Airport Extreme Base Station - Good choice for FTTC broadband?

[D-an-W]

Hi folks, our ISP is closing soon and FTTC has recently been enabled on the exchange we use. This will require a new Router so was considering the AEBS to connect to the BT modem and give the wired and wireless networks a bit of a speed boost (Gigabit Ethernet and Wireless N).

The PC can boot OSX SL as one of it's three operating systems but I assume the AEBS can be configured from Windows too?

Are there any negatives in getting the AEBS instead of another brand (Other than cost )?

 

[cwick]

Yeah, you can use Airport Utility on windows to configure Airport kit.

It should be fine for BT FTTC. I'm planning on using mine for the same thing when it gets installed in a couple of weeks.

 

[D-an-W]

Thanks, how do you like it as a router?

 

[cwick]

Very happy with it. Easy to configure, stable & very reliable. Not that I have any recent experience of alternatives, so mine's not a particularly well informed opinion.

 

[D-an-W]

Did you need new / better etherent cables to get the full benefit? I just found out the new face plate accepts RJ11 / RJ45 so I can posistion the new modem under the desk next to the AEBS when it all arrives.

 

[CamFire]

Thanks, how do you like it as a router?

Apart from the renaming of the common networking terms others (Netgear, DLink, etc) use - such as port forwarding - I hear often about the lack of UPnP. Should not be an issue, but in case you need to know.

 

[D-an-W]

Is that nothing that can't be done manually though?

 

[CamFire]

I haven't used the AEBS in "anger" - DMZ, port-forwarding, etc. - but I do know there are a few nice things implemented. Like being able to separate out reserved LAN IP address from the DHCP range - something the consumer Netgear ones (like DG834G[T]) cannot do.

Plus, you get dual-band simultaneous wireless connectivities at 5GHz and 2.4GHz (models A1301, A1354; not A1143).

EDIT: there are plenty of posts re the AEBS and general wireless debugging/complaint/praises/usage in the <Apple Computers, OS and Software> sub-forum so perhaps, you want to try again over there?