Airport Extreme questions, and what ADSL Modem?

Feek · 5 Mar 2009 at 12:13

I've decided that I like the idea of the new Airport Extreme but I'm a little confused.

It is just a wireless router isn't it? If I want to use it on an existing ADSL connection then I assume I need a separate ADSL modem, something like a Linksys AM200 or equivalent. If that's the case, do I just configure the AM200 (or equivalent) to connect to my ISP and then drop an Ethernet cable between the two devices?

Or does the Airport Extreme have a built in ADSL modem?

Johnz0r · 5 Mar 2009 at 12:26

You will need an existing modem

Feek · 5 Mar 2009 at 13:16

Ta.

Next question, who's got one, what modems are you using with it?

bigredshark · 5 Mar 2009 at 13:25

Feek said:
Ta.

Next question, who's got one, what modems are you using with it?

I'm using a Juniper SSG20 firewall with an ADSL PIM, but seeing as that's several times the cost of the airport, that's probably not terribly helpful, works splendidly though.

Deleted member 651465 · 5 Mar 2009 at 13:30

2Wire Gateway 2700HG-B

It's an unlocked BT business router with a rock solid sync and good configuration.

I have it hooked in to my Time Capsule via CAT6, (Time Capsule set to bridge mode).

Johnz0r · 5 Mar 2009 at 13:37

Feek said:
Ta.

Next question, who's got one, what modems are you using with it?

My mate has one but is with Virgin Media for his internet connection, seems to be a very good piece of kit in terms of stability I haven't heard him say anything bad about it, I'm pretty sure that he said it only took around 5 minutes out the box to get it working.

Pretty useful if you want to use an external hdd with it aswell to save you the extra £100 on the extremely overpriced drive that is in the time capsule.

Deleted member 651465 · 5 Mar 2009 at 13:42

AirPort Extreme + Drobo = Win

bigredshark · 5 Mar 2009 at 14:15

EVH said:
AirPort Extreme + Drobo = Win

I have considered that option but it's horrible expensive and disk performance over the air is horrible... which is a shame, it'd be a great home backup and media storage solution for me...

Feek · 5 Mar 2009 at 14:57

I've got a Linksys ADSL router which I'm currently using effectively as just a modem so I'll continue to use that.

Here's another one. If I get an AirPort Extreme and connect a USB hard drive to it, can I then mount that drive and use it for Time Machine backups? I'm not specifically planning to because I think the performance is going to be a bit pants but I'm interested as to whether it can be done.

bigredshark · 5 Mar 2009 at 15:01

Feek said:
I've got a Linksys ADSL router which I'm currently using effectively as just a modem so I'll continue to use that.

Here's another one. If I get an AirPort Extreme and connect a USB hard drive to it, can I then mount that drive and use it for Time Machine backups? I'm not specifically planning to because I think the performance is going to be a bit pants but I'm interested as to whether it can be done.

You can, I did recently and the initial backup took about 15 hours. After that though it's been alright performance wise...

Feek · 5 Mar 2009 at 15:05

I thought so.

I spoke to a 'genius' earlier today and he told me I can't do it :rolleyes:

Deleted member 651465 · 5 Mar 2009 at 16:09

Feek said:
I thought so.

I spoke to a 'genius' earlier today and he told me I can't do it

He was half-right.

Apple marketed it before the release of Leopard (see: AirDisk), but canned the idea on the release.

It's only recently been opened up, and that was because of a software update that "fixed" the feature.

EDIT: The DSL diagnostics page.. it's quite comprehensive

Feek · 5 Mar 2009 at 20:14

Well I bought one at lunchtime and it's taken me hours to get it working in a mode I don't want.

I've now got my old Linksys wireless router with the wireless disabled and the Airport Extreme running in Bridge mode so that the Linksys is handing out DHCP and doing all the rest of the stuff, NATting ports and generally doing a lot more than I want it to.

Ideally I want to be able to plug an ADSL modem into the Airport Extreme and have everything dealt with by the AE, not my Linksys.

What's going to be a sensible cost that will allow me to do that?

Deleted member 651465 · 5 Mar 2009 at 20:45

Feek said:
Well I bought one at lunchtime and it's taken me hours to get it working in a mode I don't want.

I've now got my old Linksys wireless router with the wireless disabled and the Airport Extreme running in Bridge mode so that the Linksys is handing out DHCP and doing all the rest of the stuff, NATting ports and generally doing a lot more than I want it to.

Ideally I want to be able to plug an ADSL modem into the Airport Extreme and have everything dealt with by the AE, not my Linksys.

What's going to be a sensible cost that will allow me to do that?

The AirPort Extreme can assign IP addresses, there is a list of assignable IPs in the configuration somewhere. Apologies for the vague answer but I prefer my modem handling the DHCP, so my knowledge is limited.

I had it that way once.

jhmaeng · 6 Mar 2009 at 11:49

Feek said:
I've now got my old Linksys wireless router with the wireless disabled and the Airport Extreme running in Bridge mode so that the Linksys is handing out DHCP and doing all the rest of the stuff, NATting ports and generally doing a lot more than I want it to.

You need to put the Linksys ADSL modem in Bridge Mode. It's one of the options under the ADSL setup, and it will then turn the light green on the AE (from yellow, for "Double NAT")

Feek · 7 Mar 2009 at 19:11

I actually ordered an X-Modem M3 yesterday before you posted, jhmaeng. It arrived this morning and all is now working as I want it.

Well, nearly as I want it! I'd like to change the IP of the Airport Extreme but it's not obvious how I can do that, it's given itself 192.168.0.1 and for historical reasons I'd rather it was on 192.168.0.211

uvarvu · 7 Mar 2009 at 19:29

I used my time capsule with a Netgear DM111p ADSL ethernet modem, the pair worked really well together.

Sold both in the end as I never really used the disk on the time capsule that much. My macs have never fallen over before so I'm not bothered about backups.

Feek · 7 Mar 2009 at 20:42

uvarvu said:
My macs have never fallen over before so I'm not bothered about backups.

Famous last words! What happens when a hard drive fails, you don't care if you lose everything?

uvarvu · 8 Mar 2009 at 07:30

Not really, sure I'll be inconvenienced but it's nothing major for me as I don't have anything critical stored on my computers.

LordSplodge · 15 Mar 2009 at 20:19

uvarvu said:
Not really, sure I'll be inconvenienced but it's nothing major for me as I don't have anything critical stored on my computers.

Then what do you use your computers for??? :confused:

Anyway, I'm glad I'm with Virgin Media as they supply a cable modem and all I do is connect it via Ethernet to my Airport Extreme base station.

Airport Extreme questions, and what ADSL Modem?

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