Apple Airport Extreme

I am a Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE). I am going to describe this router in non technical terms.This is a replacement router for a Cisco E4200.there is a lot to like about the new Extreme, I am going to briefly say, it is very easy to setup, you are not overwhelmed by multitudes of blinking lights and the ports are intuitively marked. The Airport Extreme Software is a pleasure to work with. Even if you are challenged by setting up a wireless network, you should know that setting this one up can be as easy as setting up a wireless password. Most features you want upfront are enabled by default. You really don't need to know much to start your journey.For you, what will inevitably be an indication of good performance is the range, quality of signal and reliability of each feature so let's get to it.The set UpVerizon FiOS+upgradeConnected a 2400x1200 Laser Printer via the Ethernetport.Connected a 2 Terabyte external Hard Drive, in effect turned this in to a Time CapsuleLocation, Basement, two floors beneath me, Far North East corner of the house.Simultaneous connections from a TV to Netflix, a Gaming laptop to Steam, an iPad, A Desktop and everyone's cell phones at home (hodgepodge of Android and iOS devices)Performance.the goal was to tax the CPU, not Monitor Verizon's network; So the focus was on the router during heavy loads while printing, accessing the hard drive and connecting to the internet.The processor in this device is very capable, We all decided to hit everything at the same time, I am pleased to report the printer took the same amount of time to print a 250 MB Illustrator File as if it were the only device on the Network, Netflix didn't miss a beat, transferring 500 GB worth of Data over the air was as fast as if it was the only activity in progress. We monitored the lag progress during an online gaming session. the lag was consistent with past performances. In short, this device will keep up at the high-end of demand for a residential dwelling (and I dare say small to medium sized businesses).The Range.This is probably where you will get in to a subjective discussion with other people over what this device can do. Please note, the range is very dependent on your set of restrictions. For this reason we placed the router in the northeast corner of the basement and 2 floor from the indoor range testing site. From a bedroom located 2 floors up and in the Southwest corner of the house, we had a flawless connection to the router with acceptable degradation of signal. A desktop with ac WiFi capability did experience a superior connection. Also the range outside of the house improved greatly, a 50 feet connection from the southwest corner of the yard proved to be reliable for both n, ac and g devices. Oddly enough a Nintendo console with b protocol was experiencing a stronger connection to the router. I don't know how this could be possible unless the antenna scheme on the router is in fact as good as Apple says it is.ReliabilityPleased to report this device keeps a steady connection. the drop rate is very low and infrequent.SecurityApple did a fantastic job here. I could get in to details on why this router is just as good as some Enterprise routers but I think that will put you to sleep.What should you do?I am very impressed with this device. The setup is fool-proof and the performance has been excellent, while it is more expensive than other routers in its class, I do believe you get more and if you have a problem, taking it to the Apple Store for Genius consultation will more than make up for any price gap with others. Remember, Range is a highly subjective performance gauge, your situation may not be as clear cut, there maybe more signal interference around you or there maybe more physical obstruction (like really dense walls, floors or ceilings. So for this reason, buy this from a retailer with a liberal return Policy. You can always bring it back and try a different brand.This router impressed me, enough so that I will be giving a MacBook Pro serious considerations for my next Laptop. The Halo effect certainly worked on me.Areas of Improvement.--------------------------------------------Packaging. I dropped the router after I opened the box. It is nearly impossible for an unsuspecting customer not to do this. Open this box over a bed or somewhere not too high above the floor.You can access the internal part of the router fairly easily, I opened this and to my surprise, there is space for a 3.5" internal hard drive, I was very excited to see this but further investigation showed that there is no way to connect the hard drive to the logic board. Understandably so! (otherwise why would you buy a Time Capsule) But obviously for me, having an extra hard drive sitting around collecting dust would have given me a way to reuse and recycle.Good luck with your decision.

Why oh why didn't I do this sooner?Over the last 15 years, like many, I have run the gambit on wireless routers. I have had my share of Linksys, D-Link, Netgear, Belkin and others, all of which worked well, at first, but problems always seemed to develop over time. And even though these routers were packed with features and impressive specifications, glitches and reboots were just a part of life. Many times, while traveling or away from home, I would get the call from my wife or kids, "something is wrong," and a subsequent router reboot seemed to fix everything. The whole family was quite familiar with rebooting the router. Finally, my last Netgear 6250 router started to get glitchy after about 2 years of use and running the most frequent firmware updates (and yes, I always did a hard reset after upgrading the firmware on the Netgear – what a pain). At first I thought it was my ISP causing poor ping times and slow speeds, but after plugging directly into my cable modem, I realized this was not the case. After endless troubleshooting, I finally decided it was time to once again buy a new router. One brand I had not tried and was very close to pulling the trigger on buying was the ASUS RT-AC68U once gain reading about all the marvelous features and performance claims, and then the Airport Extreme caught my attention. I struggled though, because after reading the reviews, while the AE is supposed to have rock solid hardware and is easy to use, you also lack many of the customization features. I am your above average techno geek so the customization features I feared would matter. At this point though, what have I got to lose? Time for a new approach.So far, after 3 weeks of use, I can honestly say I have never appreciated a router so much. Setup, as others have reported, was a breeze. My new network was up and running 5 minutes after plugging in the AE. I do have a few macs, so using the Airport Utility was quite handy. I also have a security video system which I can remote into over the internet, but it requires a dyndns service to manage my dynamic IP address registration. For those that might be wondering, the AE does give you dyndns registration capability and it works quite well. Port reservation was also easy, setting up my home security dvr port and direct tv genie go.I used to run time machine backups from my macbook pro over the network to a USB drive attached to my iMac. I was curious if data transfer rates would be better using a USB drive connected to the AE. So I ran a quick test, copying a 400MB file from my laptop over the wireless network to the iMac connected drive and then copying it again to the iMac connected drive. The difference was dramatic! The file fully transferred in about 40 seconds to the AE drive, while close to 15 minutes on the iMac drive. Why the difference? I don’t know. Did I have something setup wrong? Who cares at this point, my time machine backups are fast and snappy to the AE USB drive.Finally, the network performance is now unbelievable. I keep running speed and network tests over and over because they’re just plain fun to watch now. Everything continues to be rock solid and the nagging feeling that something will go wrong is slowly fading away. Low pings, fast speeds and web pages load quickly with no lag. Everything works well beyond anything I have ever experienced before. We have a Direct TV Genie Go device for downloading recorded programs to my computer for remote playback while traveling. The device was always glitchy and I had finally resigned (along with quiet cursing of Direct TV) that its usefulness was never going to be what I had hoped. Now that works perfectly too! Was the old router causing issues here? How many other devices with poor performance would now work better? Time will tell. By the way, only 3 weeks in, but not one reboot required so far.Not everything was perfect. Static IP reservation was not as handy as I would like. It will give me a list of devices attached by IP and MAC address, but know user friendly ID names. I had to use a simple 3rd party app (Lan Scan) to scan my network for me and report back the device names. From there, however, setting up a few static IP reservations was a snap. Honestly, that’s the only nitpicky thing I am missing so far.Long review, but if you’re on the fence like I was, give it a try. I am thrilled with my choice and will never look back.

Restablecí el equipo que tenía por este nuevo, muy fácil la instalación y la velocidad es bastante buena. Lo recomiendo comprar antes de que desaparezca del mercado pues ya la marca lo dejó de fabricar.

We bought this because we have all apple products and it was easy to setup on the iPad and iMac, and the range is good.

I don’t know why Apple  doesn’t make this anymore.

Product it umbelievable, i was even able to read all 5 of our Smart TV's

Lo mejor... rapidez... estabilidad y rendimiento !!!