Apple Airport Express MB321LL/A [NEWEST VERSION] by Apple Computer
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Digital camera reviews of Apple Airport Express MB321LL/A [NEWEST VERSION]
Digital camera Review: Amazing! Hours of frustration saved!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I move every few years, and for the last three moves I've tried to set up my wireless network using Linksys and other routers with the new ISP when I move in. I don't know what it is with networking, but it has been consistently a frustrating and awful experience to just get even the most basic Wifi setup working. I'm plenty adept technically -- been using Unix/Linux for 20+ years and program for a living.
Last night I spent two hours trying to get my Linksys WRT54G router working. Just trying to set up a simple new network... no password, nothing fancy, just enough to login from my laptop. Total failure. I don't know what of the hundreds of settings was incorrect, but something was off. I reset all the defaults, read plenty of walkthrus, no success. I installed the open-source DD-WRT firmware and that ended up no better.
I gave up, spent a few bucks on this brilliant Apple Airport Express, plugged it in, and literally within 120 seconds of opening the box, I was done. It was SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE! And it worked! I should have done this years ago!
I'm mostly going to use this as a regular Wifi router. It does more things, like running a printer remotely too, though I don't need that now. Streaming music throughout the house -- I set that up (two minutes), and it worked perfectly.
It's BRILLIANT and it WORKS. Just buy it!!
Digital camera Review: An amazing gadget, but WPA2, 802.11n and speed issues for many networks
Summary: 4 Stars
The set of features is remarkable for this little device, but I don't want to repeat what's already covered here on that. Some people wanting to use the Airport Express may run into two issues when using the Apple Airport Express with non-Apple networks:
1) WPA2 SUPPORT IS LIMITED: Currently (April 2010, firmware 7.4.2), the Apple Airport Express cannot use WPA2 security when creating a non-Apple network, or with any networks when joining a network. Buried in the footnotes of the Apple Airport Express - Technical Specifications web page is this comment:
"When joining an existing wireless network, AirPort Express supports only WPA-Personal. WPA2 requires a Mac computer with an AirPort Extreme Card and Mac OS X v10.3 or later."
So a heads up - maybe it will save you the several frustrating hours I spent before I saw that footnote. What's especially diabolical is that the Airport Express appeared to connect to a WPA2 network or a mixed WPA2/WPA network - the green light always came on - but it wasn't accessible from iTunes or from the Airport Utility. (In a mixed WPA/WPA2 network, it seems to try to connect using AES as it loads a CCMP key, even though it should try to use TKIP.) It's a shame Apple isn't much, much clearer about the limited WPA2 support. It would have saved me a lot of unpleasant hours.
While not being able to use the latest security doesn't seem to present a big practical security risk for most people, it can affect network speeds and possibly even your ability to use Wireless N at all. Which leads to the second issue ...
2) LACK OF WPA2 LIMITS SPEEDS OR LIMITS WIRELESS N USE: The lack of WPA2 support limits a Wireless-N network to 54 mbps speeds. To achieve the higher speeds expected of Wireless N, you need to use WPA2 for the clients connecting to that network. Otherwise, most (all?) routers will limit speeds to 54mbps.
If you're only using the Internet, and don't have a super-fast connection, that might not matter. But our setup uses the wireless for some file backups. And the effect on our network was significant - a quick test showed over 30 mbps with WPA2/AES, about 12 mbps with WPA/TKIP. (This was true even for WPA2 clients in a mixed WPA and WPA2 setup.) Now, either of those would be fast enough for most internet connections. But it's a real issue for file transfers across the network.
And one of the routers I have won't even allow WPA/TKIP to be used with Wireless N. So the fact that the Apple Express doesn't really support WPA2 means I'd have to use Wireless G if I wanted to use the Apple Express on that router.
I ended up putting our Airport Express-es on a separate access point on the network, running only WPA, so that all the other devices can use WPA2 and run at the higher speeds. Unfortunately, the AEs don't connect reliably to the computers running on the router - apparently the access point doesn't pass along all of the obscure traffic used by the Airport Express.
So, that's a heads up if you're planning to use an Airport Express on a network that you want to (or do) run WPA2 on, or if you're getting a new router and suddenly find you have connection problems with your Airport Express. Check the security settings and think about what works for you.
OTHER ISSUES: If you're having trouble, there are a couple other things you might check as well. They weren't a surprise to me, and are covered elsehwere on the internet, but in case it's news ...
3) CHECK FIREWALL SETTINGS: The Airport, the Airport Utility and iTunes communicate using ports 192, 5009, and 5353. You need to be sure your computer firewall is set to allow the Airport Utility and iTunes to use those ports. One easy way to check if you have a firewall settings problem is to temporarily disable the firewall. If things suddenly work fine, check your firewall settings.
4) DISABLE 108mbps ROUTER FEATURES: Many Wireless G routers have a feature that tries to increase speeds when used with the router manufacturer's wireless adapters. You generally want to disable that feature in your router settings when you're using equipment from other manufacturers, especially the Airport Express.
You may also want to set your N Wireless router to use only 20mhz channels, not 40mhz wide channels. I can't promise it matters, but it may be worth a try and probably won't affect your speeds.
UPDATE May 2010: The Airport Express isn't recognized most of the time when it's connected to a different access point than the computer that's running iTunes. So I have to switch connections to the Wireless-G access point that the Airport Express is connected to in order to use AirTunes. So in my network I have to choose between Wireless N or having access to the Airport Express. The Airport Express doesn't fully support Wireless-N so I can't connect it to the Wireless-N network without adversely impacting my other connections.
Digital camera Review: Another Apple Product that just works...
Summary: 5 Stars
had it installed in a matter of minutes for a Mac notebook (6.5 year old powerbook) and a new IPOD Touch, connecting to a DSL modem/router... I had already read that instead of going into SystemPreferences on the Mac, to use an Airport Utility instead. Did that, and it was up and running in a few minutes, complete with WPA2 security. It would be nice to have an SPI firewall on it as well, however my DSL modem/router already has that feature, so no big dealio for me... The range of the router is fine/dandy - and in my rather large condo, I can take my IPOD TOUCH 4G anywhere and get decent wireless connectivity... the size is great for portability and I intend to take it on vacations and business trips, along with my IPOD TOUCH - for checking email, web surfing, etc, etc... I bet that the next generation of these devices, Apple makes it even smaller and more potent...Digital camera Review: Another fantastic Apple product -- It just WORKS!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love this product!!
I bought it to connect my ITUNES on my PC via Ethernet cable (in my case)to my stereo system. It works flawlessly!!! I can now also control my ITUNES on my PC with a free Apple application for my IPHONE, called REMOTE. So now I can sit in front of my stereo away from my computer, have my music go over my ethernet cable (home lan) to the stereo and control my ITUNES music with my IPHONE, wirelessly. Is that a kick!!! And the whole thing works FLAWLESSLY!! Thank you Apple.
I loved this device so much that I bought a second one to use while traveling and in a hotel room. I plug it into the room's ethernet jack in the wall and I can now use my laptop wirelessly. I don't have to plug the laptop into the ethernet jack allowing me to use my laptop anywhere in the room.
Only slight disadvantage is that the setup instructions are a little obscure. Once you get it though, it becomes easy. There are excellent instructions also posted in one of these reviews. Do not hesitate to get this device, though.
Digital camera Review: Apple Airport
Summary: 5 Stars
The Apple Airport Express works great, much better then my old router. I did have to contact my ISP to help me set it up, but once that was done I had no problems. Wished I had gotten it first.