Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station MB053LL/A [OLD VERSION]
by Apple Computer
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station MB053LL/A [OLD VERSION]
Customer Review: most problematic router i've ever used
Summary: 2 Stars
The major problem is that this unit crashes and restarts itself at odd moments. Try to transfer a lot of files from one machine to another and BOOM down she goes. If this were a Linksys unit, well these never crashed in my last 7 years of using them, but if I restart a Linksys everything previously connected via wire and wireless all reconnects and everyone goes about happily.
If an Extreme restarts (and it will), then everyone who was connected needs a reboot or to have their networking restarted manually. For me this means two desktops, one laptop, and a PS3. Doesn't matter what operating system... I mean, even the PS3 is locked out from re-accessing the network... there's an obvious failing here in this unit.
So even in the best case of wanting to change some parameters, you change them, boom the unit reboots, and then you run around the house power cycling stuff and manually restarting networks.
Apple probably blames everyone else for doing something wrong I would think.
Also, this unit surprisingly has no web interface. Everything else on the market has a web interface so you turn them on and configure with your web browser. Not the Apple. You have to install special Apple software to do this. Of course this software is not so nicely designed for Windows (Apple will tell you the fix is to buy a Mac). Worst off, at times it decides that you don't own an Apple Airport Extreme. It tells you it couldn't find any in range (even if you're connected on a wired network).
It just shrugs its shoulders and gives up. Because this is Apple software, if it doesn't Just Work, it doesn't work at all. You can't give it an IP address to connect to and since there is no web interface you're stuck with an unconfigurable router. The really funny thing is that while the Apple software tells you that no router can be found, you can continue using the network and internet, as every other single feature continues operating. The only piece of software that *can't* see the router is Apple's own configuration software.
Honestly, this is lunacy. This is not even Alpha-release kind of quality. And this product has been around a long time now.
Which gives you a good idea of the kind of support that you can expect from Apple. Quickly looking at their support boards there are messages such as "Apple support says that is a known problem with the Extreme but there are no plans to fix it."
The company consistently makes engineering decisions that hurt the purchasers of its product, and if it determines the cost/benefit analysis says they should just leave it, that's what they do until enough people make noise to get it fixed. A responsible company just fixes its products when broken.
Beyond this kind of broken-beyond-usability state, you can expect other gems like the following:
"USB port turns external hard drives, printers, and other devices into network resources"
The USB port on this device seems to run bone-crunchingly slow. Take your USB disk and plug it into your computer, then plug it into the Extreme's port, and check the transfer times. Over GIGABIT ethernet with a direct connection to this device I get 2 megabytes per second. Connected directly, 17 megabytes per second. An order of magnitude performance hit. Maybe this is useful for sharing printers, but last I checked, you can share printers just fine off of any other computer. So I am not sure what use this USB port is because 2 megabytes per second will take a day to back up a normal sized hard disk on a new computer.
Apple designs some nice machines, I bought a mac mini, and it and the Apple display have been beautiful with no problems. I own two Apple TVs, both of them have performed flawlessly though Apple hasn't exactly been cracking the whip with updates and having the CEO refer to the product that you invest money in as a "hobby" for his company doesn't exactly give you the warm fuzzies about support. But if it works, support is not a big deal.
In this case, the product doesn't work right. I've been buying wireless routers since the original Orinoco Gold over 10 years ago. None of them have been as fussy as this router, none have as consistently failed as this one, and none have been such a general unworkable pain. Never with any of them have I had to run around rebooting every single device on my network to be allowed access again.
This is a serious product failure on the part of apple. When it works, its great, but it's not robust and that great does not last.
Customer Review: TOPIC: USB printer & hard drive adventure
Summary: 3 Stars
The overall performance of the Airport has been amply discussed. I'd like to comment more on my experience with AirPort's USB support on Windows XP. Specifically, what to expect if you attach a USB hard drive.
Installation was a bit quirky, at times the AirPort utility prog failed to recognize the unit. The Printer Wizard setup also installs the Bonjour program, a startup service required for an attached USB printer to be recognized across the network. It's a snap to setup the printer- Bonjour immediately saw my HP printer and set it up. However, all PCs on the network need Bonjour service installation in order to see and use the printer (at least that's what I did to finally get it going). Running memory usage is about 4k. This is annoying for those who maintain the startup list as lean as possible. The AirPort utility also automatically loads but I disabled it without problems.
Once things are up an running printer function is flawless.
Now concerning the hard drive on USB. First, it MUST be formatted to FAT32. To do this the drive has to be connected to the PC, not the AirPort. Depending on your needs FAT will be a problem. For XP users, formatting the drive to FAT32 is a headache since this function is hit or miss within XP, and most USB drives come NTFS preformatted which the AirPort will not recognize. Unless you are moderately computer savy it's a frustrating experience. In my case, the XP Disc Management utility did not list FAT32 as a formatting option so I had to search elsewhere.
NExt you can search and download freeware to do the formatting within XP. The most recommended program crashed on several of my PCs so I was unable to test it. There's also a DOS freeeware prog which does a good job (tested), but it's command line and may be complicated for some folks and takes a little Googling to find it.
Using an original Windows boot disk also works but is a major hassle. Furthermore, some Windows versions do not support FAT. Some drives come with installation CD and give formatting options.
Finally, you can format to FAT by attaching the drive to a MAC or Linux computer. I have a Ubuntu partition so that's what I did.
Now this is important: FAT32 limits file size to 4GB max. No way to get around it AFAIK. Do not expect to store files >4Gigs and access them on the network, for example large media files. I found the transfer speed to the drive extremely slow though I don't have numbers. You have options as to security of access, such as password protection.
In my case, the purpose of the drive was to transfer media files and use them on a Sony PS3. Since the PS3 also limits file size to 4GB that's fine by me. But if I wanted to access larger size mediaI I'd be out of luck. I hate streaming to PS3 so having a portable drive \from which to run media is best for my needs. I suppose most people store files way below 4GB so it won't matter. However, these days >4 GB media files are not uncommon, especially for those familiar with MKV containers. So if you're looking to stream a large .mkv file look elsewhere.
You can also attach a small hub so as to use several USB devices, such as multiple printer or drive combinations.
The reason I give this 3 STARS is that Apple is not upfront regarding the required FAT32 format for USB drives. Sure, the small print mentions it, but the inherent limitations of this format are not thus fooling unsuspecting buyers. I love it as a router and for printer networking. Lousy if you attach a hard drive and expect to store large files.
ADDENDUM: I originally used an external powered HD attached. I have since changed to the small footprint Seagate Go series HD (500GB) which is entirely USB powered and this works fine. Nowhere on the help files or on Apple site is there mention of "self" (USB) vs. external power requirement for attached HD but I encountered no problems with either. However, attaching multiple USB powered only drives potentially may not work.
I also use a USB hub to access both the HD and a printer. This is a 4 port Belkin model WITH external power supply. I have not tested a USB powered only hub.
Customer Review: A router that works as advertised
Summary: 4 Stars
Overall I'm satisfied with the router so far, but here is my detailed review:
My network setup is as follows:
Cable modem->Linux firewall/router->switch with 3 computers connected->USR wireless G router->another desktop, a Macbook and a Nokia E61i.
The first 3 computers have static IP addresses, along with the USR8054 router. For simplicity I set the wireless router to DHCP for the desktop, Macbook and the Nokia. This means a double NAT, but everything was working just fine, no connection problems whatsoever, no dropped signals!
However, I decided to use some backup drive for the Macbook which connects wireless, and a backup over a G connection takes a really long time. Here, the nightmare started:
I got a Belkin wireless N, it's a new product and it has a USB port for network storage. It's also advertised to work both with MAC and PC, so it seemed to be the perfect choice. After connecting everything, I was not able to make the Macbook recognize the storage, in Windows XP it was working fine, but the transfer to the USB drive was extremely slow, maybe as slow as the wireless connection if not slower...So, back it went, I got the Linksys WRT350. On the specs, it seemed OK, but no network storage port, which I decided to give up...I connected everything and it worked fine, it got a little hot, but I put it on some 1.5" spacers. Anyway, I thought this was the one, but my Nokia phone would not connect! The router was setup to be backwards compatible with B and G! When setting up to G only, the phone would see it and connect. So, no luck with the Linksys either!
Next was the DLink DIR 655, a router with great features, a lot of options, the most from all routers I tried. I setup everything, computers were running fine, but my Nokia didn't see the connection again! I setup the router on G only, and it worked, but again, this was supposed to be compatible with B and G!
I called Dlink, and they told me my phone is not compatible with the router! That's kind of dumb, as it works with G only.
I forgot to mention that I updated the firmware to the latest version on all routers.
So, very disappointed, I decided to get the Airport Extreme. I got a very good price from fonzhende1, brand new item, sealed! Recommended!!!
This took the longest time to configure, due to my network setup and due to the fact that it's the only router complaining about double NAT! I think it would still work, and there is a setting to make it stop complaining about network errors, but I went ahead trying to "make it happy". So, I had to set it up as a bridge, and I had to assign static IP addresses to the desktop, Macbook and Nokia, but all of them work just fine! The only drawback with the bridge setup is that I don't get Gigabit transfer between the desktop and Macbook, but I might change this in the future. The whole thing with the double NAT, is that all computers connected to that router would work at maximum speed (Gigabit) , while the rest would work at 100MB/sec.
Apple has some different settings, which I will not describe here, but the router has to be accessed through Airport application, not through browser like the other ones. Also, advanced features like guest access are missing.
I hooked up a USB drive and I was able to see it under both Mac and Windows, but I wasn't able to use Time Machine yet. It might be possible, but the drive needs to be formated apparently, and I didn't have time to give it a try. I might update the review in the future, about Time Machine setup, etc.
Overall, I am satisfied with the router, it does what it says, not like the other ones, which is really frustrating. I give it only 4 stars, because of missing advanced features.
Customer Review: Had NETGEAR & Switched To Airport Extreme...no connectivity issues so far
Summary: 4 Stars
We've had two NETGEAR wireless routers over the years and I've spent countless hours configuring, re-configuring, resetting, calling terrible tech support, etc. and the best we achieved was intermittent wireless service at home with our Mac laptop and our PC laptop. Well, we just traded our wireless printer for a Canon MX310 multifunctional printer that was not wireless and needed to purchase a print server to work between our Netgear router and our new printer. Purchased a netgear print server from Fry's.com and after frustrating netgear tech support that I could barely understand due to language differences, realized it wasn't compatible with the printer. Returned the Netgear print server to fry's.com. Just prior to trying the print server, our netgear wireless router also just stopped communicating with our Macbook. Rather than try Netgear support again (after never having an effective experience with them over 4 years at $30 or more up front each time) I decided to shop around for a different wireless router...ideally one that would allow us to connect our printer to it, avoiding the need to purchase a separate print server. In looking at reviews of the Airport Extreme, there were lots of concerns a few years ago about connectivity issues. This was exactly what I wanted to avoid so I was very wary of purchasing the Airport even considering the more recent positive reviews. I'm writing this review (1st ever for me) because I feel so strongly that you should purchase the Airport Extreme if it offers the product/feature mix you're looking for. In true Apple form, it was super easy to install...and I'm still undecided about whether I'm more of a PC or Apple fan. I had to download multiple service packs and other files for our PC because I hadn't updated it for years...which took several hours to download and install, but it was kind of my fault for not keeping it up to date. The good news is I downloaded all of this with the PC and the wireless Airport Extreme and the connectivity was NEVER interrupted during the downloads...this was 4+ hours without a single interruption! The signal varied a little a few times, but never enough to create any difficulties with the connection. Just called AppleCare support (we paid for this when we bought our Apple Macbook and it is SO worth it) and the easy to understand, pleasant, helpful, knowledgeable customer service rep walked me easily and quickly through the process of setting up the printer (an easy process really, I just had to open the Bonjour printer wizard for our pc and for both the Mac and PC, it was less than 4 steps- about 5 minutes total). The other bonus is we didn't have to purchase a separate print server so the $180 price tag was probably only $50 or so more than we would have paid for another cheesy Netgear router and a separate print server...also, my wife is an educator so we saved $20 or so at the local Apple store (incidentally, Amazon's $185 price tag seems to be the going rate out there from trusted retailers from what I saw).
We've only been using the Airport Extreme for about 3 days now but, again, this involved many hours of downloading while my wife surfed the internet on our other laptop without an issue. We were told the new Airport Extreme is dual band instead of alternating between two wireless frequencies, thus eliminating prior connectivity issues. Good luck to you, and I recommend you go with the Apple Airport Extreme Base Station.
Customer Review: Not what I expected - slow reboots, poor manual configs
Summary: 4 Stars
I am upgrading from a nearly 5 year old D-link and have 2 iMacs, 1 Apple TV, 1 HP printer, and 1 Wii always connected with a powerbook and iPhone joining the party every day or so. We were having problems with the hubby playing online games through the Wii while I was trying to upload large pdf files onto a website. However, the router served us well with very few problems until the last few months. Previously, I had assigned dedicated IP addresses to 1 of the Macs and the HP printer.
1st observation - it hates my PPoE - this took me over 30 minutes to configure using the same settings on the D-Link, which I have had to reconfigure (10 minutes tops) several times during its slow death.
2nd observation - slow reboots. Any time you make a change the AirPort reboots - slowly. Minutes. I am used to nearly immediate reboots.
3rd observation - it is especially sensitive to microwaves and 2.4 GHz phones. Be warned. I was having drop offs nearly every time the phone rings. This can be reduced by changing the channel on the AirPort to 11. If you can move the phone down to something like 6 or 1 to prevent signal bleeding. Many new phones unfortunately channel surf. So...new phone time.
4th observation - it does not take manually assigning static IPs well. Perhaps I am missing something. However, previously I could see each individual IP address, name of system, MAC address, and duration connected - I could then highlight said item (e.g. my printer) and easily and rapidly assign a static IP. Not so easy with Apple Utility. I can see the number of systems connected, but nothing more. I can configure a static IP to each computer through Network Utility (in System Prefs) but have not figured out a way to do this for the printer or Wii wirelessly. Please comment below if you can help me out.
5th observation - it has a counter now by the AirPort icon on the computers - I can't seem to turn it off, and I don't really need to know how long I've been on (unless I start having lots of drops, then I might care).
6th observation - my speed (so long as we aren't on the phone or microwaving anything) is now actually at the max promised by my DSL provider. So, it does what it says it will.
Finally, one big plus - USB connected hard drive right to the base station. This is a big happy upgrade for me to stream movies or pictures to my televisions. Previously I was using 2 hard drives connected to one of the iMacs - and if it was "asleep" I had to get a kiddo to hit a key. I wish it was firewire, but I have successfully moved an old USB hard drive in place.
Would I recommend. No. Not at this price. I was just about to buy D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Wireless Router. Without having purchased both, I cannot say for sure, however, I do not see much advantage this has over the D-Link. I purchased this because I *knew* it would work with our apple heavy household electronics, but it is not a seamless as I expected.
Update: I decided to replace this router with D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Wireless Router and am incredibly pleased with my decision. I will review the router after I have had it for a while. One thing to note, while the AirPort will NOT work w/ WEP only devices (e.g. Nintendo DS), the D-Link does support WEP.