| Apple MA073LL/A AirPort Extreme Base Station |
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Model: MA073LL/A
Brand: Apple
Manufacturer: Apple Computer
Average Rating: 
(submit your review here)
Total Reviews: 65
Operating system: Windows XP Home Edition
Form factor: External
Hardware platform: PC
Data link protocol: IEEE 802.11n (draft), IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11g
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| Features: |
Ethernet WAN port
Wireless networking router based on the 802.11n draft standard
Backward-compatible with 802.11a/b/g devices
Up to 5 times faster and twice the range of previous AirPort Extreme Base Station
USB port turns external hard drives, printers, and other devices into network resources |
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| Description: |
| The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station is the perfect wireless access point for home, school, or small business. Blazing fast, it delivers up to five times the performance and up to twice the range compared to 802.11g routers. And you can use it with both Macs and PCs. |
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| User Reviews (65 total): |
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Great Product/Very Expensive, May 25, 2007
By bcollier (DC)
This is my second airport extreme. The first one purchased several years ago spontaneously quit a few weeks back--perfect excuse for an upgrade. Set-up was very simple and quick--online within 20 minutes. I can already tell a significant improvement in signal strength throughout my house (2 story). I also have my printer running through the USB--which I highly recommend. I bought this for a few reasons:
1. Loyalty to Apple products
2. Ease of set-up
3. Security
4. Signal strength/upgrade on compatibility
5. Looks cool
That said, I'm not convinced that it is worth the significant premium over non-apple products. I chose this b/c I needed something quickly and I don't have a lot of time to learn about networking, set-up, etc. If that describes you, buy this. If you're a little more savvy, you may want to look elsewhere and pocket the $$.
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A Welcome Update, May 8, 2007
By Nate R (Ilinois)
This is a great wireless router. One of the most interesting features, and the one that confirmed my decision to buy, is the USB port for connecting hard drives(driveS as in up to 7 at a time) and printers. 802.11n is so much faster than g, and the increase in range is very nice. Another thing I'm quite fond of with this unit is the new AirPort Utility. Web interfaces for configuring routers have always annoyed me, so this actual application is great. I think my only gripe, and the reason I deducted a star, is that Apple didn't put gigabit ethernet ports on the back. It makes absolutely no sense, as every current Mac has gigabit ethernet built-in.
The USB port on this device hosts hard drives and printers. Do be warned though, it is somewhat finicky about which types of drives will work properly. I have no problems with a Western Digital MyBook drive, but a generic enclosure I have doesn't work very well.
I have found the range of 802.11n to be very much better than that of g. Where I had trouble keeping up a signal with the old g station, this n station has a full signal. Also, the ability to change the router to the 5GHz band is quite welcome. Several of my neighbors have wireless routers installed which causes a lot of interference on the 2.4GHz band, so changing to 5GHz has helped a lot. The speed is also nice, but I don't really rely on wireless for huge file transfers so it hasn't provided a big advantage for me.
The AirPort utility is great. When the base station starts up it scans the configuration for (what Apple considers to be) errors and reports them. It will throw an error if you don't set a password, which is an incredibly good thing. So many people set up wireless stations and leave them wide open because they don't know any better. This one actually tells you that you're doing something wrong until you fix it. The light on the front flashes orange until you fix any errors, at which point it will turn green. The utility also features a search field, so if you're daunted by all the options you can just search for what you need.
Now my gripe. The three ethernet ports on the back are only 100Mbit. Why in the world would they do this? As I said above every current mac has GigE, so this makes no sense at all. The point of upgrading the router to n standard is to have the fastest possible technology, and having wireless devices on n and wired on 100Mbit is ridiculous. GigE wired and n wireless would mix wonderfully. I have my N router connected to a GigE switch to combat this shortcoming, but it's still unacceptable.
That said,
My fear at this point is: that Apple will introduce a version with GigE in the next few months. That would totally suck for everyone who has bought one of these already.
My hope at this point is: that the ethernet chipset on this devices is actually GigE, and the limitation to 100Mbit was due to a software instability that is being worked out behind the scenes at Apple HQ, and there will be a firmware update. This delusion, and that's all it is, helped me get over the GigE thing and decide to buy one.
And all things considered, I'm still really happy with my purchase of this device.
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Great, but ??? quality control, May 7, 2007
By David Teele
Wasted better part of three days, 2 hours on phone with Apple, 80 miles to visit Apple Store for help-twice. Nothing worked.
Finally put it in a replacement unit and now all works beautifully.
Simple set up, high speeds in spite of much possible interence. Big improvement in performance over older "flying saucer" Extreme base stations.
Do read the set up instructions-they are well done.
Be aware that if you set this until to the new radio standards ("n" only), some people with older Macs (and others) will not able to connect.
PC connected by just plugging ethernet cable-that's all!
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Excellent performance, easy to setup, May 6, 2007
By esanta (San Jose, CA USA)
I have been using many wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, SMC, Netgear, Siemens...) over the years, since the early days of 802.11b, but this is my first experience with an Apple router.
There is no need to comment on the manufacturing quality, design and packaging: in typical Apple fashion, they're miles ahead of the competition. For instance, unlike all the other routers I ever used that came with a 110v only power supply, the Airport Extreme Base Station (AEBS for short) comes with a universal worldwide power supply equipped with a standard power cord.
Performancewise, it is exceptional. I have been putting it through its paces over the past few days and it's barely breaking a sweat in situations where my previous routers (Linksys WRT54G and Netgear WGN824) would progressively get slower, or just plain crash and require a reboot. Coverage is excellent, better than my WGN824's which was already quite impressive.
Apple has traditionally be doing things differently, and it shows here again: unlike most routers, which are managed by accessing a built-in web server, this router can only be configured using the "Airport Utility" configuration program. The bundled CD contains a Mac OS X and a Windows version of the utility (I can already hear groans from the Linux geeks). The utility is extremely simple to use, although I haven't tried to use the more advanced features such as setting up another router like the Airport Express as a range extender.
One problem you might run into is the lack of support for "legacy" devices: although the AEBS offers a compatibility mode with WEP devices called "WEP (Transitional)" which lets WEP and WPA coexist, this mode imposes restrictions on the keys that may not work for you (for instance you won't be able to reuse an existing 40-bit WEP key). The problem is that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not compatible with the 802.11n standard, so you have to choose between speed or full backwards compatibility. Also, you should know that WEP-40 and WEP-128 are not very secure: there are utilities out there that can crack these keys easily.
Note that 802.11n gives a significant speed boost to the AppleTV and laptops equipped with compatible cards (such as Apple's Core 2 Duo laptops with the 802.11n enabler installed -- you can find the enabler on the AEBS CD). Unless you own one of these machines, there is no harm in switching to a non-802.11n radio mode. How? Just hold the command key (or control on Windows) while clicking on the "Radio Mode" popup in the Wireless tab of the AEBS configuration utility. Extra, non-n modes appear in the list, and once one is selected the WEP-40 and WEP-128 modes become available under Security. If you select WEP-40 or WEP-128 security, you can enter a hex key by prefixing it with a dollar sign.
The AEBS also comes with a versatile USB port, which can be used to attach hard disks and/or a printer (USB hubs are supported). Unlike other base stations or NAS boxes, the AEBS does not require that you reformat the disk; all you have to do is plug it in and voil! Instant NAS, all your files show up on the network. Some very basic access control features are provided. I plugged in the external USB drive I use to backup my MacBook, and now I can do automated backups without having to worry about remembering to plug in the drive: it just works wirelessly. The AEBS also lets you share a USB printer.
In conclusion, this router is a fantastic performer. Although it's one of the most expensive 802.11n routers out there, its feature set, build quality, performance and top-notch customer support more than make up for the price difference. I recommend it highly.
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Easy setup, fast transfer, but low range, May 6, 2007
By Mike (Portland Oregon USA)
This base station was installed between a Comcast cable internet connection and a new iMac computer. Installation was easy.
Compared to our old DSL service, the cable wireless combination is very fast.
The range is limited to line-of-sight spaces in our house. The signal does not reach upstairs from the main floor. I thought it would reach further so that is a disappointment.
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Excellent Router...and so much more, May 5, 2007
By Craig (Illinois)
After some software and firmware updates issued by Apple this router is GREAT. The range is amazing and so is the speed...even with multiple computers, nintendo wii, and tivo. I have a printer (Canon) along with a external drive (WD) hooked up to it, and I can print and access the drive from anywhere. I think the user manual could be a little clearer and more step-by-step for some users, but I had no problems with my mac. My brother had very slow connections with his old router and I advised him to give this one a try. He had the same wonderful result. Highly recommended.
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excellent upgrade from my last Airport Extreme Base, May 4, 2007
By livinginhungary (Budapest, Hungary (originally Ann Arbor, MI))
Although only one of my Apple products (Apple TV) takes advantage of the new 802.11n, I am still very happy with my new Airport Extreme. One of the very noticeable improvements is the Extreme's increased range. I live Europe in a 100+ year old building with very thick walls. My apartment is approximately 1,500 square feet with the base station at one end. With my old Extreme I got one bar (using my MacBook) in my furthest room. I now have full bars. Streaming to my AppleTV seems quite fast. Setup of the Base Station was quick and easy. Overall I'm very satisfied with my new base station and do not hesitate to recommend it.
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The best wireless router money can buy (if you ask me), April 24, 2007
By Mark Twain
The range on this thing is amazing. The ease of setup and use is great. The design is great. I wish I could be more detailed here, but it's just great all-around. Nothing more to say than that. If you have an Apple computer and need a wireless router, this should be the only one you buy. Worked perfectly and quickly right out of the box, and hasn't stopped for a even a moment in the few months I've had it.
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Worth Every Penny!, April 16, 2007
By K. Hartley
This might be the best thing Apple has ever made, it works perfectly with my Mac Book Pro and my PCs. The security is awsome and it has great range with easy instalation. After many flaws with my Lynksys, I took the risk with this and it was worth it. I have NEVER had a problem with this.
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Perfect for Me, March 31, 2007
By Christopher White (Los Angeles, CA United States)
If this is going to work for anybody it's going to be me, and it absolutely does. I live in an apartment and use two Macs, a desktop and a laptop. Previously I had tried out a Netgear wireless router which I dropped in the trash after it couldn't even keep a steady connection with the desktop that was hardwired into it. I'm not a militant Apple person but I figured if I had two Macs, an Apple router was the way to go, and I was correct. I can't speak for the ease of installation with a PC, but judging from the PC I use at work it might not be pretty. (Although to be fair, XP plug and play is better than it gets credit for in my experience.) With my two Macs at home, it was ridiculously simple. Plug it in, run the set up utility and you are in business. I have my desktop hardwired into it, and my laptop obviously wirelessly connected, and both connections are much more solid than I had hoped. I experience maybe one hiccup in the connection a week on the laptop and the desktop is flawless. (My Netgear router couldn't even maintain the desktop wired connection.) I wasn't expecting much from the USB port, I figured I would plug in my HP Laserjet and see what happened. To my surprise it worked immediately and I was able to easily print from both computers. Not only that, but I quickly tested the USB port with a thumbdrive and that worked easily as well. It's also worth mentioning that the setup utility is pretty easy and intuitive, especially when dealing with security which is useful when you live in an apartment building where everyone with a laptop is licking their chops to borrow your bandwidth.
So to summarize, I have this set up in my apartment with two Macs. The range is excellent, I have full signal wirelessly at all times, no problems with the wired connection and was easily able to network my printer and share files from a USB thumbdrive. My laptop internet connection is just as fast as the desktop that is wired and I have absolutely no complaints with this router. It's even nice to look at, although I wouldn't mind being able to turn off the status light completely. In my opinion it's worth the premium price to have a solid, no worry router.
UPDATE 4/7/2007- I decided to purchase an 80GB portable hard drive to share via my network with my two computers. I went ahead and bought a powered USB hub along with it in order to have both my printer and the drive shared. A word of warning, I had some trouble getting the hard drive set up. I hit the Apple forums and eventually was able to solve my problem and now everything works great, but according to my research it looks like I was hardly alone in having trouble. I'm not sure you can take any steps to avoid problems, so take it as you will, but now that everything is working it's great.
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A RARE GEM IN A SEA OF MEDIOCRITY - A WIRELESS 'N' ROUTER THAT WORKS!, March 27, 2007
By boxman75 (Bremerton, WA USA)
Amazingly, this product worked... right out of the box, and without me having to be a wireless networking guru! I am a very experienced computer user (have been building my own machines for over 10 years) and have now owned several different wireless routers. The key problem has always been getting all of the pieces of equipment to talk to each other. Well, this product worked right out of the box. I bought two of them, one for my base station and the other to plug my XBOX 360, Vonage adapter, and PS-2 into. Additionally, I have linked up a Sony laptop with a Netgear WPN511 PCMCIA card, my Nintendo Wii, and a MacBook pro to the network, all seemlessly with no issues! I will say that I set this system up on my Mac Pro desktop so I can't speak for the PC setup program. Finally, I shared out numerous drives and files between machines as well as a printer. All with no issues. I am using WPA2 security with a 45 character password with no issues. I highly recommend this product if you stream large files, or have other high bandwidth requirements.
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Terrible Disappointment and Waste of Time, March 24, 2007
By nywebguy (NY, NY)
This was terrible. I returned after hours with tech support and days of email exchanges with Apple Support Desk.
The product will probably be better with future software updates, but in my experience, it was fairly unreliable in its current state. Examples of problems: wouldn't download drm managed content online, had problems when downloading itunes purchased music (the first time I've had that problem in 4 years of ipods and itunes), couldn't connect to my corporate VPN, and finally, just as evidence of the lack of QA on this device, the included instruction manuals were for the previous version of the Apple Extreme. The images were of the previous white, button-shaped device.
This was a genuine disappointment, and it seemed to stem from bad software and bad QA. Others seem to have had more success, but I'm back on my 802.11g airport extreme and all problems have magically disappeared.
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Great router!, March 22, 2007
By Raffaele Cetrulo (Austin, TX United States)
Got mine about two weeks ago and all I can say is that it just works beautifully. Setup was a snap, no webpages or reading a manual to find out what the default IP address is, or anything like that. I configured this thing in 5 minutes literally (I'm a geek though) and have not touched it since then. I'm using all the features, cable router, wireless, sharing two disks and printing (using a small Belkin 4 port USB HUB) and all this functionality is just transparent on my Mac. Wireless signal quality is surprisingly good considering there are no antennas hanging out the device. Also, the disk sharing feature works quite fast over wireless, but you really feel the difference if you are wired though (I'm using G). It has a couple of minor drawbacks in my opinion, (1) lack of GigE, I don't care about it but can be a dealbreaker for some guys and (2) pricey if you just want a router. Although, if you think about all the features it makes sense to spend a few extra $.
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Impossible To set up, March 17, 2007
By Kin H. Yu
I spent two days tried to have it formatted by my Powerbook G4 and set up a wireless network to replace my Microsoft wireless router. No luck. It is on the shelf ever since. People at the Genius Bar in local apple store may be able to help but it is too much troubel.
To set up other routers with a PC you can easily hire some one to set it up for you at your home for a couple of hundred dollars. Not Apple.
If you don't have time don't buy this product.
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AEBS far better than my NetGear RangeMax MIMO v.1, March 15, 2007
By D. Chandler (New York City)
This Airport Extreme Base Stations ROCKS the house. I'm using it to connect wirelessly to a FW800 Dualie, G4 1.42 MacMini, a B&W Smurf and mainly my MacBook Pro C2D 2.33 using OSX and BootCamp WinXP. I couldn't configure the AEBS strictly for the MBP since I needed to connect with G wireless adapters. I also set up an AirPort Disk (some old FW/USB 2.0 external drive I had lying around). It was setup with two partitions. Works like a charm. I also have a SlingBox Pro running over ethernet and that works perfectly with the AEBS. Some guy named derek in the Sling Community forums figured out how to get it working on the AEBS and gave detailed instructions.
The RangeMax MIMO I was using with WPA2 was dropping connections every few hours although it put out a strong signal. I had to keep resetting the RangeMax which was very annoying. With the AEBS I get a strong signal and I haven't had any dropped connections. I'm using OSX.4 Server and my MacBook Pro sometimes couldn't connect to shared drives because they didn't always show up in the Network Window. My other machines saw the drives with their G wireless cards, but the Atheros chipset didn't always see them. Very frustrating. Using the AEBS, they show up every time on the MacBook Pro.
I had to give my WPA2 password 13 characters in order to have it connect to WinXP in BootCamp. Still no drivers for the Atheros chipset in WinXP so it only connects at 54 MB/s,
Overall I'd say the Airport Extreme Base Station is excellent. It's compact, solid and has very nice configuration software. The only mildly annoying thing about it is when you make minor configuration changes, the AEBS has to restart and that takes a bit of time. And no external antennas or provisions for them. Still, it's worth it. I look for long usage with this product. Way to go Apple.
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Wish all things worked this well., March 10, 2007
By Wingman (US)
I bought this to replace a Max G router and have never regretted it. I'm using a MacBook Pro and it works so much better than the other router. My old router used to have to be reset every couple of days because it would drop the wireless connection. This router has never dropped the connection in 2 months and it's smoking fast. I read some of the other reviews and can't understand how it could take five hours to set up. I was up in about twenty minutes. If you want a fast router that doesn't drop the ball this is the tool for you.
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NOT "Apple Easy" to set up., March 9, 2007
By J.B. White (Austin, TX)
My setup should have been super simple. (It was super simple for my old Airport Extreme) Mac G4 Desktop without an internal Airport card and an Airport Express. My simple goal was to send iTunes to my stereo via an Airport Express. After five hours of trying to get it working myself, I called AppleCare.
After an hour on the phone with AppleCare, we finally got my Extreme to link up with my Express. We had to do three hard resets on my Express. We had to temporarily hardwire the Express to the Extreme with an Ethernet cable. Moreover, we had to manually copy and paste the Airport ID number from one unit to the other. This procedure was NOT in the owner's manual or in Apple's online self help!
I have been using Macs at home for 21 years and this is the biggest headache that I have ever experienced in the world of Apple Macintosh.
I think that the PC Guy on the Apple commercials got the last laugh on this one.
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LOVE IT!, March 8, 2007
By D. Wilson (Detroit, MI)
I have had no problems using this base station and it works fabulously with my Mac Book Pro using 802.11N. The speed is great, no lost signal and the distance is fine for my home.
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Extreme Nightmare, March 6, 2007
By Douglas Evans (San Francisco, CA)
I bought this with two goals in mind: (1) enhance my network security; and (2) allow my external hard drive to act as a network backup device. Here is the reality.
First, it took almost 5 hours of technical support to get the thing set up. No joke. I am reasonably sophisticated, but this thing was very difficult. The complications were that I am using the Extreme with a DSL modem and trying to configure it with a Windows computer. Contrary to hype, Apple does not do Windows well. The DSL modem added another layer of complication in that it had to be configured to share the same IP address as the Extreme.
Second, the security goal is just another money spending opportunity. The problem was that my old wireless router was incompatible with the various Airport Express devices that I use to distribute music around my house. So, I had an open network, and wanted some security. The Extreme does that. But it won't talk to the network adaptor that I use to refresh my TIVO. So, I now have the choice of either spending $60 on a new adaptor for the TIVO, or periodically turning off the security so I can connect the TIVO using the current adaptor. That is frustrating because I called Apple before I bought the Extreme to ask if it would be compatible and was told "no problem."
Third, the notion that the Extreme can turn your external hard drive into a network backup device is fantasy. I have two Windows machines and two Macs. The Macs recognized the drive (Apple product talking the Apple product). The Windows machines would not. After almost 3 of my 5 tech support hours I got to someone at Apple who understood the problem. I needed to map the drive to each Windows machine. It showed up. I lost the benefit of the automatic backup software that was running flawlessly before I started this, but hey, I now had a networked drive that could back up all of the machines. Or so I thought. As soon as I actually tried backing up data from the Macs to the drive, it crashed. I am now told that I have to reformat the external drive, losing all the data I had previously stored there. I am in process of doing data recovery now, and may try again after I have reformatted and partitioned the drive. But any way you slice it this had been a major pain in the rear.
So, my advice to the >90% of you who have a Windows machine or operate in a mixed Windows / Mac environment would be to skip this product. You'll have more fun spending the time and money on voluntary root canal. To the <10% who operate in a pure Mac environment, well, you have already drunk the koolaid and are beyond hope.
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Excellent Router, March 5, 2007
By td3k (Arlington, TX United States)
The new airport extreme replaces a Linksys Wireless G router which I had in place for a couple of years. I have slowly migrated all of my machines in my home office from Windows PCs to now all Macs and with the release of this new, faster router from Apple, I couldn't resist temptation.
I am happy to report that the setup and implementation of the router into my home network environment was a "quintessential" Apple experience with no hiccups or problems of any kind. My network consists of a new Mac Pro and an older G5 which connects to the router via ethernet, and an older G4 mirror door desktop which connects wirelessly on the other side of the house from the router. I also have an Airport Express hub station in the living room which is connected to my home stereo unit as well as a color laser printer in the office connected to the router via ethernet. I also connect two Mac laptops wirelessly from time to time.
After plugging in the router and connecting all the cables and then installing the new airport utility software that came with it, I was literally back on line with all peripherals connected and functioning again in just a matter of minutes - no problems at all. It is amazing how much easier it is to set up when compared to the Linksys device which was very difficult and time consuming; especially for configuring the Airport Express device.
The signal strength is much stronger than the Linksys and the speeds of course seem much better. I can only get the "N" speed connections when the G4 and the G5 are off line. Neither of these machines have the intel chipset or the "N" enabled wireless card, so whenever they are connected to the network, it slows the entire network down to "G" speeds. With just my Mac Pro and my Mac Book Pro intel machines on line, the speeds are incredibly fast as I am able to connect at the "N" speeds.
All in all, I am very impressed and happy. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because for the price I would've expected Apple to include gigabit ethernet ports instead of the 10/100 base ports on the back. Something they will probably take care of in the next release or hopefully with a firmware update in the future. Still, I would highly recommend this router (especially for Mac users) and yes, the router is fully configurable with manual settings, port mapping and forwarding, and all the other fun things you can do with any other router.
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