Thanks for doing the review! I love the site and the thorough and easily comparible reviews. That said, the last line in the article isn't really accurate
"And certainly not worth paying the top-dollar that Apple is customarily charging."
I just don't see how this is such a premium. It's not that much more than the Cisco and Netgear routers and it's slighly less than the Zyxel. I'd gladly pay the slight difference for the Apple over the Netgear too after my experience with Netgear support. That was 90 minutes of pure hell. So, my point is that it's priced well compared to the competition.
I just don't see how this is such a premium. It's not that much more than the Cisco and Netgear routers and it's slighly less than the Zyxel. I'd gladly pay the slight difference for the Apple over the Netgear too after my experience with Netgear support. That was 90 minutes of pure hell. So, my point is that it's priced well compared to the competition.
Did you see the part of the review that said:
Quote:
Missing:
Web-based administration
RIP v1, v2, v2 multicast and static routing
UPnP
Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS)
Traffic statistics
Firewall feature scheduling
Triggered port forwarding
WAN ping blocking
Inbound / outbound service control w/ scheduling
URL / domain web filtering
Wireless client-to-client isolation
Tranmit power control (100, 90, 75, 50, 25, 10%)
Transmit data rate
All the rest of the routers you list have a Web Admin interface, UPnP, WPS and full firewall features.
The Zyxel adds VPN support.
Given what the Apple Airport is lacking, it sounds like a premium price to me....
Last edited by GregN; 08-24-2011 at 09:35 PM.
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Its an aright router, but unless you love Apple products, its not really on most people's radar.
Pretty much. With the AEX a Mac user knows that it will work properly with other Apple devices and initiatives.
I'm actually looking forward to the iOS setup feature as option to configuration via a Mac. This way if the router is in another room an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad will be able to handle the config as you stand by the router.
Yup, fanboy here. That's why the new Zyxel and the Asus RT-N66U (when it comes out) are at the top of my list right now. I'm just saying there's something to be said for a rock solid product with pretty good performance at a decent price in comparison to the current competition.
"There’s a stigma that Apple gear is more expensive, and for the 3TB Time Capsule that may be the case, but the Airport Extreme is actually right near where it should be. Take for comparison the Linksys E4200, which is a 2x3:2 device on 2.4GHz, and 3x3:3 on 5GHz, and also Broadcom based. That device runs for $179.99 and features similar functionality including a USB 2.0 port for sharing devices. At $179.00, the Airport Extreme offers full 3x3:3 on both 2.4 and 5GHz, albeit the E4200 does have considerably more Tx power, which we'll investigate in a forthcoming article.
I guess the reason that I personally use an Airport Extreme (in conjunction with another device for NAT) is that it's really one of a small number of 802.11n dual-band APs I've tried that actually works without locking up, becoming unstable periodically, dropping the session from overheating when being pushed to 100% for hours, or requiring a daily reboot. There are just so many other consumer level 802.11n APs that either fall short or are incredibly frustrating and unreliable. Thus far, I've been using an Airport Extreme Gen 5 and Time Capsule Gen 4 as my primary AP with over 12 devices attached to each one for the greater part of a month without a single instability. It's that kind of stability that really sells it for me, even with 3x3:3 out of the picture."
I guess I'm just sick of all the Apple hyperbole on both sides. It's a pretty good AP with a price inline with it's competitors. You can't say that's not true. It has some additional features the others don't have plus it lacks some too, as you've listed. It's give and take, like anything else. If it works for you great. If it doesn't, fine. You don't have to buy it after all. But it's not overpriced in it's category, which is dual-band three stream wireless routers. I don't see how you can argue that.
I have several friends who do home theater and they ALL use the Airport Extreme's with Crestron. They claim they have not found a more reliable wifi solution unless they up the ante and go for Cisco, etc. Obviously if the homeowner can afford Crestron they can afford a high priced enterprise AP solution too. Nevertheless I'm told the AE and Apple Extender (whatever they call that thing) does the job in most cases.
I guess I'm just sick of all the Apple hyperbole on both sides. It's a pretty good AP with a price inline with it's competitors. You can't say that's not true. It has some additional features the others don't have plus it lacks some too, as you've listed. It's give and take, like anything else. If it works for you great. If it doesn't, fine. You don't have to buy it after all. But it's not overpriced in it's category, which is dual-band three stream wireless routers. I don't see how you can argue that.
I'm neither a fan boy or a hater. But to say it can't be argued, that just isn't the case. It can be, see my previous message. The Airport is overpriced given the capabilities that are to be found on its competitors.
Last edited by GregN; 08-25-2011 at 10:35 AM.
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I just don't see how this is such a premium. It's not that much more than the Cisco and Netgear routers and it's slighly less than the Zyxel. I'd gladly pay the slight difference for the Apple over the Netgear too after my experience with Netgear support. That was 90 minutes of pure hell. So, my point is that it's priced well compared to the competition.
I was unclear and I'll correct this. What I meant is expensive for selling price, not list price.
Apple products are discounted very little. A quick check of Amazon showed the following lowest prices for your listed routers (in []).
So both the Cisco and Netgear are much cheaper than the AirportX. ZyXEL isn't, but it includes an IPsec endpoint. On the other hand, neither the WNDR4000 nor E4200 support three streams on both bands. The most directly comparable product is the TRENDnet, which is about $30 cheaper.
The AirportX isn't a bad product. It's just not a particularly good value and certainly not the outstanding performer that some people have made it out to be.
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So both the Cisco and Netgear are much cheaper than the AirportX. ZyXEL isn't, but it includes an IPsec endpoint. On the other hand, neither the WNDR4000 nor E4200 support three streams on both bands. The most directly comparable product is the TRENDnet, which is about $30 cheaper.
The AirportX isn't a bad product. It's just not a particularly good value and certainly not the outstanding performer that some people have made it out to be.
Apple products are normally not discounts so why when looking at the MSRP the Apple router appears price competitive in reality it's not even close. I simply wouldn't seriously consider the Apple router because of the premium price
Take away the anti-Apple editorial comments, please...
The Apple Airport Extreme 5th is a fair performing 3*3 stream dual-band router at a premium price. The real question is... is it worth the slight premium over the others?
Truth be told, Apple has traded off features for stability and performance.
Yes, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Netgear, D-Link, Buffalo, and Cisco-Linksys offer, not having an internal web-server could be considered a plus... what I like about the Airport series (AP Extreme, AP Express, Time Capsule) is their stability and performance - they're no easier or more difficult to setup than any other router, but the stability is the key point in my purchase decision... it's nice not having to reboot the router every week "just because" - my old Linksys WRT-610N was just as fast for two stream clients, but the stability issues there...
Some recommended corrections on the review:
1) Guest Network is provided for both bands, the review mentions 2.4 GHz only
2) Port Forwarding - static as well as dynamic through NAT-PMP (similar to uPNP)
3) 5GHz can be named separate, with the following caveat, the Guest Network will have the same name in both bands (e.g. Airport, Airport 5GHz, but the Airport Guest has to use the same for both bands)
4) IPv6 - fully supported, but agree with the review, it's a bit arcane, but if you set up a tunnel, it works, not just for Macs, but for all platforms.
Comments:
Lack of WEP is not a bad thing - time to say goodbye to WEP, it's not much better than running an open network, and the performance hit to 802.11n is yet another reason... if you're stilll running STA's that absolutely need WEP, then the Airport series is likely not the best AP for you...
The lack of Wide Channels in 2.4Ghz, I believe, is a plus - less interference for other wireless devices that share the same frequency band - bluetooth is a good example, but also having wide channels in 2.4Ghz is challenging enough in a mid-to-high noise environment. One thing about wide channels is yes, one could get possible better bit rates at the physical layer (MCS), but you're sacrificing error correction and coding gain. If you're in a low-noise environment, it's not a big deal, but in a residential neighborhood, or better yet, in an apartment complex, where the neighbor's AP's are also running, likely either in the primary or secondary channels, you will lose performance at the network layer (TCP/IP and UDP). MCS is not everything, you really have to look at packets...
The routing performance - not related to the WiFi chipsets 5th Gen, but to the firmware, and earlier AP Extreme N users also benefit from this.
WPS - is supported - you have to read the manual... in a nutshell...
1) select the basestation in Airport Utility
2) Click on Manual Setup
3) Go to the Base Station Menu on the menubar
4) Select "Add Wireless Client..."
WPS is a mess... Apple is no better than anybody else - sad to see this state of affairs... lucky for most that WPS is more marketing than real world...
Getting back to the 2.4Ghz Wide Channels - note that all current Apple STA's set the 40MHz-Intolerant bit in 2.4Ghz - it would be an interesting test for all AP vendors to see if they honor this flag...
Now some asks...
1) Disk Performance - not just for the AP Extreme, but for any SOHO router/ap, this is going to be a big deal for some...
2) WDS (or proprietary network extensions) - if supported, would be interesting to see the setup and performance on the extended network.
Apple Airport Extreme Gen 5 Reviewed
That's why the new Zyxel and the Asus RT-N66U (when it comes out) are at the top of my list right now. I'm just saying there's something to be said for a rock solid product with pretty good performance at a decent price in comparison to the current competition.
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