Dedicated WAP/Router/Cable Modem vs Router/Cable Modem and WAP

[BryanSchmiedeler]

I currently have cable modem broadband from Time-Warner with an Airport Extreme Simultaneous Dual band WAP.

I have a MacBook Pro and a Thinkpad that I will use almost exclusively wired, and 2 other Macs, 3 iPhones, 2 iPad, and an Apple TV that are used wirelessly.

I am not satisfied with the wireless performance of the Apple product - I read about some of the design issues on this site, and have done research on other WAPs and on networking/wireless issues to prepare for upgrading my network. Now I hope someone can guide me in the right direction.

I have purchased the following:

1) I think the Netgear WNDR3700 is about the top of the line for WAP and would be a step up from the Airport Extreme.

2) I want to buy a Router/Cable modem and return the one I rent. I think the Motorola SB6120 looks good, but was intrigued by the Motorola SBG6580 as it throws in a WAP.

Does anyone have an opinion on what would give me better performance? I know I can just hook them up and test them, but I am not an expert at setting them up so I am worried about apples to apples.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. I would like to learn more about networking and wireless and how to set up networks, so pointing me in the right direction to what all the settings mean would be helpful too.

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[thiggins]

What aspect of the Airport Extreme's performance are you not satisfied with? 2.4 or 5 GHz? Range? Speed?

Can't help you with the cable modem question. We don't test them.

 

[BryanSchmiedeler]

Speed of Airport Extreme

I was not satisfied with the speed.

There was an issue with this WAP and it was all over the Apple forums and very well addressed on Small Net Builder. Tim, I think you wrote this

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wire...pple-airport-extreme-briefly-reviewed?start=1

and a follow-up.

I had a Time Capsule but there were issues with drives going bad so I got the latest Airport Extreme and immediately noted that download speeds to my Apple TV were terrible. Read about issues in the Apple forums and on this site. Apple updated the firmware and this did help the situation, and I was also able to make some adjustments to the settings, such as making two networks, and speeds have been OK, although I have read that speeds are much better with the Netgear.

Because the Airport Extreme is easier to configure I think I may just keep it and the plain Router/Cable modem.

Any suggestions for configuration tweaks to the Apple Exteme? Would it help to get another WAP near my Apple TV?

Thanks for your help.

Bryan

 

[thiggins]

Speed is going to depend on distance and building construction. You should also be using WPA2/AES wireless security. Anything else will limit you to 802.11g speeds.

If you're using 5 GHz, no router is going to provide range equal to or better than using 2.4 GHz.

You can try the WNDR3700, but don't expect miracles.