[EDS_]

Scene.......Comcast cable modem, Apple Airport Extreme wireless router (allows central "wireless" printing and HDD storage), main computer Toshiba Centriono duo core machine with 2 gigs ram etc. etc.

Problems
1. Way too often the router seems to lose communication with both the modem and our computers
2. The USB hub's printing and HDD don't work well. 
3. The range is not very good
4.  Set up is a serious pain. 

This thing is going in the trash.

What wireless router with USB hub should I replace the Apple with-?

Thx,
Ed

[Sonny]

if you're going to throw it away..
I'll take the charity...

T

[Bemopti123]

used to have one of the original saurcer looking ones.  The set upwas Byzantine and non intuitive to be kind.  Switched to a diferent router and was finally able to have a true wireless network.  The saucer was not compatible with cablevision cable Internet.  Apple has produced some stinkers one of them being the original saurcer and now the update squared version.

[dubkarma]

Must admit I'm puzzled. It did take me an hour to set up the two computers and the printer, but since then nothing but smooth sailing. No drop outs in service; access to the Net is just as quick as when I had direct, wired connections; printing is effortless from either computer. But both my computers are Macs. Which raises the question: how does one determine whether the problem is the computer(s), the Airport Extreme or how they interface?

Can any other Windows users report on how Airport Extreme works with their computer(s)?

Joel.

[Nels Ferre]

The problem is not your Airport Extreme- it's your PC.

I have a first generation Airport Express, which was a nightmare to get working properly with my Dell laptop. I also had to reboot the AE a couple of times a week.

Once I switched to a MacBook, everything works perfectly. My MB is set up with Bootcamp.  I have Leopard on the large partition, and XP Home SP 3 on the small partition, which we use to stream movies from Netflix.  Even XP works perfectly with the Apple Express now.

If you are going to abandon the Extreme, PM me.

[wilsynet]

Have you tried changing the channel?  Good ones to try are 1, 11 and 6.  Also, you may be getting interference from other devices operating at 2.4 ghz (like, say, a cordless phone or another wifi network nearby).

I presently use a Linksys running the third party open source tomato firmware image.  If you're just looking for something plug and play, I've generally been happy with the reliability of D-Link and Buffalo.

Sometimes there's spotty interoperability between various APs/routers and different client 802.11 wifi cards and drivers.  Just take a look at the laundry list of bugs that vendors publish from one firmware release to another and you'll find that there are plenty of interoperability fixes that are made.

[ratso]

i have an extreme going to my mac mini and also to my dell pc notebook. initially getting the hang of setting it up was kind of a pain, but now that i have the hang of it it's no big deal. overall i'm pretty happy with it, although i have had to reset it about once a month due to lost communication, but it's really not a big deal anymore (maybe 5 mins). and it's really fast and works well with both the mac and my pc. i should also mention i also have integrated into the system the small airport express to extend the range of the unit, which works well. the system has no problem feeding my slim devices transporter it's apple lossless files. BTW, i also had to reset my old linksys router at least as often, and had much more streaming/communications issues with it.

[EDS_]

Hey guys here is an update.

I took my Toshiba w/Vista laptop and Airport Extreme to the local genius bar.  Long story short my AE unit was bad it didn't connect well to Apple machines either.  Installing the new unit including software loading took maybe ten minutes.  The range is now better and the wireless printing feature works perfectly.


I'm am a happy camper.  BTW - the Genius Bar guy told me mine was the second of several hundred sold through his store that has seen "issues".  aa