I bought one of dem new Apple router thingies (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Pratt]

Nice to see them address the gigabit issue.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I could easily call MacMall today and ask for the
exchange. I think they will cooperate.

Here's the problem....

How do you tell the two routers apart via the packaging?

Is there something that definitively indicates that I have the
upgraded version of the router? A different skew number?

 

[Ted Todorov]

I intend to get one from the local Apple Store when it becomes available, so I'll let every one know what the package says (obviously I won't have the old one for comparison, as I have a 4? year old Airport at home -- in dire need of replacement).

Ted

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Since I bought my router through MacMall I am in the
process of making the exchange. Essentially Tech Support has
approved the exchange, but I am awaiting my sales associate to
get into work and call me back to arrange it all.

The difference in packaging is simple. The back of the box of
the modified routers indicates Gigabit connection (just like the
picture in Ted's post).

Problem is, since MacMall has both versions in stock with the SAME
part number, it is going to be difficult to ensure that the packers
put the new model in the box.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The absolute hell I am going through to get this new router...

I bought the Apple Extreme from MacMall.

Because my router is not defective, the company will accept it
for exchange to get the new gigabit model, but at a 15% restock
fee that I estimate at about $25-$27.

The gigabit model will not be in for another 12 days. Meanwhile,
I had to ship my current Extreme router back to MacMall today
before my 15-day return period is up.

That being said, I have no Internet connection in my home as
without a router, you cannot hook Fios up to a computer (or at
least I haven't figured out how to get it to accept a signal.

Thank God I have a Verizon air card.

WHICH BRINGS ME AGAIN TO THIS QUESTION....

Why am I jumping through hoops to get this gigabit connection?!

Is my Internet download speed going to increase? Is my transfer
speed from the networked hard drive going to be any faster?

In the simplest terms possible, why am I doing this?

Thanks!

 

[Daryl L]

Early adopter-itous? j/k

 

[DaveF]

Ron, unless you're doing large file transfers (computer to computer) across (wired) ethernet, I don't think the Gigabit speed will help you.

This would have helped me during early setup, when I was copying 10 - 100 GB data between computers. I might also have used it for the infrequent 30 GB iMovie project backup: plug in network cable to the MacBook Pro to make for faster copying.

I don't think it will boost broadband speed at all. It shouldn't change wireless speed either, unless they improved that as a secondary effect. (There is a comment at ArsTechnica speculating that draft-n speed is hindered by the lack of Gigabit electronics. I don't understand this and can't evaluate its validity.)

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Dave,

As always, I appreciate your response.

Looks like I went to a lot of effort (and a bit of expense) to get
an upgrade that I really won't benefit from. :frowning:

 

[DaveF]

Well, if you ever want to copy video from Mac Pro to MacBook Pro, plug in the ethernet and it will be done in minutes instead of hours. Doing that once will make you glad you've got it. Or if a buddy comes over with some huge data files, video clips, or game demo to give you, this will make sure work of it.

It might also speed up writes to a network USB drive, but I'm uncertain.


$25 and a few days for a bit more future proofing ain't so bad

 

[Andrew Pratt]

Ron if I had the option of upgrading mine to gigabit for $30 I'd do it in a heartbeat...and I'm almost always wireless where it wouldn't matter. For the odd time that I'm dumping large files across the network I plug in the hard wire and its those times that gigabit would be extremely useful.

 

[Ken Chan]

If you ever want to copy files from another Mac, you can boot that computer in FireWire Target Disk Mode by holding down the T key, turning that Mac into a very expensive FireWire hard disk enclosure. FireWire 400 and hard disk sustained transfer rates are roughly in the same ballpark; gigabit won't be twice as fast in most cases.

 

[sethgardner]

I'm jealous, b/c I have the previous one without gigabit ethernet. Arrrghh!

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Got my gigabit router yesterday.

No difference in packaging -- not even the picture specs on the
back of the box (where they show a photo and point out features).

You have to look at the new sticker they slapped on the back of
the box that indicates the one gigabit WAN and four gigabit connections.

 

[Daryl L]

I can see the gigabit ports being a benefit comp-to-comp or airport/hdd-to-comp but wouldn't the cable/dsl modem be a limiting factor for internet speeds, or are they capable of speeds over 10/100Mbps?

 

[Andrew Pratt]

No the only time it'll matter is on the internal network when two computers are physically connected together.

 

[Daryl L]

Thx Andrew, that's what I figured.

 

[JeremyErwin]

Lucky you. My housemate handed me a "Airport Extreme" yesterday to install. I tried connecting at gigabit speed. No luck. (Of course, I have a DSL modem, so it would appear to define "superfluous".)

My father, who's paid to be paranoid about these sorts of things, says to use WPA2 for the encryption.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I may be having a possible problem with my airport extreme
communicating with my Macbook Pro.

I have a Yahoo widget on my desktop that measures WiFi strength
and I get a full, steady signal.

However, on my airport indicator along the top toolbar of my
MacBook it is constantly fluxuating as far as signal strength
going from full all the way down to 1 bar then back to full. Does
this constantly.

It looks like that for some reason my laptop is not locking onto
the signal well.

 

[Ted Todorov]

Ron, have you tried checking "Interface Robustness" in the AirPort pulldown menu?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

No, Ted, I have seen that option but had no idea what it did.

What does it do?