Buying an AP Extreme & Need Help

I'll be picking up an Airport Extreme tomorrow and would like some help/advice. I would like to take full advantage of the N capabilities for my MBP, but need to keep B/G functionality for iPod Touch and XBox 360. I know I can run it in mixed mode, but is there a way I can use my current router (SMC) and the Extreme together (so I can run the AEX in N mode only)?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yeah! Its one of the quick setup options when you first turn it on

How would not allowing the iPod and the Xbox to access the Airport Extreme be of benefit? I don't see the advantage of such a setup.

I have a D-Link connected to my modem. Have a couple of Win boxes, the network printer and use that wireless network for my PS3. My Time Capsule (has the Airport Extreme in it) is also connected via ethernet to the D-Link, set up in Bridge mode and use it's wireless network for my MBP.

In my case each router is at opposite ends of the house, so I can change networks on my MBP if needed when moving around the house.

Jaygray said:

How would not allowing the iPod and the Xbox to access the Airport Extreme be of benefit? I don't see the advantage of such a setup.

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Because when in mixed mode the router won't perform aswell as when just running wireless N. So he can have it just N for the macbook and then the other router on G for the touch and xbox.

It's how I'm setup

Dude & Bob, thanks for the help. Just a few more questions for you. Does it matter which is connected to the modem? If I connect the APX to the modem, does that effect the modes I use for the two routers? Since the SMC is a G router, does that make my APX slower? You will have to forgive my ignorance, not real smart is this area.

It should not matter which is connected to the modem.

The 2 routers will be connected via ethernet.

You will have 2 separate and independent wireless networks, one on your SMC and one on your APX.

My setup:

Cable modem ---> Vonage router ----> APX (N only)---> Linksys (B/G)

I also have a Bluray player hooked up to the linksys and an AppleTV hooked up to the APX.

I connect to the Linksys with the iPhone, old Powerbook G4 and wireless printer. The new Macbook Pro is wireless to the APX. I also have a shared disk on the APX.

I did it in this particular order because I wanted the gig-ethernet to be farther up the pecking chain (the Linksys and Bluray are 10/100 only). The AppleTV uses the Gig-ethernet rather than wireless).

My Airdisk speed nearly doubled when switching from mixed mode to N only.

My Vonage router (motorolla) is set up to assign all the IP addresses.

Scott

My setup is from a security perspective... APX has no firewall or port forwarding so im going

Modem --> Dlink Router (G) --> APX (N)

Have the dlink as it has a firewall.. stops anything before it gets into my network.

Finally was able to get everything hooked up and running. Here is how I have it set up:

Router -> APX (2 PCs wired connection) -> SMC

If I add security to the APX, I do not have connections for the Touch and XBox. If remove the WPA security, everthing works fine. Any ideas on what I am missing in my set up?

gigabit ethernet is just about useless in a home networking environment.

fishepa said:

gigabit ethernet is just about useless in a home networking environment.

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It works nicely when streaming movies from my network hard drive to my Apple TV. I don't know if it's faster than the 10x slower alternative, but it makes me feel good.

Scott

Set up a wireless network on the SMC. Use it's network for the XBox and your Touch.

Keep the wireless network you set up on the APX for your MBP use.

Only used wireless on my XBox for about a week until I ran ethernet across the house. Been over 2 years ago and don't have it anymore so can't really help ya there.

Bob,

That's exactly what I did and it works great. Thanks for all your assistance. Incredible internet speed increases on all network computers and my MBP.