| Apple M8799LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station with Modem and Antenna Port |
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Model: M8799LL/A
Brand: Apple
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 46
Platforms: Mac OS X
Operating system: Macintosh
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Exchange files or play multiplayer games at data transfer rates of up to 54 Mbps
Compatible with the industry-standard 802.11b wireless networking protocol
Range of up to 50 feet at 54 Mbps and up to 150 feet at 11 Mbps
Supports USB or Ethernet wireless printer sharing
Includes built-in v.90 modem with an RJ-11 port and an external antenna port |
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| Description: |
| APPLE AirPort Extreme Base Station - With AirPort Extreme enabled Macintosh systems, it's a breeze to exchange files or play multiplayer games, using advanced 802.11g wireless technology, at data transfer rates up to 54 megabits per second. Supports up to 50 users Built-in firewall with 128-bit encryption Compatible with AOL, including parental controls 10/100BASE-T LAN LAN & WAN ports USB port This version includes integrated modem & antenna port |
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| User Reviews (46 total): |
Page 1 2 3 of Total 3 Pages
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Biggest Ripoff, March 26, 2006
By K. Fullam
I bought the airport extreme card, and the airport extreme base station. After spending 5 hours trying to install the damn thing, including going back to the Apple store I bought them both at and calling customer service twice, I finally got the damn thing to work. The house it is operating in is less than 1000sq ft and I can't get a signal anywhere other than the room the modem is in. The whole purpose of buying the damn thing was so that I could use it upstairs, but I can't even walk more than ten feet away from it without losing service. I am a big fan of the apple laptops, but as far as the wireless internet capabilities goes, I feel completely duped. I spent over $300 dollars on the damn parts for wireless internet only to find out that the supposed 150ft range was a load of bull.
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4 Clicks to Brodband!, March 3, 2006
By Homer KSA (Riyadh, KSA)
this little gizmo is exactly how what i expected : Apple quality and global reach. i just recently got a chepo DSL Modem and just plugged it to the Airport and BOOOM i am online in 4 clicks with my Mac-Mini. Sadly the Wintel machine was not as easy. But i know it will work as son as my friend shows up to configure it for me. He saw my mac and was shocked on how i connected the Mac so easily. I frankly didn't even wana bother with configuring the Wintel machine! Anyone has tips on that please let me know.
u pay a premium on this compared to other routers, but the ease of use of this is enough.
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Very Easy Installation and Configuration!, February 25, 2006
By web guy (Central California)
The AirPort Extreme Base Station was very easy to install and configure...and this was installing it via a Windows laptop!
As a longtime Mac user, I have always had Macs at home. But since I went into web design and development, I found I needed a PC to test my sites for cross-browser issues, which led to me buying a PC laptop. I've always felt that Apple hardware and software had the best ease of use. When I found out that AirPort would install natively on a PC, it was a no-brainer!
The AirPort base station and software installed without a hitch. In fact, all I did was run the install software from the CD using the wizard, and it was up and running. I couldn't have asked for more. I connected my Mac desktop to the the base station via the ethernet port, and voila, internet connection shared between the two machines. Excellent!
I live in a fairly large house with the office at one end, towards the back, on the upper floor. The laptop is downstairs on the other end toward the front of the house. And I still get two bars of reception, which is fine with me! All in all, an excellent product!
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Airport Extreme Base Station, January 17, 2006
By Old Timer (Yuma, AZ)
Well pleased with product and manner in which sale and delivery was handled,
Bob Gernert
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Great System, October 22, 2005
By rschamberg2 (Niceville, FL United States)
Easy to set up with my Powerbook. I have a second computer hooked via Ethernet and printer also. I'm able to work in one room and don't have to run back and forth to print. A great time saver!
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Wireless for Dummies, October 10, 2005
By Maile Berger (Santa Clarita, CA)
I could have gotten another wireless system for less money, but chose to go with Apple's, and I'm so pleased with the decision. The set up instructions were user friendly and in less than 20 minutes I was up and running.
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Fantastic, October 10, 2005
By rvbcave (St. Augustine, Fl. United States)
Has a multiplicity of oftions to tailor this system to your needs. I run a Powerbook, Macmini, Suse and Ubuntu linux machines and one pc off of the airport extreme. I have had several wireless routers and had a good experience with netgear too. This unit is best hands down.
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airport extreme base station failed me, October 4, 2005
By fyberart (wisconsin)
We have an apple Imac and a PC on the same system. No matter what we tried, we couldn't get the PC to recognize the airport. It worked great for my Imac, but we need them to work together.
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Works great, but no fax support, September 29, 2005
By Shelley Shay (Denton, TX **(God Bless the USA!!)**)
I already had a couple of Airport Express base stations and bought the Extreme solely for the Modem port so I could fax. I called Apple before my purchase to make sure this was doable - they told me it was. They lied. I'm sure they didn't intend to lie, rather they "assumed" it would work. After talking to AppleCare for about an hour and doing everything but cartwheels, I was told that the Airport Extreme base station's modem port does not support faxing. It supports dial-up. Period. This is ASININE!
Tiger (and likely its predecessors) support shared faxing... so, for example, I can have my iMac's modem port connected to the wall and as long as the iMac is on, I can be sitting in the back yard with my iBook and fax wirelessly over my network to my iMac, using the iMac's internal modem... but I can't via the Airport Extreme's modem port. SCREAM!
I was already irritated that the USB port only supports wireless printing and I cannot network a drive from that port... but not being able to fax wirelessly is STUPID!
The point of having a laptop is that I don't have to be tethered to wires. Whenever I need to fax something I'm working on, I have to run to the nearest phone jack with my iBook and plug it in temporarily and fax that way. There could easily be a feature in the Airport Admin Utility that could block faxes coming from machines with unknown MAC addresses to prevent strangers/neighbors from accessing your phone... just like file sharing - it could be a toggle switch on the service as needed. I do not need to be protected by Apple - if that was even their logic for not enabling faxing over the network.
The place I used to work was mostly Windows based and we could fax over the network, not attached to phone lines. If that 2-bit operating system can handle it, why not Apple?!??!
The Extreme base station is a work of industrial art - the flying saucer-shaped router is the best looking one on earth (or likely elsewhere). It has the same range (150 foot sphere) of connectivity as the Express. Unless you have to do dialup, the ONLY reason you need an Extreme is if you have more than one computer and one needs to be wired via Ethernet while the other one is wireless - the only reason to spend the extra $70 for the Extreme model. You can use the Extreme as a repeater on existing networks - the Express tends to be picky about what 3rd party routers it will act as a repeater on - basically just other Airport routers and those from Buffalo Networks and that's it.
This item loses two stars - one for no wireless faxing and one for no hard drive support via the USB port. Poor planning on Apple's part. It's a great router and I wouldn't use another brand, but I am extremely irritated w/ the inability to fax.
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Wow! What a great product!, September 19, 2005
By Greg M. (Clinton, MI)
This was super easy to set up. The only caveat was with Comcast. After setting it up, I needed to power reset the modem and reset the Mac. Their tech support was extremely helpful. After that, it worked flawlessly. I added two older iMacs and a G4 and the total setup time took about 5 minutes each. There always is a strong signal and it works great.
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Apple Airport Extreme Base Station, September 10, 2005
By zOS (austin,tx)
Great product. My second one. First one was zapped by a lightning strike, this one is surge protected. Completely easy to set up - no technicians needed! That is the best part - Apple usually seems to get that right.
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Excellet Wireless router but be careful, June 25, 2005
By smaftymac.com (Washington, The State)
I've set-up more Wireless networks than I can remember over the last 3 years usually using Linksys router.
However I've heard nothing but good things about this router so I decided to buy one and If I didn't like It I would return it and get a Linksys, and so far this has been much better.
Set-up does not live up to the Apple standard of simplicity, the Linksys routers I've used took about 5 minutes to get up and running, this took me 3 hours because settings wouldn't save and the security settings caused the Wireless base to disappear from the Airport admin page however after I resolved those problems the Airport extreme base stations really started to shine.
The range alone was worth the extra money, without a doubt the best feature. The Linksys I tested at my home had only about half of the range. I live in a pretty big house and there isn't a single spot in my home where I'm not getting full bars I can actually get full bars in the middle of my street, that's pretty good. The cross compatible router works better on my Windows laptop than the Linksys range and speed wise.
Note to Apple, easier set-up and better admin software will back it much better.
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Should have bought this one first!, May 1, 2005
By Larry Fransson (Seattle, WA United States)
Apple builds products that are easy for anyone to use. They don't require a lot of knowledge about the hardware. The base station was very easy to set up. The Airport Setup Assistant runs you through all of the important steps in language that is as plain as possible. If you want finer control, you can then move to the Airport Admin Utility.
The only problem I ran into during setup was getting the base station to work with my Comcast cable service. The first call to tech support ran me through the essential setup items, making sure that I had everything set up properly. The second call was to Comcast, who said it certainly wasn't their problem. Back to Apple. After that call, I really can't say enough good things about Apple's tech support. For one, it's not outsourced. You're talking to someone who speaks English very well. The second thing is that they're not working off of a script as far as I can tell. They try the standard fixes, of course, but they're able to work with whatever comes up. After probably 30 minutes or so of trying everything we could think of, the support person went up the chain - I've never seen that from tech support before - to a product specialist. When that advice didn't work the next step was to actually have me talk to a product specialist. By that time it was 30 minutes or so after quitting time on a Friday, so the product specialist was no longer available. The support rep actually apologized for not being able to put me on the line with the specialist. I was impressed that he worked as long as he did after quitting time on a Friday without any hint of trying to hurry along and get rid of me. I was about to call tech support again today (Saturday), but decided to give the setup one more try. It worked! I don't know why or how the problem was solved. I'm just happy it all works now.
The Airport Extreme Base Station is a little expensive, but compared to the grief I've had with a less expensive wireless router, and the excellent support I received from Apple, I couldn't be happier with my purchase.
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A snap to set up and use!, April 8, 2005
By Danny M. Uff (Allentown, PA USA)
The Airport Extreme from Apple is all that the information and video says that it is. Easy to set up, use, and maintain.
If you have a wired or wireless network and are looking for a way to upgrade or expand your current network, then this product is for you.
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Excellent, but needs better Windows software, December 29, 2004
By Edward Rios (McHenry, Illinois USA)
This is an excellent product and certainly recommend it. However, the included configuration software for Windows XP is not easy to use. For example, it lacks an easy way to determine whether log-in to a PPP over Ethernet account has been successful. The software for my old Linksys router was much better. This was surprising to me considering this is an Apple product. Nevertheless, I would still recommend this product.
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Couldn't live without it now..., November 20, 2004
By M. R. A Bohm (Cordova, Alaska)
My husband and I finally decided to try living wirelessly, and for those of you still plugged into the wall, you don't know what you're missing!
We both use laptops, and it's just so convenient to be able to carry our laptops around with us and access the internet from anywhere in our apartment. I search for recipes online, and sit my laptop on the kitchen bench to substitute recipe books. Forgot to send an email? no need to get out of bed - you can send an email from anywhere in your house (providing you have a laptop).
This unit would suit both laptop and desktop computers, but it's more suitable to laptop. We are now considering purchasing the Apple Airport Extreme so that we can have wireless internet when traveling, as well as use it as an airport within our apartment when we are home.
Sure, apple airports costs more that other wireless units, but you are paying for a name you can trust, reliability, and a quality product.
Highly highly highly recommended!
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Another Apple winner..., October 24, 2004
By DC Machead (Washington, DC USA)
Though Apple consumer computers and laptops are a phenomenal value for what you get, the AirPort Extreme base station is a little pricey. My LinkSys WAP died, so I got this to match my other Apple hardware despite cheaper alternatives being available. What impressed me most was the ease of use and that alone is worth the premium to me.
This model has all the security bells and whistles and Apple is good about updating drivers, as appropriate.
In attempt to be objective, I'm giving it only 4 stars because it's somewhat expensive versus the competition. However, for quality and ease of use it gets a solid 5 star rating.
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Cross-Platform bliss, September 7, 2004
By grills year-round (NJ)
Got this primarily so we could work anywhere in the house on our PC laptops. Granted, a Linksys wireless router would have been cheaper, but the Airport Extreme also serves as a wireless print server and that (plus the fact that our primary computer is a Mac) was what sealed the deal for us. Our cabling setup is:
Cable modem -> Linksys Wired 4-Port Router -> Airport Extreme -> Lexmark Optra E312L
Our laptops use Linksys Wireless-G cards and get good reception throughout the house. Our G4 and PS2 are hooked directly into the wired Linksys Router for their connectivity. The trick to using it with an existing router is to turn off the NAT addressing feature of the Airport Extreme so that it acts only as an Ethernet "bridge" to the wireless computers; the Linksys router assigns all the IP addresses for everything on the system including the PC laptops. The PCs can print wirelessly to the laser printer via the Airport and so can the Mac. Bonus!
Setup was very quick - about 15 minutes to get everything plugged in. The hard part was getting the security set up correctly (and yes, you'd better secure your wireless network) as the format for passwords was different on the Mac vs. PC platforms. Had to do some Web searches to find out how to make them speak the same language (hex). Has worked flawlessly since then. If I had to do it over, would buy it again in a heartbeat.
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Apple has raised the bar, again., July 25, 2004
By W. F. Abbey (USA)
I have to say that this is one of the best wireless routers that I have ever seen. It is an absolute breeze to set up. Just plug it in and open a simple setup utility and you can have it running in under five minutes. Despite its' ease of use, it is also full featured. It allows for WPA Enterprise security, which is the standard for wireless security at almost every major organization. It also comes with WPA Personal which is as secure but requires you to only enter a single password making setup extremely easy. Though it would be a very weak signal, it is possible to make a connection with the base station up to the stated 150 feet even with walls in the way. (It won't pass easily through steel or concrete, but wood/plaster walls don't interfere much) Besides the other great features such as a built in firewall and simple printer sharing, the base station has fast transfer speeds and allows for up to 50 users at a time. I would however recommend against using the "Interference Robustness" feature unless it is absolutely necessary due to a large amount of interference. While over short distances it will improve reception, it reduces the overall range by as much as two thirds. Overall, however, I haven't seen another product of this kind that comes even close to this station, especially at this price.
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The best designed WiFi., October 2, 2003
By unknown
The best design for your desk top. High quality of this drives me crazy. However, it is a little bit expensive. Anyway, I love this high tech toy.
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