I also noticed a greater effect on throughput when I used the 15-inch PowerBook G4, which has notoriously worse built-in AirPort reception than the 12- and 17-inch PowerBooks and the iBooks. With an antenna, that number rose to around 40, an acceptable connection. The highest MacStumbler rating I’ve seen - for a signal measured right next to a Base Station - was in the low 90s.) For example, without one of the antennas, signal strength 25 feet from the Base Station dropped to the 20s in my house. (On MacStumbler’s scale, a weak signal is below 40 and a strong signal is 70 or higher. In my tests, I used MacStumbler as a gauge of relative signal strength, which nearly doubled at all ranges with the Direct antenna and increased by a little less with the Omni. The AirPort Extreme is a residential gateway combining the functions of a router, network switch, wireless access point and NAS as well as varied other. (The number of little black curves in the AirPort menu-bar icon roughly indicates signal strength.) The shareware utility MacStumbler more accurately measures reception quality by sniffing out available wireless networks and telling you their signal strength. Wireless throughput drops drastically as signal strength decreases, so the improved reception provided by antennas can increase throughput. 100240V AC, 5060Hz input current: 1.5 amp Operating temperature: 0 to 35 C (32 to 95 F) Storage temperature: 25 to 60 C (13 to 140 F) Relative humidity (operating): 20 to 80 non-condensing Operating altitude: tested up to 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) Maximum storage altitude: 4,500. That was only 20 to 50 additional feet of coverage, but the antennas made the difference between two-room coverage and coverage of my entire 1,450-square-foot house, which was all I needed. So just how much do these antennas actually improve your range? In my house, the Direct gave me more than double the range of the AirPort Extreme in one direction, and the Omni increased range by about 50 percent in all directions. The Direct promises to extend the range to 500 feet, but only in one direction.
The Omni purports to extend the 150-foot range to 250 feet, for an overall threefold increase in coverage area, or 67 percent in any given direction. With no added antenna, the AirPort Extreme promises a 50-foot range at 54 Mbps, and a 150-foot range at 11 Mbps. It features next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi, a powerful beamforming antenna array for higher performance and range, simultaneous dual-band support, and a new vertical design with a smaller footprint. It, too, betters AirPort coverage.Īs any AirPort user knows, performance claims are always optimistic, and real-world results are much lower. The AirPort Extreme Base Station offers Wi-Fi speeds up to 3x faster than the previous generation. It’s designed for long corridors and large open rooms such as warehouses and auditoriums. By contrast, the Extend-Air Direct ($150) adds even more antenna power (6.5 dBi worth), but it focuses its coverage in a 70-degree beam.
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