Mac-Friendly Third-Party Routers

I am looking for a dsl modem and wireless router that will work with a new cd2 macbook. The mac book doesn't work with my belkin dsl modem wireless router combo. I will probibly go with the apple extreme and a dsl modem. I need to get it right the first time because I live in africa and my visits to the states are few. Thanks

Good info, thanks! I've used two different Linksys routers over the last 2 years w/ my iBook /w no troubles. Other than needing to upgrade the firmware once on the first one.

http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/

be aware that some routers (Linksys in particular iirc) don't pass AppleTalk; this matters, for example, if you have an AppleTalk laser printer, such as Apple's or the old HPs that live forever; as a workaround, you can usually switch to ip printing, but you lose interactivity, such as an alert that your printer's jammed or out of paper

The Apple wireless products are pretty nice to set up, but for some reason they insist on using non-standard language (just to be different?) that makes the finer customizable details seem foreign even to someone who's set up 50 routers. Also, in every test I've ever seen, the Apple base stations are the worst performing wireless routers in both range and throughput. The Expresses are fine, but the base station stands as the only Apple product I actually recommend against.

Funny you should bring this up now. I just replaced my very non-conventional router (a DSL wireless modem --only being used as a router-- hooked up to my DSL wired modem --don't ask) with two Apple Expresses. The old router worked fine but the coverage ended just outside our bedroom no matter where I moved the router and, after months of trying to open up a port on it to network my TiVo, I gave up.

So, last week I was researching new routers. Linksys either got rave or extremely poor reviews for Macs. Finally, I decided that spending the extra money was worth the amount of extra time I might have to spend configuring the non-Apple router.

I bought two Expresses, got the new router up and running and then created a bridge with the second one. And, it took me two minutes to network my TiVo.

I'm in heaven and my wife thinks I'm a network genius (that alone is worth the extra price!).

For me, the main reason to get Apple's access points is that I can manage a huge number of them from a nice little client-side program. None of this web interface garbage that works in some browsers but not in others.

I was thinking of getting an airport extreme over a year ago. The USB printer sharing was a feature that appealed to me as well. But I agree with the author, it was just too expensive even with the added features that other routers didn't have. I ended up getting a NetGear wireless G router. Works pretty well until now and it really was pretty easy to set up. I got it for around $30.

Any suggestions for an Airport Base Station alternative that does include a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) modem. Most wired and wireless routers I've seen are designed for broadband. My father lives up in northern Maine, no cable, no DSL, no broadband wireless either (he's near the bottom of a steep valley). His 56k modem sometimes can only connect at 18k over his current phone lines. Not great network speed, but it would be nice if he and my mother could share the modem connection over their respective laptops. Airport Base Station can do this, but I haven't seen anything else.

Belkin Pre-N. Ridiculous range, configurable until you're blue in the face, and the most reliable out of the 8 or so units I've gone through.

Talking of quality, I've been using the same airport extreme base station and airport express for several years now (4?) with not one single problem. I hope apple maintain this high quality standard for another 30 years.