Airport Extreme : Is it just a bit rubbish

HEADRAT · 30 Jan 2011 at 08:58

Hi,

Stupidly I bought an Airport Extreme without doing much research, I obviously thought it would be a "quality" product coming from Apple.

I have to say that I'm very disappointed with it, sitting right next to it and connecting @300Mbps on the 5Ghz band but transfer rate I'm getting 6/7 MB/s which seems pretty slow to me.

Anybody else with any "real world" experience, I'm considering taking it back and getting a refund.

Cheers

HEADRAT

Scon · 30 Jan 2011 at 08:59

Have you got a Mac and or an iphone?

HEADRAT · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:04

I've got an iPad and an iPhone and a number of PC/laptops

cheef · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:28

Of which the iPhone and iPad won't use the 5GHz band.

HEADRAT · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:37

Well that's why I bought dual band, iPad and iPhone on 2.4 Ghz and Laptops and PC's on 5Ghz, that said the iPad connects fine to the 5Ghz network.

Feek · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:54

My experience of the Airport Extreme is simply that it's the best wireless router I've ever used. I'm not just saying that out of fanboyism but before I got mine I'd had used Netgear, Linksys and Draytek wireless routers and the AE blew them away with significantly better wireless range and superior speed.

Type_R · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:59

Feek said:
My experience of the Airport Extreme is simply that it's the best wireless router I've ever used. I'm not just saying that out of fanboyism but before I got mine I'd had used Netgear, Linksys and Draytek wireless routers and the AE blew them away with significantly better wireless range and superior speed.

+1 it is the only router that I have kept hold of for more than 3 months! Belkin, Linksys, Netgear etc have all been sold due to dropping connection etc.

Have u updated the firmware using Apple update?

D-an-W · 30 Jan 2011 at 10:41

I love my AEBS too! Faultless wireless connection with iPhone, iPad and Sony VAIO laptop and 1000mbit hardwired to this PC.

Grabbing an Iomega Minimax 2TB to go with it too

Raymond Lin · 30 Jan 2011 at 10:45

cheef said:
Of which the iPhone and iPad won't use the 5GHz band.

My iPad connects happily at 5Ghz.

Spit · 30 Jan 2011 at 11:44

I love mine too, but how do I know if im on 5GHz?

Raymond Lin · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:09

Spit said:
I love mine too, but how do I know if im on 5GHz?

Go to Wifi, the name of the network shows up and in brackets (5Ghz) is written.

Spit · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:19

All I have showing is my main network and guest network. It is the dual band version as it says it on the bottom of the router.

kg648 · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:19

It is an excellent product, however for me it is only useful in the same room. If i go into another room i get frequent drops it is a new building, not much around it to be blocking/interfering was considering getting a second for the bedroom but thought it maybe a waste of money and i should stop being so lazy!

FreeStream · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:20

Should be getting more than that.

My MBP + 4 year old AEBS gives me 15MB/sec minimum between my MP and it.

mrochester · 30 Jan 2011 at 12:46

I recently sent back my AEBS as the wireless N network (both 2.4ghz and 5ghz) were still not fast enough for streaming video. Unless you specifically set the 5ghz band as a separate network ID, I don't think there's any way of being able to tell what band any one device is using. I was expecting more and was a bit disappointed.

D-an-W · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:04

Would you be able to tell the network used by the transfer rate?

bigredshark · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:18

Concorde Rules said:
Should be getting more than that.

My MBP + 4 year old AEBS gives me 15MB/sec minimum between my MP and it.

Not comparable though, loads of environmental factors to take into account affecting throughput on wireless. You can only truly compare in the same location at the same time.

That said, Airport devices in general have been really very good in my experience, I've not seen anything under £200 that comes close overall. We buy £300 Cisco units for branch offices at work and they're no better really, and compared to various other cheap APs and wireless routers it's worlds better. Good devices.

Raymond Lin · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:23

Spit said:
All I have showing is my main network and guest network. It is the dual band version as it says it on the bottom of the router.

On my iMac.

iPad

Avathar77 · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:36

I have been looking in to one of these as well, Is there a USB port that I can connect an external HDD in this?

Raymond Lin · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:37

Avathar77 said:
I have been looking in to one of these as well, Is there a USB port that I can connect an external HDD in this?

Yup, I think from my research you can even put a USB hub there and link a few HDs. (but don't take my word on it!) I linked a Drobo in mine with 6TBs.