Wireless Router

Tar.Aldarion · 27-02-2008 12:49pm #1

Looking for a wireless router for a mac and apparantly they don't all work with mac.
Any suggestions of a nice, good, cheap one?
Cheers.

projectmayhem · 27-02-2008 12:52pm

most of the belkin ones work with mac, as do those netopia ones that eircom supply...

cornbb · 27-02-2008 1:59pm

Could anyone with a linksys router and a mac let me know if they work ok together? Might be buying a mac for home soon and I guess I need to know if it'll work!

(Sorry to leech off your thread Tar, I guess the answer will be helpful to you too though).

Dorsanty · 27-02-2008 2:05pm

Yeah, used a linksys and a MBP together.

Linksys WRT54G (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G)

Swapped out for airport extreme though as wanted to run 802.11n

WUSBDesign · 27-02-2008 2:45pm

Netgear ones are fine, for me at least. My mixture of wireless hardware include Airport Extreme "g" in PowerBook and MacBook, Netgear DG834G/WGR614.

440Hz · 27-02-2008 3:06pm

cornbb wrote: »

Might be buying a mac for home soon

mhahahaha!! I knew it would happen eventually. I knew you couldnt resist

Everyone caves in the end. You going Pro?

cornbb · 27-02-2008 3:09pm

Hold your horses, I said might.

Hell yeah I'm going Pro. No VAT and a 20% discount through the Developer Connection :cool:

Tar.Aldarion · 27-02-2008 3:48pm

440Hz wrote: »

mhahahaha!! I knew it would happen eventually. I knew you couldnt resist Everyone caves in the end. You going Pro?

I'll never cave. That's an iPromise.

whiterebel · 27-02-2008 4:16pm

Had a Linksys and swore never again - WAG54G wasn't just a problem with Mac, it was a problem with everything!!!! Belkin now - lifetime warranty. It went dead once, but they couriered out a new one within days.

need assistance · 27-02-2008 4:34pm

On the subject of wireless routers I am currently with Eircom and will shortly be switching to smart, am planning to get a time capsule to act as wireless router and back up for my macbook pr., I understand smart uses ASDL2+, does anyone know if the router component of time capsule is compatible with this? I have searched apple website and googled and can't seem to find the answer.

babypink · 27-02-2008 6:17pm

i've been using both Linksys WRT54 and Netopia 3347 for the last 18 months without problems at all.

Though i'd flash the linksys with "special" firmware to get the best from it.

ZENER · 27-02-2008 6:42pm

need assistance wrote: »

On the subject of wireless routers I am currently with Eircom and will shortly be switching to smart, am planning to get a time capsule to act as wireless router and back up for my macbook pr., I understand smart uses ASDL2+, does anyone know if the router component of time capsule is compatible with this? I have searched apple website and googled and can't seem to find the answer.

AFAIK the Time Capsule is only a router, there is no ADSL modem built in. The WAN port on the capsule will connect to the Smart 'modem' through ETH giving your capsule the required internet connectivity.

ZEN

Type 17 · 27-02-2008 6:51pm

need assistance wrote: »

On the subject of wireless routers I am currently with Eircom and will shortly be switching to smart, am planning to get a time capsule to act as wireless router and back up for my macbook pr., I understand smart uses ASDL2+, does anyone know if the router component of time capsule is compatible with this? I have searched apple website and googled and can't seem to find the answer.

I use Smart and an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station. The AEBS (and the Time capsule, from what I can see) doesn't have an ADSL2+ (or any other type of) modem in it. What it does have is PPPoE functionality to connect over a bridged modem, which means that you have full control over everything in one box (even though two are in use).

This scenario works very well - my speeds on Smart are better with their modem bridged and the AEBS in control, than with the AEBS bridged, and the Smart modem doing the connecting and DHCP work.

Dorsanty · 27-02-2008 6:53pm

ZENER wrote: »

AFAIK the Time Capsule is only a router, there is no ADSL modem built in. The WAN port on the capsule will connect to the Smart 'modem' through ETH giving your capsule the required internet connectivity.

ZEN

My Airport Extreme will do PPPoE which iirc is all that's required for the adsl connection. I'd expect the same features in the time capsule.

And then there's the tech specs on it,

http://www.apple.com/timecapsule/specs.html
Interfaces

* One Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connecting a DSL or cable modem

Tar.Aldarion · 27-02-2008 7:24pm

Aree there any routers that will not work with mac?

Type 17 · 27-02-2008 7:34pm

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

Aree there any routers that will not work with mac?

I remember reading about some Netgear routers that kept dropping the Wi-Fi connection to Macs, but which worked fine with PCs, but that model may have been discontinued or have had its firmware updated, so it's hard to be exact in naming "good" or "bad" brands.

In general, I'd find a few models online that have the specs you want, and are reasonably priced, and then before you buy, do a Google search on terms such as "<router model> issue Mac" and "<router model> problem Mac" etc.

Also, try not to buy a router that is newly launched (less than 3 months), as there will be little info about any issues it has around the web, and early firmware is more likely to contain bugs anyway.

WUSBDesign · 27-02-2008 8:58pm

Yes, that's true. My DG834PN refused to work with my Mac's, but only well with the Intel ProSafe? wireless adaptor, as well as Netgear's own PC Card adapters (WPN511 at 108MBps!). However, the latest firmware update removed all these issues.

If I were you, keep looking/asking around on specific models of wireless routers and compatibility issues with Macs. To start with, I can say DG834PN, DG834Gv2 and WGR614v6 models work fine in "G" mode and WPA-PSK (WPA-Personal). In general, the older models have more stable performance once firmware is upgraded.

Wireless Router

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