Airport Extreme + Modem etc....

Spit

Spit

Spit

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I am going to buy a new wireless and modem etc. I have been reading until im blue in the face now and keep swapping from the Billion to Draytek etc. I want top quality as this has to supply my business etc. My netgear has now just about given up so I am replacing everything. I have now settled on this and wanted any more input on my choices:

Airport Extreme current generation refurb from Apple store
Draytek Vigor 120 Modem
BT i-plate
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Approx £150

I use mainly Apple gear so that is why I have eventually decided on the Airport.

I dont really need fancy features just good signal and great wireless range (have thick walls).

I realise not many will have this combination but any help would be greatfully received.
 
My Airport Extreme has been perfect. Can't really comment on range but speed and reliability has been perfect. 100% uptime if it wasn't for the fact it was turned off at points during its life :p
 
Yeah I cant seem to find a bad review and with me being an Apple tart I just thought it would be a perfect match for my kit. My Netgear struggles to go through 2 walls so if it beats that I will be happy. More worried about the modem TBH as that is the bit that provides the signal after all.
 
Two walls should be fine, mine just about manages three stupidly thick walls with my MBP (2010), with the MBP (2007) it was a little worse, but i'd imagine Apple have tweaked the WiFi in the newer macs!
 
Billion support is not always great with old products. I find mine good, but not perfect. Struggles when cycling the connection when it drops, other than that it is good.
 
I noticed that my wireless coverage was significantly better with the Airport Extreme than it was with my previous Netgear or Draytek.
 
Thanks Feek. Was the draytek a good modem?

Going for the airport extreme defo, can't find a bad review.
 
From reading the draytek site about that modem, am I right in thinking that if I replace my homehub (wired to my AEBS) with this, it should sort out my stupid Xbox Live NAT problems?

I think I have a double NAT going on, either way they're getting in a tizz with each other and a lot of the time I can't find any games at all. I'm pondering what I should do - sell the AEBS and get a decent n dual band router/ADSL modem, or replace the modem with something simple. Like the Draytek. Anyone been in the same pickle? Thoughts?
 
I've not had a Draytek modem, I used to have a Draytek ISDN router and I replaced that with a Draytek ADSL router, both were superb devices. I then had a Netgear router from work which was rubbish and I replaced that with an Airport Extreme and an ADSL Nation XModem M3.

PTW - You may well have double NAT going on which will be a real pain, the modem I have is completely transparent, it's the sort of thing you should use.
 
Your modem is discontinued at the site im looking at. What about this one:

Billion BiPAC 5200S

Has to be between that and the Draytek.
 
ADSL nation themselves sell the modem I have but although I know nothing about the Draytek, I'd be surprised if it's not a good product.
 
Feek said:
I've not had a Draytek modem, I used to have a Draytek ISDN router and I replaced that with a Draytek ADSL router, both were superb devices. I then had a Netgear router from work which was rubbish and I replaced that with an Airport Extreme and an ADSL Nation XModem M3.

PTW - You may well have double NAT going on which will be a real pain, the modem I have is completely transparent, it's the sort of thing you should use.
Click to expand...

Excellent, I'll look into it. The setup is great in all respects except XBL. sometimes it's fine, sometimes strict, I've never pinned down how to fix it. I get it fixed by fluke and I'm sick of it randomly going strict! I'll get myself one of them come payday, cheers
 
I have a current generation Airport Extreme Base Station (FC340B/A). I recently purchased from the refurbished section of the Apple Store - bargain at £99 I thought.

It replaced a Cisco 1242ABG Access Point. If anything the range and speed are better, which is surprising.

The ability to set up a guest SSID is a cool feature as well. I have testing it and when connected to the guest network you can indeed only connect to the internet and not anything internal
 
Finally got all my gear. Set it up and wow what a difference. Web pages come up much quicker, its like all the lag has gone. Wireless range is great too.

I do not know what made the difference in particular but im glad I changed the lot!
 
Sorry to bump an old thread.

@Spit, was just wondering how easy you found setting up the Airport/Draytek. I have a Vigor 120 and for the life of me cannot a connection. Did you experience any problems?
 
Did you have the Airport dishing out IPs, or is it in bridge mode?

This applies to anyone who has one installed, not just the OP.

Mine is bridged by browsing the forums always gives me weird problems like images not displaying and I want to double check my methods :p
 
Tbh I just connected it all and it just worked. I was bracing myself for problems but it didn't happen. It's worked superb so far and not dropped a connection since I got it.
 
Spit said:
Tbh I just connected it all and it just worked. I was bracing myself for problems but it didn't happen. It's worked superb so far and not dropped a connection since I got it.
Click to expand...

My Vigor turned up today. Took all of 2 minutes to set up including resetting my Airport Extreme. I thought I'd missed something because it felt like that couldn't be it, all the setup, but it was.

All connected, sitting at N, transmit rate is back up to 130!

It must have been the Home Hub cocking everything up. Dead happy. £60 odd delivered does feel a bit expensive for such a simple modem but you get what you pay for, these two together are great.
 
Must admit mine is rock solid, never had a dropout.

Never had such a good internet connection.
 
So, what setting is the AirPort Extreme on?

I bought one from Apple refurb and it'll be here today, and I want to get it setup prior to the internet being switched on.
 
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