Official 802.11n standard?

Hi!
Is it possible to upgrade the existing Airport Extreme unit to the official 802.11n version when it's released? Or are we forced to use this Pre-N release in the future as well?
Thanks in advance

I would say there are a lot of depends here.
First, if you are talking about the new 802.11n as the Pre-N release since there is no official 802.11n Standard yet, depends on whether or not the existing 802.11n Extreme meets the final specs of the Standard.
If the final specs require a change in hardware, the answer to your question is probably no. Apple will probably try to get around it with programming. Also, any hardware change would probably cost as much as buying a new AEBS.
Second, if the change requires only firmware update, the answer is probably yes.
And, third, if you are talking about upgrading an 802.11g Extreme to an 802.11n Extreme - the answer will probably be most definitely no.
Lastly, if you are concerned about buying the current 802.11n and then Apple coming out with another one that is upgraded both hardware and firmware wise - welcome to the world of Apple. Apple seldom retrofits. So if that is a big concern to you don't buy an AEBS until the final spec comes out.

Similar Messages

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    Hi,
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  • 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."
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    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.
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    And since I found software for airport 802.11n available for 1.99 US$, Do I need to install this software to be able to run 802.11n?
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    No, special software isn't needed. You have AirPort Utility already installed on your iMac and it is located under Applications/Utilities. Run AirPort Utility and go to Wireless and make sure you have an 802.11n mode selected (whether it is 802.11n only or 802.11n with b/g compatibility enabled).

  • Upgrade to 802.11n??

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  • WRT54GX4 upgrade to 802.11n

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  • Will we see new firmware now that 802.11n was made official?

    Will we see new firmware for N routers now that 802.11n was made official a while back?

    Let me first say that I am not employed by Cisco or Linksys, and that this is just my opinion:
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    Message Edited by toomanydonuts on 11-05-2009 12:36 AM

  • High Definition - is 802.11N Draft standard fast enough for streaming?

    My understanding, from what I've read, is that 802.11n draft standard is actually only running at 50% speed of the actual final 802.11n protocol that will be out in a couple of years.
    If Itunes starts selling HD content or I import an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc to Itunes, is the 802.11n fast enough to be able to stream this content to Apple tv? Has anyone tried this?
    Thanks!

    My understanding, from what I've read, is that
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    will be out in a couple of years.
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  • Voltage specs and international question about Airport Extreme (802.11n)

    I'm about to travel to Korea to teach English for a year so I'm preparing all my electronic gear for the journey and I've come to a curious question involving the Airport Extreme with 802.11n.
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  • New Macbook Air will not connect to 802.11n, but my old 2011 model will

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    The warranty entitles you to complimentary phone support for the first 90 days of ownership. If you bought the product in the U.S. directly from Apple (not from a reseller), you also have 14 days from the date of delivery in which to  exchange or return it for a refund. In other countries, the return policy may be different.

  • Connections dropped, DNS and server timeouts from new Lenovo with 802.11n

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    Any advice is hugely appreciated. It ***** to "upgrade" to headaches! (Ha! the forum software doesn't like a synonym for "vaccuums". Apologies to the nuns at Apple for my potty mouth.)

    New Airport Extreme, works great with Windows XP
    machine ethernetted into it, and also with a MacBook
    with wireless-N.
    But my brand new Lenovo T60P with wireless-N is
    flakey with the Airport. It connects fine with a
    100% signal, using the WPA2-PSK / AES setting on the
    Lenovo (WPA2 Personal security in 802.11n b/g
    compatibility mode on the Airport). Most of the time
    it works quite well.
    But very frequently (every five minutes?) one of two
    things will happen: with the signal still registering
    fine in the taskbar (and in the laptop's wireless
    "status" utility), it will become unable to locate
    any website, including google.com, etc., and
    refreshes of currently-displayed websites yield
    server timeouts. The browser (firefox) gives a DNS
    timeout message. The second thing is just your basic
    dropped wireless connection. It will reconnect by
    itself after a while.
    Any advice is hugely appreciated. It ***** to
    "upgrade" to headaches! (Ha! the forum software
    doesn't like a synonym for "vaccuums". Apologies to
    the nuns at Apple for my potty mouth.)
    What you experienced is not a surprise as 802.11n is not a standard yet and each manufacturer has developed it own "pre-n" version. Right now Apple (base station) will work with Apple (notebooks), Dlink (routers) will work with Dlink (PCMCIA cards), etc.
    Lenovo is no different. You can expect 80-90% compatibility, but not 100%. To expect cross-vendor 100% compatibility, you will likely have to wait until 802.11n is "approved" and then the firmware is updated on all devices.

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