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Summary: Airport Rocks
Review: Apple Airport Base Stations have a history of overheating and ruining the electronics inside. I lost a ABS "snow" unit this way. Fortunately, I found at least two online businesses devoted to repair of base stations, or else buying unrecoverable units at salvage prices.Apple Airport Base Stations are often than twice the price of equivalent devices from other manufacturers. The features of the Apple product do not justify such a huge disparity in price. You're just paying for the brand name. Also, think twice before investing in a 802.11g wireless router, because if you use it for Internet via broadband like DSL or cablemodem, you are limited by the bandwidth of the slowest part of the system. DSL/cable bandwidth is typically about one-fifth of the 802.11g bandwidth. So you aren't going to surf the net faster. A faster router helps multiple computers on your local network communicate with each other (for instance, if you host multiplayer computer game parties), but connecting to the outside world doesn't improve. Of course, if you don't have broadband and your router connects via modem, the bottleneck is even worse. Given Apple's track record of poor quality, premium prices, and dubious benefit of the "extreme" model, I do not recommend buying this product. Get a Linksys or Netgear 802.11b router for $40 or so, and you'll be just as happy. That's what I did, and I'm sending my ABS 'snow' unit in for salvage.
Rating: 
Summary: Overpriced and unreliable
Review: Apple Airport Base Stations have a history of overheating and ruining the electronics inside. I lost a ABS "snow" unit this way. Fortunately, I found at least two online businesses devoted to repair of base stations, or else buying unrecoverable units at salvage prices. Apple Airport Base Stations are often than twice the price of equivalent devices from other manufacturers. The features of the Apple product do not justify such a huge disparity in price. You're just paying for the brand name. Also, think twice before investing in a 802.11g wireless router, because if you use it for Internet via broadband like DSL or cablemodem, you are limited by the bandwidth of the slowest part of the system. DSL/cable bandwidth is typically about one-fifth of the 802.11g bandwidth. So you aren't going to surf the net faster. A faster router helps multiple computers on your local network communicate with each other (for instance, if you host multiplayer computer game parties), but connecting to the outside world doesn't improve. Of course, if you don't have broadband and your router connects via modem, the bottleneck is even worse. Given Apple's track record of poor quality, premium prices, and dubious benefit of the "extreme" model, I do not recommend buying this product. Get a Linksys or Netgear 802.11b router for $40 or so, and you'll be just as happy. That's what I did, and I'm sending my ABS 'snow' unit in for salvage.
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Summary: Windows Software is Superb for this Unit
Review: Apple have released "unsupported" Windows software for this unit which makes it very easy to do complex configuration in minutes. It is simply the best Windows software I have seen for configuring an access point. I suspect it is written by Karlnet who are advanced in 802.11b for many years. The unit can be easily adapted to take external standard antennas by undoing three screws and fitting a wireless pigtail. Then you could add an antenna to share the connection across your neighbourhood. You need an MC Plug connector. It is posible to link two units together over a few miles with external antennas and it also repeats the signal from A to B to C. Apple, VBNETS and others sell add on cables and antennas. It is a super wireless unit with great features and is worth the money.
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Summary: Wireless Internet as a Fashion Statement
Review: Apple makes cool stuff, no doubt about it. But one of their coolest products is the Airport Extreme system of wireless internet. Using the Airport Extreme Base Station, in addition to an Airport Extreme reception card in your computer, you can move all around your home or office without the messy clutter of ethernet cables or connection equipment. Setup is a snap using the included instructions. Within minutes you'll be surfing the web and accessing data wirelessly. The only setback is the relative sensitivity of the Airport system. It doesn't like being near other computer components or going through walls. But, when push comes to shove, the unit does its job.
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Summary: Airport Rocks
Review: Ease of use makes this the best choice for mac users.
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Summary: Amazing with other new Airport base stations
Review: I bought this one when I realized that the new airport extreme base stations can work together with what they call WDS-- it allows a base station to get its signal from another one, so you can link them and make a much larger network. Let me explain. I have a house that has really solid walls-- and I had one base station situated really badly so that in the rooms farthest away from the base station were not getting signal. Instead of having to string network cable into the other part of the house, I bought another airport extreme base station. I set this one up so that it received great signal from the original station used that as its network connection (instead of a network cable). I now can get signal everywhere with great reception (even outside) and I only had to plug in a second base station into the electrical outlet. Add that and the super-fast wireless, and you have a very nice system! I am very happy with both base stations (I have both models). I am using a new 17" powerbook (which gets SO much better wireless reception than the titanium I had before!), but it does not get as good reception as the iBook (hence the need for the extra base station). The added USB port for a printer is a nice addition also. As I mentioned in my review of the other model, I have an older base station (3 years old) as well, I the signal from the new ones is every bit as powerful as the old one. Apple mentions that the 54mbps are only available for 50 feet, but it still has signal beyond that up to the 150 feet- just not at 54mbps. The rest of the particulars of these stations are well covered in the previous posts. The are more expensive than some of the other options, but they are also more trouble free. You decide which you is more important. ;-)
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Summary: What A Great Product
Review: I have a 12" iBook and a Dell desktop. I got cable internet, so I didn't need to get the one with a modem. It works perfectly and the wireless printing is really convienent. I reccomend this to anyone who is sick of tripping over wires and being confiened to a single room (or house for that matter)!
Rating: 
Summary: Airport Extreme Base Station
Review: I have had the AEBS for just about a month and have found it to have no problems. I have a PC running windows XP and a Powerbook that is running OS X.2 both are able to connect. I have not run into a range issue at all. I use my powerbook at more than fifty feet and the signal travels through my entire house before it reaches my powerbook which is upstairs. My only concern was that when a microwave was being used in the kitchen would it stop the signal...I have not noticed any change in strength or downloads thus far. Although it is a little pricey for some, I think that is worth the extra money.
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Summary: The quickest settings!
Review: I was surprised with the settings. It was very easy. It took only 5 minutes for all settings. I love this beautiful gagget.
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Summary: It's a cute little guy
Review: I've been using Linksys BEFW11S4 802.11b router for few years now. Other than somewhat short range, it has never let me down. After looking at cheaper alternatives, I bought the AirPort Extreme Base Station (AEBS) as my second WiFi router. Pros:
- Looks really really really cute... and small, too
- Better signal strength than Linksys BEFW11S4
- Innovative USB printer support
- Superb AirPort Admin Utility and tight Mac OS X integration
- Bridging with other WiFi station via WDS (for expanding the range)
- Wall mountable (comes with wall mounting kit)
- AOL and RADIUS server support Cons:
- Susceptible to signal loss (i.e., when using the microwave oven)
- Pricier than most 802.11g router
- No web-based configuration interface
- Only 1 LAN port When you run the AirPort Admin Utility for the first time, it might detect an older firmware and proceed to upgrade itself automatically (if you let it, of course). The new firmware (5.0.4 as I write this) fixes WiFi connection drop issue. For some strange reason, the problem persisted until I manually downloaded and uploaded the latest firmware. I've tinkered with the channel selection to get the optimum results. Running the microwave oven may cause WiFi connection to drop still, however. The AirPort Admin Utility is a pleasure to use, which is also full of features. Among the options are choosing among 11 WiFi channels; operating in 802.11b, 802.11g or mix mode; setting the transmission power from 10 to 100%; setting up Internet via DHCP, static IP, PPPoE, or AOL DSL; and mapping ports. You can improve security via 40-bit or 128-bit WEP, create a closed network by hiding SID (Station ID), and add access control (MAC address filtering). By the way, if you are running Windows, go to Apple's web site and download the AirPort Admin Utility for Windows. It does not specify AEBS, but trust me... it works. Oh, did I mention how beautiful AEBS is? I tucked my ugly Linksys where no one can see (which probably hinders WiFi broadcast), but not so with AEBS. Located on the front are beautiful metallic Apple logo and three graphite status indicators (WiFi, power, and Ethernet). Located on the rear are reset button, 100/10BASE-T WAN port, 100/10BASE-T LAN port, USB printer port, and AC power adapter port (very long power cable is included). If you need more than one LAN port, you will need to mate AEBS with an Ethernet hub. The signal level's stronger than Linksys BEFW11S4. I get full signal virtually everywhere in my apartment, including those where Linksys frequently gave up. If you need greater range (larger house), consider bridging ABES with another ABES via built-in WDS support (Wireless Distribution System) or purchase ABES with Modem and Antenna Port (and one of few external ABES antennas available). Finally, I must mention its built-in USB printer port. Hookup one of many supported printers via USB and you will be able to print wirelessly via Mac OS X's Rendezvous feature. Neat!
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