Best Wireless Option for an iMac: Airport Extreme vs. The Others

Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Good morning all. First.. the back story:

I just bought the new iMac. Before buying it, I was using my roommate's Sony VAIO in his room. He had a Linksys WCG200 cable modem/router. Since I do all the downloading, I moved the Linksys to my room and it's now hooked up to the iMac. He'll need some kind of wireless adapter to connect to the router in my room. I've already tested the wireless on my laptop and it works. The problem? I noticed that it's much slower on my Mac than it was on his PC. I read through some forums and it seems that the WCG200 doesn't work well with Macs. Some people have suggested a D-Link modem or getting one with a "TI chipset". Then, again, I see that Apple has this "Airport Extreme" thing and, well.. I'm just confused.

Question.. what's going to give me the fastest connection speeds? Do I have to get Airport Extreme? Is D-Link/Netgear better than Linksys? Is it just a case of my having a really old modem? Should there really be a difference in speeds if you're on a Mac vs. a PC? I would prefer to stick with a modem/router (not a lot of space), but am I better served getting a modem AND a router? Also.. what dose my friend need to buy now so that he can find my router? Do they sell external wireless cards?

Sorry for the 9,000 questions. I'm just really disappointed in the speed.


Thanks
 
OP
T
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Added note..

It's even sometimes slower than when I was on wireless...

It locks up and can be super slow pulling pages. I just can't understand how that can be since it's a wired connection now. Anyway... FYI.
 
OP
T
Joined
Aug 27, 2007
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Points
6
More info..

Earlier today, I called my ISP and had them give me the premier Internet package. For awhile this afternoon, it was super fast. Moments ago, it did it again. I got locked up and had to turn Airport back on to borrow from a neighbor - and I have a WIRED connection.

What I've also noticed is that I get garbage when this happens. Sites will come up, but the images will have a question mark in them or there are a bunch of question marks where you'd find text - WHEN the pages pull. I can reboot and it seems to fix it, but.. it seems to be happening quite a bit.

Any ideas? I get a faster (albeit still slow) connection when I'm feeding off a wireless connection (even from a neighbor) than my Linksys WCG200 that is a cable/router combo. The laptop, in the living room, finds the router; no problem. When it was on the PC, no problem. Just connected to the Mac.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top