AirPort Extreme Base Station

The sleek, easy-to-use AirPort Extreme Base Station with simultaneous dual-band support is the perfect wireless access point for home, school or small business. It offers fast, 802.11n Wi-Fi access for Mac computers, PCs and Wi-Fi devices such as iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV.

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1570 Questions + 1618 Answers

4.5

Based on 226 reviews

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Purchase Information

$165.00

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Overview

The perfect wireless solution for home, school and small business.

Networking icon

Easy wireless networking.

Connect your DSL or cable modem to the AirPort Extreme Base Station, then quickly set it up with the easy-to-use AirPort Utility, which is available as download for both Mac OS X and Windows. In minutes, you and up to 50 others can use your Mac computers or PCs to surf the web, stream video, share photos and more — without wires.1

Dual Band icon

Simultaneous dual-band Wi-Fi.

For maximum range and compatibility, AirPort Extreme works simultaneously on both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, allowing all the devices on the network to use the most efficient band automatically. It uses the latest 802.11n wireless technology, so you can enjoy up to five times the Wi-Fi performance and up to twice the range of 802.11g wireless networks.2

Guest Networking icon

Guest networking.

Set up a separate Wi-Fi network with a separate password for your visitors. Simply enable the guest networking feature, and your guests can use the Internet but can’t access other parts of your private network, such as your computers, printers and attached hard drives.

Printer icon

Print without wires.

Have several computers in your home or office but only one printer? No problem. Just connect a compatible printer to the USB port on the AirPort Extreme Base Station, and the printer instantly becomes available to all the computers (Mac and PC) on your wireless or wired network. (See system requirements.)

Drive Sharing icon

Share your hard drive.

You can share an external USB hard drive over your wireless and wired networks by simply connecting it to the USB port on your AirPort Extreme Base Station. Called AirPort Disk, this feature is perfect for sharing files and more. If you’re a MobileMe member using a Mac with OS X Leopard or later, you can even access the files on the drive over the Internet.3

Security icon

Strong security and access controls.

Rest easy — AirPort Extreme takes strong measures to prevent unauthorised intrusion into your wireless network. It offers a built-in firewall and supports industry-standard encryption technologies including WPA/WPA2 and 128-bit WEP. Yet it’s still easy for authorised users to connect to the base station, thanks to its simple set-up utility and powerful access controls.

Works with iPhone, Apple TV and more icon

Works with iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, and more.

AirPort Extreme works with Mac computers, PCs, iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Apple TV and virtually all 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi wireless devices — all at the same time.

What's in the Box

  • AirPort Extreme Base Station
  • Printed documentation
  • Power cord

System Requirements

For set-up and administration:
  • Mac computer with Mac OS X v10.5.7 or later and Ethernet or wireless networking capability
  • PC with Windows XP (SP3) or Windows Vista (SP2) or Windows 7 (SP1) or later and Ethernet or wireless networking capability
For wireless client access:
  • Mac with AirPort or AirPort Extreme wireless capability
  • PC with 802.11a/b/g/n
For shared printing:
  • USB printer
  • Mac with Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later
  • PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour for Windows included with AirPort Utility available as download via Software Update.
For shared hard drive:
  • Mac with Mac OS X v10.4.8 or later
  • PC with Windows XP (SP2) or Windows Vista; Bonjour for Windows included with AirPort Utility available as download via Software Update.
  1. Wireless Internet access requires a wireless-enabled computer, a base station or other access point, and Internet access; fees may apply. Some ISPs are not currently compatible with AirPort Extreme.
  2. Performance is based on a comparison with Apple’s 802.11g products.
  3. MobileMe is available to persons age 13 and older. Internet access required. Terms of service apply.
 

Ratings & Reviews

4.5

Based on 226 reviews

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Most Useful Reviews

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    MUCH more powerful than the previous generation

    • Written by from Miami

    The 5th generation AirPort Extreme Base Station is MUCH more powerful than the 4th generation model. My wireless speeds have more than doubled since swapping out for this new 5th generation model.

    The FCC database results confirmed the 2x-3x power output increase, which easily explains the performance increase. Just Google "MD031LL/A" and links to their database results should appear.

    So YES, it's worth the upgrade and you will easily see a speed/range increase, especially in other rooms of your house or apartment that don't have line of sight to the device.     …More

    938 of 999 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Couldn't Be Happier

    • Written by from ELLENTON

    Excellent coverage. Use for all of my WI-FY gear including BluRay DVD Player, WII Game Set, iPhone, iPad2, and Printer. It outperforms two other units that it replaced. Good job Apple. …More

    495 of 552 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent product and easy setup!

    • Written by from Newport Beach

    I've never found routers fun to set up but this one is different. It was a breeze to set up and has been rock solid for almost one year. Great product and superb support, if needed. …More

    490 of 548 people found this useful

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Most Recent Reviews

  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Strongest most reliable router out there!!

    • Written by from Williamstown

    I recently moved to a 3 story townhouse and it works fantastic. Before our move, we used this router in a 5,000 sq ft home and it blew away ALL the competition!! …More

    16 of 18 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Extreme is awesome!

    • Written by from Barrie

    Setup was quick and painless. Nice integration with all Apple products at home. Flawless and very nice addition to our home network. I would recommend this product to anyone. …More

    14 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    USB Disk a Joke

    • Written by from Toronto

    The router is good, as far as routers go. It's fast and easy to set up. One of the key features is the USB disk sharing which is why I bought the router. Apple products are usually superior, so I figured they would have this feature working really well on the APE

    Wrong. I could write to my drive at speeds ranging from 200 KB/s to 900KB/s (the higher speed achieved after 20 minutes or so). I was expecting at least 2 - 3 MB/s write and >5MB/s read.

    If you want a NAS (Network Attached Storage) router, look on CNET for some recommnedations. The speeds acheived here are useless - unable to stream media from the hard drive to any media player without constant interruptions and buffering.

    I returned this after 3 days of frustration.     …More

    45 of 68 people found this useful

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Questions & Answers

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Most Interesting

  • Will an AppleTV be able to access movies on a hard drive that plugged into and shared across the Airport Extreme?

    • Asked by Don J from Wenatchee
    • Mar 13, 2010

    6 Answers

    Best Answer

    While the movies do have to be associated with an iTunes account, the movie files do not need to be on the same drive as the iTunes account. If you deselect "Copy movies to iTunes Media Folder when adding to library" located in Advanced in iTunes preferences before you add the movies to the library, the files will remain on the external drive and will not be added to the drive that runs iTunes. AppleTV will be able to play those movies through the iTunes account. …More

    • Answered by Dede E from San Jose
    • Jun 3, 2011

  • Airport Express as an extender.

    • Asked by Angela K from Clemmons
    • Apr 28, 2010

    3 Answers

    Best Answer

    Yes, an 802.11n AirPort Express will wirelessly "extend" the wireless network of an 802.11n AirPort Extreme. First, open AirPort Utility, select the Extreme and the "Wireless" panel, check the box "Allow this network to be extended," then Update.

    To then setup the Express, plug it in near the Extreme, connect the two with Ethernet cable and again open AirPort Utility, having run software update prior to doing so. After completing setup of the Express, disconnect it and plug it in to an electric receptacle at its intended location.     …More

    • Answered by Andrew H from Carmel
    • Apr 28, 2010

  • Does Airport Extreme provide a greater range than Airport Express?

    • Asked by Paul S from Guildford
    • Oct 1, 2009

    14 Answers

    Best Answer

    The Express is plugged into an electrical socket. The Extreme can be mounted on a wall or ceiling. That makes a big difference as to how your Macs can receive the signal. Where they are located makes a big difference in range.

    Apple keeps improving the antenna layout on both so one would expect similar signal strength on both. But given that the Extreme has separate receivers and transmitters for B/G and N, it should always do better. The problem being, the Extreme will downshift to the lowest common denominator.. so if you have anyone connecting with a B or G card, that is what it will go to, unless you set it to only accept N. The Extreme can handle both independently. I have an older Extreme that I run only in N, and a second AP running G/B to emulate what it can do.

    The newest version of Extreme has even better antenna positioning, which makes for an even better reception. It is the premier Access Point out there right now.

    I'd go with an Extreme.     …More

    • Answered by Fred S from Grapevine
    • Oct 22, 2009

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