The end of my Wifi woes.

by | Feb 20, 2013 | Mobile Technology, Product Review

YYou might be or know one of the millions of Americans stricken with low WifiSignal-itus. It is the horrible feeling you get while waiting for your Wifi signal to go back to full strengh, because thats the only time it ever works correctly.

For years, I’ve struggled with getting a great Wifi signal throughout my home. I have no idea why construction crews in 1932 couldn’t be more forwarding thinking and select wifi freindly building materials. Linksys, Netgear, Dlink and others make Wifi range extenders and boosters that are supposed to make extending your Wifi signal a breeze. I have no idea how they can make those claims, because I think I’ve bought every single one they have ever made and not had consistent success. Until now…

06apextreme_front_450Meet my new Wifi Access Point – the Apple Airport Extreme! And because I want full signal throughout my home, I also bought an Apple AirPort Express to extend my Wifi signal.

Within MINUTES of installing this duo in my home – I all of my Wifi problems were solved. MINUTES! I wasted hours of my life trying to get other products to work. Using this combo I suddenly felt like a Wifi expert.

Apple has 3 products in their home networking line up:

  • The AirPort Extreme ($179) is a firewall, Wifi Access point, has 4 ethernet ports, and a usb port for sharing a hard drive or printer on your network.
  • The AirPort Express ($99) is a firewall, Wifi Access Point, and has just 1 ethernet port. It also has an audio output which can be used with Apple AirPlay technology to play music from iTunes, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
  • Time Capsule ($299 or $499) is firewall, Wifi Access Pint, has 4 ethernet ports, a USB port for sharing a printer or (additional) external hard drive, and has a built in hard drive (2TB or 3TB) for storing backups of your Mac or Windows PCs.

For more details on the differences visit http://www.apple.com/wifi/

As with other Apple device, my experience was simply “magical”. It was easy to use the included software, click a few checkboxes and have my devices configured for me and my wifi extended within minutes. Apple suggests that the AirPort Extreme is meant for a large space and the Express for smaller spaces and that you can use up to 6 AirPort Extreme units to blanket an area with Wifi – all using the latest and fastest wifi technology (802.11n). My wife loves the ability to stream music to another room in our home and I love having a full Wifi signal on my patio (usefull for browsing the web while grilling some steaks).

If you have been struggling with extending your Wifi signal at home, I highly recommend this combo!