Apple MB763LL/A AirPort Extreme Dual-band Base Station Review

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(More customer reviews)Hi All,
True to my gadget envy, I acquired one of these dual band extreme base stations to see if they held up to the hype. Sure enough, Apple has improved an old mediocre product with a new more powerful hardware engine and improved software abilities.
Features:
802.11 A/B/G/N DUAL Band radios at 2.4ghz and 5ghz simultaneously.
Gigabit Ethernet ports 1x Wan and 3x Lan.
Guest wireless network.
Disk sharing via USB connected drive.
Access to shared disk via MobileMe (apple mobile me subscribers on os x).
The box comes with the router, the power cord, software cd, and documentation....limited documentation.
Time to test.
Setup: Setup of an apple base station is unlike any other in that you cannot access the setup portal via your web browser. You must install the Apple Airport utility (both mac and windows) in order to set the router up. The software is built very well and provides the typical ease of use known to MAC users. You simply walk through a setup wizard and define simple options for your internet connection, your wireless network, etc, etc. NOTE: When setting up your wireless networks you are able to hit the options button so that you can define a 5ghz network as well (example, main wireless network called wifi, the 5ghz is called wifi (5ghz)). Very easy to setup and get going. You are also able to easily define a SECURED (wpa/wpa2) guest wireless network....which simply means that if you have a visitor they can use wi-fi but not get to any of the computers on your home network. Very Secure....and a great feature to boot.
I was using the old Apple Base Station and kept switching between it and a d-link wireless n router.... I got one of these primarily due to dual band and guest access.
Yes, there are other routers out there that can do this for a bit of a lower cost...but the elegance of the Apple Airport Utility make this a router that can be setup without too much hassle. The software will also identify problems in the setup and have you correct them before it uploads them to the router. These abilities alone make this a router for the non-geeks to be able to setup a robust networking environment at home.
Wireless: As I mentioned before, I am comparing this to an older model apple base station that was single band and worked in the N range. Also compared this against a D-Link DIR-655 which is a 2.4ghz Wireless N router. The section on speed below will detail my wireless experience.
Speed: I have Comcast cable modem service which gives me about 15-25mbps down and 2mbps up....I live in an area where there are probably 5-10 subscribers...so my speed is generally GREAT and never experiences a slow down. The first thing I do when I play with a new router is do a speed test....the new base station is comparable to the others and gets the same exact download/upload speeds over ethernet. There is one exception....using the wireless on this unit yielded BETTER results then the older model and the d-link. Normally when doing a speed test over wireless I get about 12-15mbps and 2mbps up....with this router I was able to successfully hit the 20mbps mark and 2mbps UP. WIN WIN!!!! So I figured that this may be an anomaly and thus proceeded to test a download from Microsoft - a 3.4gb file - which normally downloads anywhere between 900kpbs and 1.2mbps. Surprise.....with the new base station I stayed at 1.3mbps and it did not hiccup even once. The same was true when downloading via a wireless connection, albeit the speed was 1.0mbps....faster then I have ever gotten before. WIN WIN again!
Disk Sharing - Not much to be said here...I attached a Western Digital USB hard drive 320gb and shared it. You simply go into the Airport Utility software and setup sharing of the hard drive and define which password should be used. You can either use the password for the router or setup a separate password to use with Disk Sharing. Speed is dependent upon wired or wireless. I tested while transferring 3 files...one was 2mb one was 100mb and one was a 2.5gb file. The two mb file of course went over before I could blink...the 100mb transferred over in about 3-4 minutes...the 2.5gb took about 15 minutes. The first transfer test was with ETHERNET connectivity. I did the same tests over wireless and found that the times doubled...naturally since wireless is a bit slower I expected that and had no issue with the times.
Mobile-Me - I have not tested the mobile me features just yet but will be testing them in the days ahead and post my results here.
So far I feel this router has hit perfection and will now find a permanent spot in my home...at least until something better hits.
Please do leave me comments with suggestions on the review and or any questions you may have.

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The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school, or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs, and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and Apple TV.

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ZyXEL NWD2105 802.11n mini USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)As a longtime Zyxel fan, I bought three of these. Two of them were meant for a laptop and netbook which each have wireless G cards on board and we were looking for better/further signal with N, as we do have a N router in the house. The third was for a desktop in the same room as the router, just didn't want a wire running across the floor.
Within 20 to 25 feet of the router, the signal and speed are better than the G cards in the laptop/netbook. However, at a further distance, it performs worse. Where the netbook/laptop get a weak, though usable signal with the on board cards, this Zyxel gets nothing. It's also not the case that the router isn't broadcasting the N signal far enough, because 15 feet further from where this Zyxel isn't getting a signal, we have a Zyxel wireless N bridge hooked to a bluray that streams from the internet through the same wireless router without any issue whatsoever.
Though two of the three I now have are useless, I'll keep them as the price is bargain basement, isn't worth the hassle to return, and maybe a need will arise for them in the future.
First disappointment I've had with Zyxel in 13 years.

Click Here to see more reviews about: ZyXEL NWD2105 802.11n mini USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter

The compact, lightweight design of NWD2105 offers excellent portability. Users can easily plug NWD2105 to a USB connector on desktop or laptop computers to upgrade the network speed instantly. In addition, the bundled USB cable makes it convenient for users to adjust the direction of NWD2105. The NWD2105 brings you faster wireless connection than the existing 802.11g standard. With the data transfer rate of up to 150Mbps*, which is three times faster than the 802.11g standard, the NWD2105 offers you the high-speed connection everywhere under Wi-Fi coverage. It not only provides a high-speed network capability, but also works with your existing 802.11b/g network. With the built-in soft AP function, the NWD2105 can help users to create wireless networks instantly. Just plug NWD2105 into a desktop or laptop computer connecting to a cable or xDSL modem, all other wireless-capable devices can connect to the Internet through NWD2105. With WMM QoS certification, the NWD2105 is an excellent solution for you to deliver time-sensitive applications such as video and voice streaming. It significantly enhances your experience on audio, video and voice applications by prioritizing data traffic, so you can enjoy and share multimedia contents with your family or friends without interruption.

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