What do you think of the Apple Airport Express as a wireless access point?

[mshan]

I've got an Apple Airport Extreme for myself, and have got another I am going to install at my parents home.

My sister has Verizon DSL with the Westell 327 dsl modem / wireless router. It seems to work fine, but connecting wirelessly at times can be flakey.

I was googling about how to connect to the internet using the AE and realized it can function as a wireless access point when a dsl or cable modem is plugged into it (I always thought it could only be used for streaming iTunes because I could never get it to work as a remove wireless adapter in computers I've tried).

So, how is the Airport Express (I've got the older non-n version) as a wireless access point, in terms of signal strength and stability, security, etc? Is there any real difference with the Airport Extreme for a simple 2 bedroom condo type setup?

 

[secretanchitman]

my wireless G version of the airport express works FLAWLESSLY. in fact, it works just fine with my nintendo wii, my friends xbox 360, and my ps3.

although i think the price should be reduced to like $75, its a very good product. i wish i had the money to upgrade to the N one....

 

[aphex]

Ive actually been thinking about switching my linksys access point to a airport express, primarily to get the audio streaming.

The biggest difference is that there is no Ethernet ports for a LAN.

 

[aphex]

lol, ROCK ON!

Just picked up an 802.11n express for $50 after MSFT cashback on eBay

 

[keeleysam]

I have the 802.11n version connected to my gigabit network for my MacBook Pro. Configured as 5GHz 802.11n only, it fully saturates (10-11MB/s) the 100mbit bus when transferring with FTP. The signal is great, and the extra features are good too.

I paid $90 for it on the EPP store 5 minutes after it was announced, it's definitely worth it.

 

[mshan]

How fast a dsl or cable modem connection do you need to saturate even the wireless g spec?

 

[keeleysam]

In real world speed, G tops out around 15-20mbit, and Comcast's powerboost and FIOS already go above that.

 

[HomerSapien]

I have been using the airport express (g model) as my router for 2 years now. I forget about it most of the time because it simply works.

However, as with everything there are minor annoyances. It does require a program to make updates. It does not have a web interface like many routers out. Any updates to settings requires the router to be reset. This includes adding a computers mac address, changing ports, etc.

 

[Eug]

That Airport Utility in Mac OS X sucks donkey's balls.

I hate it. It's the only thing keeping me from buying the Apple Airport Extreme base station along with another Airport Express. (I already have one Airport Express.)

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Eug
That Airport Utility in Mac OS X sucks donkey's balls.

I hate it. It's the only thing keeping me from buying the Apple Airport Extreme base station along with another Airport Express. (I already have one Airport Express.)

I actually disagree, I kinda prefer it. I have 2 routers on my network and with my crappy memory, i like that I can just pop open the Airport Utility with minimal effort and change what I need, rather than use the web interface of most others.

Sure it has much less options than a DD-WRT, but I wasn't using 98% of them anyway, I just used DD-WRT for stability and to adjust the power output.

For me, I loved the change. Can't wait till my express gets here tomorrow so I can run all though the utility

 

[Eug]

If you have any configuration problems, the Airport Utility will often hang or crash... or it will load just fine without actually seeing the Airport Express unit. This is a known problem, and I've experienced it with both my Airport Express (802.11n version), and my old school graphite 802.11b Airport Base Station.

P.S. When I was setting up my Airport Express the way I tested various settings was to apply the settings and hope it worked. If it didn't then sometimes the Airport Express unit suddenly would become invisible to Airport Utility. To make it visible again I'd have to hard reset the Airport Express to reset the unit to the default settings, and relaunch the Airport Utility. Rinse, and repeat... until the settings worked. What's the use of Airport Utility if it can't be reliably used to tweak an Airport's settings when you have config probs?

BTW, Airport Express does not work as a client if you have hidden the SSID on your (or at least my) wireless network. My iMac G5 worked fine with hidden SSIDs. My iMac C2D does. My iBook does. My MacBook does. Both my Cubes with their ancient 802.11b cards do too, and even my iPhone does. But not the Airport Express, a frickin' dedicated WiFi device.

I don't mind Airport's rather limited options. I mind the unreliability. And like I said, it's not unique to my setup. This AirportUtilityNotSeeingAirportHardware is a known problem and has been a known problem for years. However, it seems to be low on Apple's bugfix list.

EDIT:

Originally posted by: mshan
I was googling about how to connect to the internet using the AE and realized it can function as a wireless access point when a dsl or cable modem is plugged into it (I always thought it could only be used for streaming iTunes because I could never get it to work as a remove wireless adapter in computers I've tried).

It would seem mshan had similar problems. One of my problems was getting the damn thing to work as a remote wireless adapter.

I finally got it to work, but after much, much headache... with each test cycle involving that tedious requirement of hard resetting the Airport Express and relaunching Airport Utility.

 

[aphex]

Ok, I spoke too soon. lol

My airport express just arrived and I'm having the same problem with Airport Utility. Sometimes it sees the Express, other times it doesn't. The times it does see it, it gives me an error when I try to run manual setup, something about not being able to read the configuration.

It was working fine with the Extreme, not so much with the Express.

Also, one weird thing. I bought the unit on eBay, knew it was open box return. Just figured I would do a hard reset / factory reset and set it up myself. Well, it didn't want to reset. No matter how many times I tried, it kept the old users wireless SSID and his security. Eventually I had to run an ethernet cable and it finally let me reset it via ethernet. What a pain though.

Hrmph.

I formally rescind my previous comments.

BTW, its finally working, though the utility still isn't working 100% right. I have to apple credit for one thing, if you have two Airports (Extreme & Express), it really makes it easy to bridge the two together for a 5ghz and 2.4ghz network. Getting to that point was a bitch, but once it finally saw everything, it was ok.

 

[Eug]

Yeah, I wonder why Apple still hasn't figured this out. I like the style of the Airport Utility, but not its implementation.

However, I have officially cancelled the idea of making a multi-node Airport network. I just got my pair of Netgear HDX101 Powerline Ethernet adapters, and they work beautifully. It's truly plug and play. In fact, it shockingly works going from one side of the house to the opposite side, despite the fact they have independent electrical panels. (The other side of house is an addition added 10 years later.) There are two problems though:

1) In the same room on the same electrical circuit, speed is very fast. However, going across the house through the two independent fuse boxes, the speed goes right down. However, I can still max out my internet connection so that's OK.

2) If you want to change the password, you need to run the configuration utility on Windows. There is no Mac client. And you definitely want to change the password, because theoretically an adjacent house could access the same network with another HDX101.

P.S. I tried it with the power outlet in my garden shed in the backyard. Internet access in that garden shed worked perfectly, and it was fast.

BTW, any advice? There is a setting for TCP priority and UDP priority? On the other side I have a computer and an Xbox 360. I won't be doing any video streaming, so I don't need UDP priority for that. However there's internet access and gaming. Should I just leave it on TCP priority?

 

[mshan]

I just got an Encore ENLGI-W PCI adapter for a computer I've got that I want to remove direct ethernet cable: http://www.encore-usa.com/prod...s&bid=2&pgid=20&pid=15
I can only connect to the Apple Airport Extreme if I disable encryption.

Anybody got an idea if I am configuring something wrong, or do I have a hardware conflict with this older wi-fi adapter?

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Eug
In the same room on the same electrical circuit, speed is very fast. However, going across the house through the two independent fuse boxes, the speed goes right down. However, I can still max out my internet connection so that's OK.

I put the powerline Ethernet adapter on another plug in the same room, and the speed is much better. (The first plug I tried had all my home theatre equipment on it, which is probably making the line noisy. The new plug is on a different circuit breaker but in the same room.)

I get 30 Mbps now, on the other side of the house, through two electrical panels.

I just ordered two more of these. No more Apple Airports for me.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mshan
I just got an Encore ENLGI-W PCI adapter for a computer I've got that I want to remove direct ethernet cable: http://www.encore-usa.com/prod...s&bid=2&pgid=20&pid=15
I can only connect to the Apple Airport Extreme if I disable encryption.

Anybody got an idea if I am configuring something wrong, or do I have a hardware conflict with this older wi-fi adapter?

That's weird, I have the 802.11n Encore card and it lets me connect to my Linksys on WPA-PSK TKIP just fine.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Eug
If you have any configuration problems, the Airport Utility will often hang or crash... or it will load just fine without actually seeing the Airport Express unit. This is a known problem, and I've experienced it with both my Airport Express (802.11n version), and my old school graphite 802.11b Airport Base Station.

That's pretty much my only gripe with Apple's networking equipment...I hate their custom software. I really prefer Web GUIs for setting up routers...no software to install, no funky issues to deal with.

I also wish that Apple took more advantage of the audio streaming. They could kill Sonos very easily, plus have the advantage of a quasi-mesh wireless network for maximum home coverage with multiple Airport Express devices.

Currently I really only use my Airport Express as a travel router

 

[mshan]

I think I have the earlier revision with the Marvell 88w8835 chip (not realtek 8185).

Encore pretty much said I would need to encrypt using WEP with a 5 digit ASCII code, but only option in Airport Extreme is transitional WEP, and that asks for a 13 digit passphrase.

Encore is installed in an ancillary computer I don't use much, so I just end up disabling encryption when I need to access the web with that particular computer.

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Eug
If you have any configuration problems, the Airport Utility will often hang or crash... or it will load just fine without actually seeing the Airport Express unit. This is a known problem, and I've experienced it with both my Airport Express (802.11n version), and my old school graphite 802.11b Airport Base Station.

That's pretty much my only gripe with Apple's networking equipment...I hate their custom software. I really prefer Web GUIs for setting up routers...no software to install, no funky issues to deal with.

I also wish that Apple took more advantage of the audio streaming. They could kill Sonos very easily, plus have the advantage of a quasi-mesh wireless network for maximum home coverage with multiple Airport Express devices.

Currently I really only use my Airport Express as a travel router

I do have to say though,

Airport Express + iPhone Remote is simply phenomenal. Throw Airfoil & Starplayr2 into the mix (not controllable via the iphone, yet) and the combo is killer.

 

[Eug]

iPhone Remote is a big chunk of awesome, I will agree. However, for the Airport Express, what I'm going to try is using the Powerline networking to feed the Airport Express a wired net connection, and turn off the wireless altogether.

When I ran the AE for a couple of hours last week over wireless, it disconnected twice. Disappointing.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: aphex

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Eug
If you have any configuration problems, the Airport Utility will often hang or crash... or it will load just fine without actually seeing the Airport Express unit. This is a known problem, and I've experienced it with both my Airport Express (802.11n version), and my old school graphite 802.11b Airport Base Station.

That's pretty much my only gripe with Apple's networking equipment...I hate their custom software. I really prefer Web GUIs for setting up routers...no software to install, no funky issues to deal with.

I also wish that Apple took more advantage of the audio streaming. They could kill Sonos very easily, plus have the advantage of a quasi-mesh wireless network for maximum home coverage with multiple Airport Express devices.

Currently I really only use my Airport Express as a travel router

I do have to say though,

Airport Express + iPhone Remote is simply phenomenal. Throw Airfoil & Starplayr2 into the mix (not controllable via the iphone, yet) and the combo is killer.

You can control Airfoil via Remote Buddy on the iPhone:

http://www.iospirit.com/

 

[Eug]

Dammit frack!!!

iPhone Remote no longer works on my system. And for the life of me I can't figure it out. Streaming from my Mac to my Xbox 360 works just fine, and I can even pair the iPhone to iTunes, but for some @#^@#$% reason the iPhone can't stream from iTunes because it can't find the library.

 

[Kadarin]

I use an AE as my primary access point at home, and also use it for AirTunes streaming to my HT setup, and it works great. Mind you, this was an open-box returned unit that I purchased from an Apple Store at a discount. No issues.