Happy birthday, Airport

This brings up a question I have, which is: Is the Airport Extreme Base Station still worth it? And is there a real answer to that question? Seems like everyone has a reason why it isn't worth the $$$ or how easy it is to set up. I have a Netgear 802.11b wireless router that seems to need resetting every week at this point, and have heard the AEBS is simply more reliable... anyone? (or anyone know a good article about this issue?)

Ah, wireless networking came to my house in June 2006. So I guess you could say we're newlyweds.

I got wireless in the summer of 2001, a 3COM wireless device, I got an AEBS later with a modem (as I couldn't get DSL) which worked really well.

The reason Apple stopped selling the orginal Airport card was that the manufacturer of the card stopped making the chips and thus Apple had to decide to stop selling or try and make a completely new card with a new manufacturer for what Apple would term outdated and obsolete products.

I remember going back to 2000 with the Airport Base Station and an ibook with an iMac.

I bought my first Mac, a G4 iBook the summer of 04 from the Apple web site. I forgot to order the Airport Extreme with it so I ran down to Frys and bought one a couple of days before the iBook even arrived. So I was actually wireless before I could use it...
I've only had one problem with it and a quick reset fixed that. So much better than anything my pc friends have had to deal with on their wireless networks.

Jan. 2003. I was 17, and It was a Linksy Wireless B router and network card. Very primitave in its 'hook up' features. Worked great until 2005 when Lightning ran into it, now its a netgear wireless g and a macbook pro :)

I got my first Wireless Network 2002. It is a SMC Barricade 2.4 Ghz Braodband Router. And it works perfect for 4 years now...

I first went wireless sometime in 2003, with a cheap generic card for my then-acceptable Compaq laptop. It was soon upgraded to the Orinoco Silver (similar to the chipset in Airport originally, if I recall) and eventually to a nice netgear 802.11g card to go with my then-new router.

Now I have a MBP and enjoy/lament the built-in simplicity of it's wifi (I miss being able to double range on my Orinoco with an antenna, but I don't miss having a lump on the side of my laptop.) I actually can't wait to see if any good wifi cards are developed for the new slot form factor.

November 3, 2003. I set up my new iBook G4 and AirPort for the first time. Back then I only had dial-up.

Airport is one of those technologies that Apple is under-creditted for. At the time of its release, the Airport Base Station and Airport cards were cheaper and worked better than any other wireless devices on the market. And since Apple started pushing them in all their devices, they quickly lent credibility to WiFi technology, then still in its infancy (IEEE 802.11b was ratified in 1999). Apple wasn't the absolute first to market, but they were the first to market with any significant presence. Seven years later, WiFi is ubiquitous.

I agree with other commenters that Apple's Airport Extreme equipment is showing its age, but I strongly applaud Apple for not adopting any of the "pre-N" technology, since none of the "pre-N" standards have been officially ratified (and have, indeed, changed several times since the first "pre-N" devices rolled out two years ago). I'd like to see a cheaper AEBS, and a big price drop on the Airport Express.

@mrtotes: Yes, there is. Configuring an AEBS with a Mac is [still] 5x easier than any other wireless device on the market.