I have a network (wired and wireless) 802.11g set up in my home. I have a 2wire modem/router combination from att dsl. I would like to take advantage of the n speeds available with my new imac. My intel macbook pro can be upgraded to n. Can I do this by purchasing an airport extreme and connecting it to my 2wire? Is the airport extreme just a router or a router/modem combination?
Thanks.
Rhonda

You would hook the Extreme to your 2wire. The Extreme is not a modem, just a router.

If your only wireless device is the MacBook Pro, you will want to turn off the wireless on the 2wire modem to lessen the interference.

My imac is also wireless. Do I also need to turn off the router feature in the 2wire?

Your setup is similar to the one MacGroup has at the Birmingham Temple.

We have AT&T DSL which comes with a 2Wire DSL Router that is also a 802.11b/g access point.

I plugged in the AirPort Extreme 802.11n base station to it and configured the 2Wire to allow the AirPort to be in the DMZ zone. So therefore the 2Wire's firewall doesn't get in the way. The AirPort has its own firewall.

Then I configured the AirPort with the wireless network "MacGroup". I left the 2wire wireless network on and turned off broadcasting of the name. This way I could have a private network for the presenters if the "MacGroup" network got too bogged down.

In your case you could set up the AirPort as your 802.11n ONLY network and use the 2wire for your 802.11 b/g traffic for any older computers you have. This would prevent the AirPort from stepping down to a slower speed when a slower computer attached. You would need to make both networks different names and setup the AirPort as "BRIDGE" to your 2wire. OR you could simply turn off the wi-fi on the 2wire and just use the AirPort for your wireless needs.

quote:

Originally posted by Rhonda:
My imac is also wireless. Do I also need to turn off the router feature in the 2wire?

Is an Airport Extreme necessary with the at&t DSL Wireless Router with DSL Modem? We just signed up & that's what we were given free with the plan. Won't be up until Thursday, so will actually hook it up then.

Hoping to get wireless access from 2 Mac laptops with Airport cards. (No wireless card in my desktop, but will be doing the wired connection from that computer.)

Also: Should we use whatever is on the at&t router CD to set up, or just system setup on the Macs?

The 2wire box you got will do all that you need. If you wanted to share a printer or hard drive on your network connected to a central location (not a Mac), then you would want the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Jo Disler:
Is an Airport Extreme necessary with the at&t DSL Wireless Router with DSL Modem? We just signed up & that's what we were given free with the plan. Won't be up until Thursday, so will actually hook it up then.

Hoping to get wireless access from 2 Mac laptops with Airport cards. (No wireless card in my desktop, but will be doing the wired connection from that computer.)

Also: Should we use whatever is on the at&t router CD to set up, or just system setup on the Macs?

You can use an Airport Express also to hook up your printer... and speakers if you want.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Terry White:
The 2wire box you got will do all that you need. If you wanted to share a printer or hard drive on your network connected to a central location (not a Mac), then you would want the AirPort Extreme or Time Capsule.

Thanks Terry & Jamie. Our printing needs are simple enough that we'll skip the extra component for now.