Benefits of 802.11n with old Macs

I have a couple of reasonably old Macs (1.25GHz iMac, 500MHz Powerbook) which seems to be running more slowly these days when going online. I have a network using a Snow Airport and an Airport express which is probably 5 years old now but has been incredibly reliable.
Would upgrading to the latest versions of Airport Extreme and Express give me a substantial benefit with these old machines or is it time to get a new computer?

I'd work with your current network. Even though you are using B/G you still should be pretty quick. I have mine set to N+B/G and my B/G devices outrun my N devices.

Similar Messages

  • HT1998 what is the latest update for Airport Express 802.11n with the Mac OSX10.6.8

    what is the latest update for Airport Express 802.11n with Mac OSX 10.6.8?

    You can find out as follows:
    Open Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > AirPort Utility
    Click the AirPort Express
    Click Manual Setup
    Click directly on the word Version (3rd line)
    If there are any updates, you will be notified.
    If there are not any updates, you have already have the latest firmware.

  • ASK THE EXPERTS - Update on 802.11n with Fred Niehaus

    Welcome to the Cisco Support Community Ask the Expert conversation. This is an opportunity to get an update on 802.11n with Cisco expert Fred Niehaus. Fred is a Technical Marketing Engineer for the Wireless Networking Business Unit at Cisco, where he is responsible for developing and marketing enterprise wireless solutions using Cisco Aironet and Airespace wireless LAN products. In addition to his participation in major deployments, Fred has served as technical editor for several Cisco Press books including the "Cisco 802.11 Wireless Networking Reference Guide" and "The Business Case for Enterprise-Class Wireless LANs." Prior to joining Cisco with the acquisition of Aironet, Fred was a support engineer for Telxon Corporation, supporting some of the very first wireless implementations for major corporate customers. Fred has been in the data communications and networking industry for more than 20 years and holds a Radio Amateur (Ham) License "N8CPI."
    Remember to use the rating system to let  Fred know if you have received an adequate response.
    Fred might not be able to answer each question due to the volume expected during this event. Remember that you can continue the conversation on the Other Mobility Subjects discussion forum shortly after the event. This event lasts through March 25, 2011. Visit this forum often to view responses to your questions and the questions of other community members.

    So there are two parts of this question, the latter part I cannot address as it is a future question.  Cisco does not comment on products that have not been released or on the strategy of next generation products.
    That said, Cisco was first to market with an 802.11n Access Point and well (we didn't all go on vacation after we did that)
    So let's talk a little about spatial streams in general and how it relates to what customers are doing today.
    The Cisco 1040, 1140, 1250, 1260 and 3500 Series Access Points are all two spatial streams (2SS).
    As of the time of this writing, a critical mass of 3SS and 4SS compatible clients have yet to be deployed, and the vast majority of WiFi clients that will be deployed over the next 18 months will be 1SS and 2SS clients.
    The higher SS clients are likely only show up in some higher end notebooks -- Why? well it is a given that smartphones and tablets are likely to continue to be 1SS and in some rare cases 2SS.
    This is because additional radios used in this technology consume battery life, add to the physical size of the device and increase the cost. Also many devices leverage the same single antenna for cellular as well as WiFi.  Therefore, it is my opinion that 3SS Access Points provide little if any performance benefit for smartphones or tablets in the enterprise today, and any real throughput gain is likely to occur with high end notebooks in close proximity to the Access Point and those are rolling out very slowly and we are monitoring this.
    Now we get to my favorite part of this..  I get to ask myself a question and then answer it..
    So Fred are you saying that there is no value in 3SS and 4SS?
    Of course not, 3SS performs similar to 2SS beyond a short distance, and with any multi-SS product RF interference must be addressed to capture the performance benefits of higher SS Access Points. Actual throughput in any WiFi environment is highly dependent on the presence of interferers and obstacles.
    Without the ability to mitigate the impact of interference, 3SS solutions will "downshift" to 2SS of 1SS and lose all the performance benefits anyway IMHO.
    I don't want to sound like a commercial, but you really do need Cisco cleanair technology in the AP and Cisco innovations deliver more and will go beyond the simple 3SS aspects of the 802.11n standard.
    IMHO it's more about CleanAir, good RF system design, and what we put into the AP with regard to performance "in the environment" and not what is on some spec sheet today.
    For more on Cisco CleanAir see the following URL http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1070/index.html
    Fred

  • Airport Extreme 802.11n with Nortel VPN client

    Hello,
    Has anyone had any experience using the Airport Extreme 802.11n) with a PC (sorry, I have both a PC and a Mac)running the Nortel VPN client?
    The new router works perfectly with the Mac but I also need to use the VPN on the PC for certain functions in my work. On my previous router (Dlink DIR625), I had to set a dedicated virtual tunnel to port 9550 to solve this issue. I think this might still be true for the Airport Extreme but I don't see how to do it. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

    I had the same problem and an apple apple care tech walked me through it yeterday.
    Call them, they were great.
    JK

  • AirPort Extreme 802.11n* Enabler for Mac 4 use with Touch?

    Hello,
    I have a 2nd Gen Touch with the latest updated software. I use Airport to connect to the internet on my new iMac 24". Will the AirPort Extreme 802.11n* Enabler software now offered in the Apple store($1.99) for Mac improve communications between the Touch and my iMac?
    Thanks

    Nope. Your touch is still limited to b/g mode wireless. In fact, if you have an all n network, your touch won't even know that it exists.
    Most of your Mac to iPod communication is via the USB cable unless you are using Remote or other applications that can move files on and off.
    BTW, that software is to enable early intel Macs to use N wireless. If your Mac is relatively new, you won't need it.
    Message was edited by: luvlabs

  • Numerous problems with Airport Express 802.11n with DSL and extending WLAN

    Hi all,
    I have the following hardware:
    802.11b/g Airport Express with firmware 6.3
    802.11n Airport Express with firmware 7.3.2
    MacBook Pro
    iBook G4
    Mac Pro PowerMac 2x450 G4
    Up until now I had been using the old Airport Express as the base station connecting to my PPPoE DSL line, and it worked fine. I wanted to extend the range of this network, and got another newer Airport Express, the 802.11n model.
    First I tried to use the 802.11n to connect to the Internet and the old one to extend the network. Turns out the old one can't be used to extend a network, which is bad enough, but the 802.11n one refuses to connect via DSL for more than a couple minutes, then drops the Internet connection.
    So I tried downgrading the firmware to 7.3.0 and 7.3.1, but it didn't help. Did a hard reset, factory default reset, soft reset, nothing worked.
    Next I tried swapping the two, putting the old Express back on the DSL line and the new one as the bridge to extend the network (using WPA2). But the 802.11n complains that it can't access the network and flashes amber.
    Again, tried upgrading to 7.3.2, downgrading to 7.3.1 and 7.3.0, hard reset, soft reset. Nothing works.
    Any ideas?
    Cheers,
    Fairfax71

    I don't see any option in the Airport Admin Utility for the old Express for creating a WDS network, only to participate in one...?
    That is the option you want to choose.
    You could use the newer AirPort Utility to configure the older AX.
    Sorry, forgot to ask something else: The 802.11n Express is able to join the WLAN created by the 802.11b/g Express as a client, but not extend it, is that what you're saying?
    No. If you join the network the AX is simply acting as another wireless client and is not extending the network. The "extend" option is not available since the older AX is not 802.11n capable. You must use WDS.
    Use AirPort Utiity and follow these steps for both AX's. To set up the main AX:
    Click the AirPort status menu in the menu bar and choose the wireless network created by the base station you want to set up as the main base station.
    Open AirPort Utility (located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder on a Mac, or in Start > All Programs > AirPort on a Windows computer). Select the main base station, and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu, or double-click the base station to open the configuration in a separate window. Enter the base station password if necessary. If the base station is using the default password of public, you will not be prompted for a password.
    Click the Wireless button, and then choose “Participate in a WDS network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu.
    Click WDS and then choose “WDS main” from the WDS Mode pop-up menu.
    Select the “Allow wireless clients” checkbox if you want client computers to connect to this base station.
    Click the Add button and enter the MAC address of the base stations you want to connect to this base station. If there is a base station listed that you’d like to remove from the list, select the base station and click the Delete (–) button.
    Click Update to send the new settings to the base stations in the WDS. By default, the “Allow wireless clients” checkbox is selected. If you deselect the checkbox, and later want to change the settings on the base station, you must connect to the base station’s LAN port with an Ethernet cable. You will not be able to connect to the base station wirelessly.
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    Open AirPort Utility. Select the AX, and choose Manual Setup from the Base Station menu. Enter the base station password, if necessary. If the base station is using the default password of public, you will not be prompted for a password.
    Enter the same network password as the main base station, if necessary.
    Click the AirPort button, and then click Wireless. Choose “Participate in a WDS network” from the Wireless Mode pop-up menu, and choose the same channel as the main base station from the Channel pop-up menu.
    Click WDS and choose “WDS remote” from the pop-up menu.
    Enter the MAC address of the main base station in the WDS Main field. The MAC address is also referred to as the AirPort ID and is printed on the label on the bottom of the base station.
    Click Update to transfer the settings to the base station.
    This can be found on page 42 of "Designing AirPort Networks Using AirPort Utility" (direct PDF download).

  • AirPort Extreme 802.11n for older Macs?

    Are there any plans for Apple to release some sort of upgrade for older Macs so that we can use 802.11n wireless networking?
    I have a Power Mac G5 (2.5GHz DP) and a MacBook Pro 17" Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo), so the hardware in my Macs doesn't handle the 802.11n specification. (Please note that I'm not talking about the software enabler. That's not going to work on older hardware.)
    Are there plans for new AE cards that can be swapped into the G5s or an ExpressCard 34 card for the laptop?
    (And why oh why does the UK government not allow wide channel? UK consumers are stuck with only a 2.5x speed increase, whereas US consumers get the full 5x speed increase.)
    Thanks!

    802.11n refers to a speedy wireless connection. When
    you connect with a wire, you're not using 802.11 at
    all. You're using Ethernet, and your Core Duo mac
    will connect to the Airport Extreme at 100Mbs (a
    little faster than the top speed of 802.11n). Then
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  • Upgrading to 802.11n on older Mac Mini

    I have 2007 802.11a/b/g Mac Mini Intel Core 2 Duo and a few questions:
    1) How can I get 802.11n on this machine?
    2) How much improvement will I see going from a/b/g to n?
    3) Will this enabler do the trick? http://store.apple.com/us/product/D4141ZM/A
    4) How about this USB adapter? http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Newer%20Technology/MXP2802NU2C/
    5) How about getting a Airport Express and connecting to its Ethernet port?
    Any and all suggestions would be appreciated!

    2) How much improvement will I see going from a/b/g to n?
    What you do will determine if you'll see any improvement. For example, if you're only surfing the net, checking email, you may not see any improvement as your speed limit is with your ISP and not Wi-Fi. Many people have "basic" broadband which is less than 10Mbps. This is around 802.11b speeds. So upgrading to g or n will not get you any improvement.
    If you're trying to share files between multiple computers within your own LAN, then you may see an improvement going to n. But it may only be noticeable with moving very large files. (i.e.: movies instead of Word documents.) Potentially it could help if you're viewing movies in the iTunes library on another computer (since it's all on the LAN and not through your ISP.) Listening to music from another computer uses less bandwidth so you likely won't see any difference between g & n.
    4) How about this USB adapter?
    5) How about getting a Airport Express and connecting to its Ethernet port?
    Either could get you 802.11n, if you need to speed up your LAN. The USB adapter is straight forward, but it does require you to add a driver. Newer Tech's website shows the driver for 10.3, 10.4 & 10.5, but doesn't specifically mention 10.6.
    Airport-to-the-ethernet port would work and wouldn't need drivers, but does require some skill configure...at least require a willingness to try. It's not that hard, but many people are put off by networking.
    Me personally, I'd prefer not to have to install drivers since a future OSX update could affect the driver. So I'd be going with the Airport-to-ethernet option. (Actually, I'd be going with wired since you'd get 100Mbps or 1000Mbps (depending on the equipment), which is as fast as the real-world speeds you get with 802.11n (or faster) and has much less configuring than Wi-Fi and less susceptible to radio interference, and I do move very large files to the server on my LAN...but that's just me. )

  • 802.11n in Power Mac G5?

    Hi,
    Now that Apple have released the new AirPort Extreme Base Station, and released an enabler app for those Macs with an 802.11n card/circuitry in, what options are there for those of us with older Macs?
    I'd like to buy the new AEBS and use it with my Power Mac G5 Dual 2.5GHz and 17" MacBook Pro 2.16CD, but there's no point if there is no way of expanding my Power Mac to use it.
    Is the AE card in the G5 user-replaceable, and is there an option I can buy to put 802.11n capability in my computer?
    Cheers!

    this may sound like a silly suggestion, but a temporary fix is to connect the router to the G5 through the gigabit ethernet connection. i don't know of any way to upgrade to "n" as of yet, though if anyone knows i'd be interested too and the Apple TV gizmo seems pretty ineresting.

  • How can use my Airport Express 802.11n with IOS X 10.9.4?

    I have two Airport Express unit (802.11n) used to connect my upstairs and downstairs HiFi amps to my music collection (On a Mac mini and on my MacBook).  I keep my software up to date and my Airport Express units have now lost connectivity with my updated computers.  They do not even appear in UTILITIES/AIRPORT UTILITY - so I cannot reconfigure.  I have tried pressing the reset button and have tried "Googling" it but have had no success.  Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

    Both say A1254 (I think)
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    If the 802.11n airport extreme is the main router, and used in conjunction with older airport extreme/express (single antenna); what will happen?
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    Will the benefits of MIMO be lost?

    According to this Macworld.com article:Once you add 802.11g or 802.11b devices to the network, the performance of the entire network will be affected; it won’t be reduced all the way down to the slower performance of the respective older standards, but performance won’t be as fast as a single-standard network. (And 802.11b devices will affect performance to a greater extent than 802.11g devices will.)

  • 802.11n on new Mac Pro

    Hi there,
    literally just got (yesterday) my new Mac Pro.
    I have a NetGear DG834N router and modem compatible with draft 802.11n
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    Upon starting my new Mac Pro I bought and installed the tiny software patch from Apple that Enables 802.11n. Upon running I get a dialog that tells me that,
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    Second, when I go to the network utility, only on 'network interface (en2)' do I see that it has 802.11 a/b/g/n...
    My question is, how can I tell if I'm running 802.11n....?? Do I have to change anything...?? Or does everything sound in order...??
    Many Thanks in advance.

    I don't have to change anything elsewhere...?
    Nope, if you connect to an 11n capable router it should connect using that format.
    Say the router/modems menu etc...?
    That yes, though the default setup should have 11n enabled. You should check anyway.

  • Can you add new AirPort Express Base Station Simultaneous dual-band 802.11n with a 1st Gen time capsule network

    Hi
    Has anyone tried using the AirPort Express Base Station with a first generation Time Capsule and used it to extend their network, while still being able to use the Simultaneous dual-band 802.11n on their network?
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    The first generation Time Capsule was not a simultaneous dual band device.
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    If your old games are OS 9 programs, then they will not run on the Intel Macs. There is an emulator called SheepShaver (www.macupdate.com) that will run OS 9. Then there's the Mini vMac that emulates an old Mac Plus.
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