Airport Express Base Station

[mabsey]

I've not got one for two reasons:

1. As it is only 802.11g it would slow down by 802.11n Apple network.

2. I've read some really negative reviews about the product, saying it works wonderfully until just over a year old and then boom - it dies (hey, a bit like the Xbox 360 then! )

Anyone got experience of the Airport Express (good or bad) that they want to share?

[Mr. Mayor]

We have an airport express here at Mactropolis.

Used mostly for printing (connecting a printer to the network)

No real issues with it other than when it was first purchased. We had trouble with our wireless phones interfering on the same frequency!

All in all though a good product. I've read the reviews as well, but so far for me nothing bad.

Have the airport extreme base station as well, and let me tell you it's a must have.

[mabsey]

Yeah, I have the Extreme Base Station and think its great.

[Gaz]

Never used and probably never will use an apple base station. always used either netgear or belkin.

[Mr. Mayor]

For what its worth, we used to have a LinkSys router here. When replaced with the Airport base station speeds felt like they doubled...

I didn't measure speeds or anything, but there was an obvious, very noticeable improvement upon activating the base station.

Could have simply been settings or something in the Linksys, who knows.

[mabsey]

I love the Extreme - easy to set up, has never needed rebooting to get it working again (as my Belkins have in the past) and like the airdisk and Printer Sharing capability it provides. For us in the UK though, where ADSL still rules, it is a shame the unit doesn't come with an inbuilt modem (as many of the other brands do) - so we still need to attach a modem to the unit. I use a BT wireless modem/router for this and put that on 802.11g for the PC users and then I put the Extreme on 802.11n-only so only my beloved Apple devices can use it.

[Mr. Mayor]

Geez now that I think about it... I've never had to reboot mine either!

[mabsey]

I've ordered the Airport Express Base Station now as one of my complaints - that it wasn't 802.11n - has been resolved. Should have it some time next week.

[Mr. Mayor]

You'll have to let us know how it goes.... perhaps even write up a hardware review for here and/or the blogs

[webwise]

I'm having problems with my network - just doesn't seem as responsive and zippy as others...currently I have a Verizon FIOS Router (which I doubt I can swap out) with a wireless extender (Belkin) in my living room...now you guys have me considering the Airport Extreme...sigh.