Wireless-N Modem Router recommendation please

espresso

BarGin wrote: »

Would something like this plugged into the O2 Modem Router do the job?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edimax-EW-7416APN-Wireless-802-11n-extender/dp/B001HW0JVU

It would but could you not simply move the O2 router to a more suitable location?

Leopard

espresso wrote: »

The O2 is not "given to him free" - it has to be returned or they charge £50. Seems a bit of a botched set-up to me, not very well thought though.

You are entirely correct that it remains the property of O2 and it was flippant of me to write "bin it".

But I was (and remain) in a hurry to log-off because I have some work to do.

The rest of what I wrote is completely thought through and is, in basic principle, how we run our own system at home. The art is to make use of what you are given/loaned free and supplement it rather than duplicate it.

espresso

Leopard wrote: »

The rest of what I wrote is completely thought through and is, in basic principle, how we run our own system at home. The art is to make use of what you are given/loaned free and supplement it rather than duplicate it.

Agreed, I was criticising the OP's growing set-up!

BarGin

espresso wrote: »

It would but could you not simply move the O2 router to a more suitable location?

The router will be located next to the BT point along with my Apple TV and Xtreamer media player (both with wired connections) which seems the most sensible place for it.

Leopard

If you're going to be using an Apple TV with it, you would be wise to consider buying an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (the square-shaped version) as your 802.11n supplementary wireless router.

By that, I don't, necessarily, mean one of the current ones which can operate simultaneously on two bands and create two separate networks. Nice (extremely nice) though they are, those cost £140 – albeit with free shipping – from Apple.

I mean, instead, one of the previous generation models which can now be purchased, as new, for about £65 on eBay if you are patient – a little more if you want one quickly.

These are dual band and they come with Gigabit LAN ports as well – which is well worth having for devices other than the Apple TV.

I suggest this to you because Apple, in a rare moment of stupidity, only put a 10/100 Ethernet port on the Apple TV, instead of a Gigabit one. (On a video streaming device. :rolleyes: )

They did, however, equip it with an 802.11b/g/n wi-fi card and it can operate at 5 GHz (on wide channels, if you are in, er...Ireland ). This means that although you are limited to 100 mb/sec networking through the Ethernet port of an Apple TV, you can stream at well more than twice that speed (say, 270 mb/sec) wirelessly, if you've got a properly set up Apple Airport Extreme Base station. Especially if, as one infers from what you have written, you would be placing the two devices in close proximity to each other.

An Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (it has no modem) would be ideal to connect, in bridge mode, to the b/g wireless modem router with which O2 is going to be supplying you. Let the O2 device operate at b/g on 2.4 GHz and switch the Airport to "n only" on 5 GHz: they'll each do their own thing happily and won't interfere with each other. It's a good solution and the one we use ourselves, at home.

And to keep :A espresso :A happy, you can switch off the Airport and its 802.11n wireless network – both for money saving and for security – when you aren't actually using it!

BarGin

Leopard wrote: »

If you're going to be using an Apple TV with it, you would be wise to consider buying an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (the square-shaped version) as your 802.11n supplementary wireless router.

By that, I don't, necessarily, mean one of the current ones which can operate simultaneously on two bands and create two separate networks. Nice (extremely nice) though they are, those cost £140 – albeit with free shipping – from Apple.

I mean, instead, one of the previous generation models which can now be purchased, as new, for about £65 on eBay if you are patient – a little more if you want one quickly.

These are dual band and they come with Gigabit LAN ports as well – which is well worth having for devices other than the Apple TV.

I suggest this to you because Apple, in a rare moment of stupidity, only put a 10/100 Ethernet port on the Apple TV, instead of a Gigabit one. (On a video streaming device. :rolleyes: )

They did, however, equip it with an 802.11b/g/n wi-fi card and it can operate at 5 GHz (on wide channels, if you are in, er...Ireland ). This means that although you are limited to 100 mb/sec networking through the Ethernet port of an Apple TV, you can stream at well more than twice that speed (say, 270 mb/sec) wirelessly, if you've got a properly set up Apple Airport Extreme Base station. Especially if, as one infers from what you have written, you would be placing the two devices in close proximity to each other.

An Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (it has no modem) would be ideal to connect, in bridge mode, to the b/g wireless modem router with which O2 is going to be supplying you. Let the O2 device operate at b/g on 2.4 GHz and switch the Airport to "n only" on 5 GHz: they'll each do their own thing happily and won't interfere with each other. It's a good solution and the one we use ourselves, at home.

And to keep :A espresso :A happy, you can switch off the Airport and its 802.11n wireless network – both for money saving and for security – when you aren't actually using it!

Thanks for the interesting suggestions. I have just ordered a refurbished one from Apple.

I always end up spending more than I intended when I use this site – at this rate I'll be buying a Mac next!

Leopard

BarGin wrote: »

Thanks for the interesting suggestions. I have just ordered a refurbished one from Apple.

I always end up spending more than I intended when I use this site – at this rate I'll be buying a Mac next!

Ah. The roads to ultimate enlightenment are many, Grasshopper, but the signposts are there for those astute enough to perceive them. :cool:

(But don't tell the others; if we're to stay malware-free we need them to keep buying Windows. )

BarGin

Leopard wrote: »

If you're going to be using an Apple TV with it, you would be wise to consider buying an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (the square-shaped version) as your 802.11n supplementary wireless router.

By that, I don't, necessarily, mean one of the current ones which can operate simultaneously on two bands and create two separate networks. Nice (extremely nice) though they are, those cost £140 – albeit with free shipping – from Apple.

I mean, instead, one of the previous generation models which can now be purchased, as new, for about £65 on eBay if you are patient – a little more if you want one quickly.

These are dual band and they come with Gigabit LAN ports as well – which is well worth having for devices other than the Apple TV.

I suggest this to you because Apple, in a rare moment of stupidity, only put a 10/100 Ethernet port on the Apple TV, instead of a Gigabit one. (On a video streaming device. :rolleyes: )

They did, however, equip it with an 802.11b/g/n wi-fi card and it can operate at 5 GHz (on wide channels, if you are in, er...Ireland ). This means that although you are limited to 100 mb/sec networking through the Ethernet port of an Apple TV, you can stream at well more than twice that speed (say, 270 mb/sec) wirelessly, if you've got a properly set up Apple Airport Extreme Base station. Especially if, as one infers from what you have written, you would be placing the two devices in close proximity to each other.

An Apple Airport Extreme Base Station (it has no modem) would be ideal to connect, in bridge mode, to the b/g wireless modem router with which O2 is going to be supplying you. Let the O2 device operate at b/g on 2.4 GHz and switch the Airport to "n only" on 5 GHz: they'll each do their own thing happily and won't interfere with each other. It's a good solution and the one we use ourselves, at home.

And to keep :A espresso :A happy, you can switch off the Airport and its 802.11n wireless network – both for money saving and for security – when you aren't actually using it!

My AEBS arrived yesterday and I spent the evening trying to set it up. Everything went ok when I used the configuration wizard but this only sets it up at 2.4 GHz. Afterwards I chose manual setup which allowed me to choose 5GHz and my Apple TV was able to connect without problem but my Windows 7 PC wasn't able to see it at all. Any idea how to solve this please?

Leopard

BarGin wrote: »

My AEBS arrived yesterday and I spent the evening trying to set it up. Everything went ok when I used the configuration wizard but this only sets it up at 2.4 GHz. Afterwards I chose manual setup which allowed me to choose 5GHz and my Apple TV was able to connect without problem but my Windows 7 PC wasn't able to see it at all. Any idea how to solve this please?

Well, your PC won't be able to use 5 GHz unless its own 802.11n wi-fi card or adaptor is 5 GHz capable.

Your options, if it isn't, would be to give it a 5 GHz capable wi-fi device, or to re-locate the Airport Extreme Base Station to where it can be plugged by Ethernet lead into the PC (to effect a 5 GHz wireless bridge between the PC and the Apple TV – the speed of which will also depend upon whether your PC has 10/100 Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet), or to leave the Airport Extreme Base Station where it is, adjacent to your O2 modem wireless router and connected to it by Ethernet lead, but set (manually) to "802.11n (802.11b/g compatible)" or to "802.11n only (2.4 GHz)".

Both alternatives in the third of these alternatives might need you to configure the wireless channel of each router manually, to avoid a clash on 2.4 GHz.

Bear in mind that the O2 modem wireless router will probably have only 10/100 LAN ports, whereas the Airport Extreme Base station has Gigabit LAN ports, and also check that the Airport Extreme Base Station is running the latest Apple firmware (7.4.2).

Make sure that the Airport Extreme is set to Bridge mode and ensure that only one of the two routers is acting as the DHCP server and assigning IP addresses.

You may find, as I did, that this Apple document is helpful in setting up your network – particularly the part that starts on Page 48.

BarGin

Thanks for that I will continue experimenting. I have attached an external hard drive to the Airport but have found I can't transfer files to it greater than about 50MB. Small files transfer quickly but large ones give me a network error message. I thought Apple gear was supposed to just work!