pretty much hassle free and very easy to do with an Airport. You can then even split the cost of a higher speed connection between a few people
Then there is the cool factor of going pool side, sip on margeritas and still be working from home.
Get one NOW!!!
----------------------------------------------------
How did I ever live without one of http://www.apple.com/airport/ these (Apple Airport)?
After playing with this thing for a week, EVERYONE with must own one. Don't let the Apple fool you, this is an ITEF standard for 802.11b wireless Ethernet. I can now roam around my building untethered and still surf the net, code, chat, wait for email screaming fast!
The Apple Airport is a combination Modem, Bridge (network device), and wireless Hub all in one. Apple OEM'd the
http://www.wavelan.com
Lucent Wavelan Wireless LAN PC card and put it together into a nice package (note: This is similar to Lucent's Access Point Bridge.. not as sexy as the Airport tough).
What you get out of the box is a device that allows you to build a 11 M/bit wireless network in your immediate area. Specs say 150 feet range, but I've had pretty good luck with it even out in the street (doesn't everyone compute while chasing the Ice Cream truck?) and I live on the top floor of a 4 story building.
Note: You can increase the range of these things by attaching a well designed YAGI antennae to the WaveLan Card inside the Airport. Since you have it apart, might as well upgrade it to a WaveLan gold for 128bit RC4 encryption.
Not only does the Airport act as a wireless HUB, but it is also an Internet access device (router).
As an Internet Access device, you have 2 options. Use the built in V.90 (56K modem) to connect to your ISP and share your internet connection wirelessly with everyone with a Wireless 802.11 wireless NIC. Or you can use the Ethernet Port to and use it with your current Internet access device (like dsl, cable modem, etc..).
The Airport has more built in functions that just a bridge (meaning just relaying wireless data to your Network). Out of the box, it comes with routing functions:
NAT (Network Address Translations)
Routing (to take your data out to another network, like the internet)
DHCP server (to assign IP addresses to machines that connect to your wireless network)
DHCP client (to recieve an address from the Network, like your ISP).
Here is an example of what you can do with it.
You want to share a dialup account with a friend, roomate, etc.. Configure the Airport to dial into your ISP. Get a couple of Airport Cards (or the Lucent). Set up your Airport for NAT (network address translation) and as a DHCP server.
The Airport will dialup your ISP get a real Internet Address to use. Then through the Magic of NAT, it will assign you bogus IP address to your machines with the Wireless cards. It takes your data with the fake address, replaces it with its real address from the ISP and sends it out to the Internet for you. Then gets the data back, replace it with your fake address to send back to your browser.. etc..
If you own a MAC (which I don't), all you have to do is Create a dialup connection on your MAC, run the Airport client and it will take the information from the MAC dialup profile and configure the AirPort for you. Nice! No more tech support calls to me!
Another possible use is to share a DSL connections with friends, roomates, neighbors. Each person buys a Wireless card for about $97+ depending on what level of security you need (more on this later). Which is still less than having to setup a dsl connection for each person, and in my area you can get a 7M/bit connection for about $200 a month (via Sprints new test service). Split that with a few people its cheaper and faster than a T1.
Put a crossover cable from the ND's (network device, they are not MODEMS!!!! ) Ethernet Port to the Airport. Or plug both into a hub. Configure the Airport to be
1) DHCP client (to get the address from you ISP or plug in your static address)
2) DHCP server (to assign fake address, or real if you have a subnet from your ISP, to your machines)
3) Enable NAT to translate the fake address to route out to the internet.
Security:
You data is not encrypted by default. You can encrypted it with 64 bits out of the box, because the Airport uses the Wavelan Silver Lucent card. Which provides 64 bit encryption. Or do the hack I linked to previously and use the Gold Cards for 128 bit). Also, anyone with a wireless card can have access to your network. So via the software, you can do multiple tier authentication on your network. To keep out the neighbors that are not footing the bill for the 7Mbit connection.
First Tier:
Create a network name. Then only client cards configured for that network name can access the network.
Advance Restrictions:
Every NIC needs to have a MAC (media access layer) address, it uses this to map an IP layer address to physical address. With the airport, you can restrict who can access your network based on these physical MAC addresses (they are programmed into the card, and difficult to change). Also if you enable encryption, the only way that someone can access the network is to know your encryption key. Thus adding another layer of security.
Conclusion.
This is a great toy because it can do so much. If you're looking to share a connection and don't want to deal with wiring your place, a wireless setup is pretty much hassle free and very easy to do with an Airport. You can then even split the cost of a higher speed connection between a few people
Then there is the cool factor of going pool side, sip on margeritas and still be working from home.
Get one NOW!!!
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