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Power Over Ethernet for AirPort Base Station
An anonymous user writes, "With Apple's recent announcements I took a quick stroll through some other items on the site and noticed that there's now a third AirPort Extreme Base Station. This model, at the same price as the model with modem and antenna ports, does not have a built-modem, however it does have an antenna port, supports Power Over Ethernet, and conforms to UL 2043. Great news for those that have wished they could put their Base Stations out of reach of a power outlet."
I have one of the 200 dollar models, and there are a couple of reasons. 1st is they work with appletalk. Most third party wireless products don't. 2nd They act as a wireless print server. Given that stand alone wireless print servers run ~$150, this is a big deal. Access point, print server and full mac compatibility for $200, modem for those without broadband for $250. I'd Say that all together its not a bad deal. Like may thinks mac, the total cost seems high, but to get equal functionality elsewhere, the cost runs almost the same. The only complaint would be they don't sell an access point only model for 100 to 150 dollars.
I agree that it is a bit expensive, but if you start to look at the specs a bit better, you will understand more:
USB Printer Sharing Built in
A good antenna (optional external antenna hookup also)
One model has a built in modem with AOL Compatibility (the only one out there)
An application based admin interface both for Windows and Mac
Like I said.. they are still a bit expensive, but not as much as as it first appears. Much like most of Apple's products.
It's the only one with AOL compatibility, I believe. If you care, which you probably don't, but someone might. Other advantages someone else lists below, like printer sharing, phone-home modem (so you can call your computer from the road (which others don't have, I don't think?)).
I have to admit, as much as an Apple fanboi as I am, I don't even have an Apple Base Station; I went for an Xsense router, since it gave me a 4 port switch for cheaper.
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$tar -xvf
802.3af specifies 48V. Google for specs.
Has anyone else tried these external antennae, and if so, has it resulted in better or worse signal when above or below the base station, compared to using an AEBS with no external antenna connection?
Can't you see that everyone is buying station wagons?
The Airport Base Stations also BRIDGE the wireless to wired connections. Most wireless routers do not bridge.
Bridging is essential if you want Rendezvous to work properly between your wired and wireless machines.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
They've never really come down in price -- the original AirPort was $300, and it was a year before anything comparable was beneath $1000. After that first AirPort (man was that great) I have only bought sub-$100 routers, but I generally recommend AirPorts to Mac-based (or mixed-platform) clients, because they just work and are easier to configure than web-client based routers if you are running Mac OS X.
It also has some unique features, which admittedly I don't use often, but: There is the ability for multiple AirPorts to represent themselves as a single access point by linking together *wirelessly* to create a Wireless Distribution System (this is cool, believe me). The modem model can be a standalone dial-in PPP server to your LAN. The WAN port is autosensing, so it can be attached to any type of jack. It has a software control to be a dumb access point (bridges wireless to ethernet, no DHCP or NAT). The modem makes a nice fallback for the LAN if the DSL goes out. If you've got a Mac, firmware updates are announced and delievered periodically, and with these sometimes come new features. Also for Mac users, WPA and WEP passwords are handled seamlessly.
There's probably no reason for a tech-savvy person to buy it except maybe for WDS or PPP. But for a non-techie Mac user who wants it to Just Work, and knows where to go/call if it doesn't, it's a sure bet.
see http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/.. For the original email this was posted from.. No wonder it was done anon...
You should check the price before you complain.
Though you can still get a generic 54g basestation for less, they do not have the same performace or features:
Radius Server Compatibiliry
Excellent & Stable WPA implementation
Built-in 56k modem with Dial in Access
USB Print Server (with Rendezvous)
WPA Bridging (Best i've seen so far)
Roaming
Inteference Robustness (Frequency Hopping)
Antenna Output Power Control
I set up wireless system for a living and i even use the AE Basetations for my PC customers. Not only are the features are better, the IMPLEMENTATION is far more stable. Firmware Updates are so much easier to apply.
Bridging isn't that big a deal anymore. All I did with my cheap Netgear MR814 is turn off its DHCP server and plug my uplink into a LAN port instead of the WAN port. Voila, my wired and wireless clients are on the same subnet and see each other, no problem (yes, I use a separate box as my cable/dsl router + DHCP).
What the ABS can do that many of the cheaper access points can't do is bridging between two wireless access points. Still, you don't have have to spend $300 for that feature either, we boughts a couple of D-Link DWL-2000AP's for ~$85 each.
This new Apple Enterprise software could be good though, usually you have to get pricy Cisco equipment of the like for centralized management of access points.
Rendezvous will not work in your setup, so your solution is useless for environments that require Rendezvous.
You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
Don't overlook the fact that there are many many 120v receptacles at shin level. The USB port is mostly disabled because PoE wouldn't be able to provide the specified 2.5W to the USB port.
The airport base station must be *really* good. (Saying that proves I don't work for Linksys :-)
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
That's not what I am saying...receptacles have slots in them you know, otherwise they wouldn't receive anything. Last time I checked most institutional rooms (except hospitals and labs) don't have all GFI circuits as standard. My point is that most people wouldn't keep the station on the floor; the water would have to 2.5 feet deep which would cause problems much more significant than some exposed USB port.
I highly doubt that the USB port isn't disabled because of flooding potential...5 volts @ 500mA max is going to do how much damage? Compare with the fact that water that floods the USB port is also going to flood the station itself, which would contact the water.
Etc. Etc.
It's as simple as power requirements.
Here's a little picture of my network, the mini-hub is connected to one of the Netgear's 4 LAN ports. Yes, the mini-hub is usually extraneous, I could connect the NAT/DHCPd to the Netgear and the wired clients to the Netgear but sometimes I have more than 3 wired clients I like that I can remove the Netgear without disrupting anything except the wireless clients.
The WRT54G model, once re-flashed with some of the very feature-rich firmware produced by the open source community has been a rock-solid, problem-free device.
I would love to be able to spend the money on an apple airport base station, but *this* model Linksys works for me. I can see where an all-Mac home/shop or even a small, multi-platform environment might want to go with easy-to-manage Apple WLAN equipment, tho.
Now, the older, 802.11b AP's from Linksys were not worth the plastic case they came in, so if you're comparing the Apple equipment to those, Apple is definitely worth the price premium.
Mind the gap...