Apple cancelled this, now what?

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 Apple's iBook & Airport brought Wi-Fi to the masses
0:53 My Airport Setup
2:13 Apple from years past
2:59 The Solution: Wi-Fi
4:20 1st Gen Airport in 2023
5:36 Wi-Fi routers nowadays
6:40 Apple did mesh networking first
7:52 Goodbye, Apple Airport

[@koalaunknown]

It would be cool if they turned the full size HomePod into a mesh network router.

[@Dogedadogo]

THIS IS ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA! They could call it the Homepod Max or pro or something or extreme

[@thefriendlycar2nist836]

would allow them to compete with google (currently google routers/extenders also function as smart speakers)

[@Mareks_Riekstins]

That is actually a genius idea

[@jonaskohl13]

@@Dogedadogo What about the name "HomePort"?

[@flyingpanhandle]

@@Mareks_Riekstins It's so good Nest Wifi did it years ago.

[@chriswaldrip2739]

They should totally get back into Wi-Fi routers. Their expertise in software UI would be amazing compared to the crap UI we get from everybody else these days. Today you either get the most simplest experience, or you get something that make network admins giddy! There’s no real in between…

[@leonro]

I wouldn't really count on Apple to deliver a great Wi-Fi user interface. The way their software is now, I'd be surprised if you had too many options available.

[@xPorkchops007x]

Their last router isn't that bad still. I would consider buying one and waiting to upgrade until WiFi 7 is affordable.

[@WilkinsonX]

Ubiquiti was happy to pick up the bag.

[@user-wj7sm9bm6p]

Unifi from Ubiquiti

[@ozymatic3291]

Second UniFi, it’s an Apple equiv. eco system for home networking.

[@jeffw991]

The Airport Express was so dope for traveling back in the short period of time when most hotels had wireline Ethernet, but very few had WiFi.

[@flammablewater1755]

I used to travel with a 50ft ethernet cable.

[@thetechchannel321]

nice @@flammablewater1755

[@Solkre82]

@@flammablewater1755 Chad Cat5 they'd call him.

[@VM-lt9wl]

They were really the first to offer a travel router. I have a couple different models from TP link now. A tiny little usb powered one, and one with a built in AC adapter. Don't know why I needed them but the sales were nice.

[@JGott0001]

I had a 802.11g Linksys travel router in high school. A lot of fun nerdy memories involved that thing.

[@batmatty93]

Really wish Apple never left the router game. Yes, they were a bit expensive but they were built to last and looked good. I bought an Eero a few weeks ago because it didn’t look ridiculous and was decently affordable.

[@thetechchannel321]

It could have been awesome if they stayed in the game

[@dr_brewer]

I still use my AirPort Extreme and it’s the best router I have ever used by far.

[@SGCSmith]

I think a lot of their prominent AirPort engineers went to Ubiquiti. Also so many ISPs just force routers on people that extra coverage can be accomplished with APs these days.

[@jbrovage]

@@SGCSmith this explains why Ubiquiti is the only thing i've thought looked even remotely good enough to replace my Apple gear. A good UI in home-networking is a delicate balance of simplicity, with lots of features buried just out of sight to the "consumer grade" user.

[@SGCSmith]

@@jbrovage Yep. I like to install Ubiquiti hardware for businesses and homes too. It's intimidating at first but it is hardware I wouldn't mind handing off to someone to figure out on their own in the future. They've certainly made the whole experience simple enough for anyone to use, while having enough features around to make them appealing to use over a more consumer oriented device. They are by no means on the same level as Cisco Meraki or Enterprise level like Ruckus, Cisco, Juniper, or HPE, but they work in many instances.

[@salocin9009]

A used AirPort Extreme is an incredible value here in Australia or other countries where not everyone has crazy fast internet plans. 802.11ac or wifi 5 is still viable for most, the fastest wifi plan available in Australia right now has 1000 mbps (1 gig) download (the fastest I can get where I live is 100 mbps download and I live in an urban area).

[@CommodoreFan64]

Damn that sucks man, here in the US in a somewhat rural town I'm on T-Mobile 5G Home Internet to save some cash, and with their Gateway placed in a clear windows pointing towards the tower, I'm seeing 600 Mbps + down(rare burst to over 800 Mbps), and 50 Mbps to 150 Mbps + ups usually with sub 24ms idle ping times. I could get gigabit internet here form the local cable company, but they want to charge a kidney for it each month after their promo rates, and hidden fees, and I was like NOPE!!!

[@BeesonsCars]

@@CommodoreFan64That's really good speeds from a 5G home internet service. Is the ping usually consistent?

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@BeesonsCars Yes usually, but I'll fully admit that I've had a handful of times since Feb 2023 when I signed up where my speed dropped to unusable where I had to reboot to get them back, or wait a couple of hours. Also the way T-Mobile handles IP addresses their service dumps me out in Atlanta, GA about 3 1/2 hours west of me, so I have to set my location for things like KZbin TV with my phone, and they had a glitch for about 2 days back in June where it was dumping me random places like Miami Florida, Baltimore MD, New Orleans LA, etc.. each time I rebooted my gateway till I finally got Atlanta, GA back which caused location base issues along with speed issues, but none sense, but If you ever do sign up just make sure you try to get the Sagemcom F@st Gateway, or the new one in white with external SMB antenna connectors with your own 4X4 Antenna for an outdoor setup, as they are the most stable with the best speeds, and don't use the internal WiFI unless it's for speed testing on 5Ghz as it causes the Gateways to run hotter than they should under prolonged use, and you will have to play with the location of the Gateway along with learning cell metric data on the T-Mobile app, and the utmost important thing is to make sure on their coverage maps you are in their 5G ultra capacity range for the best speeds/pings.

[@niamhturner1451]

yeah i mean here in Scotland its a great value as in most of our largest city you can only get about 30mb, but rurally can get much better meh 30 is still more than i really can use xD

[@CommodoreFan64]

@@niamhturner1451 While 30Mbps is for sure usable for a couple of people, but if you have a household with a family like me, where in just one room 2 college football(America Football of course) games are going, 2 wrestling streams, 2 phones, 2 laptops, several Google Nest devices, smart plug adapters, a kid gaming, etc.. 30Mbps just ain't enough that's for sure, which is why I'm glad I have fast 5G internet at a decent price.

[@agraham57]

The only thing I sincerely miss from apple is the time machine backup. Linux has some things that are close, but nothing is as good as apples time machine.

[@k1lkenny]

You can set up a NAS and set it as the target for TimeMachine actually. Thought obviously it's a bit more tinkering.

[@agraham57]

@@k1lkenny I've got my moms macbook set up to backup with time machine to a USB drive and havent been able to convince her to fork out the cash for a nas. When I said I miss time machine, what I meant was that ever since radeongate and my experiences with apple support for their extended service window for that issue, I will not spend money on apple products ever again.

[@curiousurick]

I just set up my Linux server to be a Time Machine backup for all the Macs in my house. It took a while but now I don’t have to think about it. I really wish I could use it for my iPhone to stop paying for extra iCloud.

[@Patraks]

@@agraham57 My ASUS gaming router actually supports connecting a USB hard drive to it and it has a built-in Time Machine USB hard drive backup feature. It was so simple and easy to setup!

[@Mewcaloid]

Omg yes I was so surprised they don’t make them anymore >_> love how it auto synchronized

[@dataterminal]

First (silver) and second (white/dial up model) had dial up connectivity. Allowing for 56k dialup connections to not only be shared over wifi and the ethernet port, but also dial on demand when ever a wifi client needed internet access, making accessing the internet seamless. Something, sadly our friend Jonathan didn't seem to get to joy that. Also, side note, on the second gen models with the dial up modem, you could even dial in remotely and it'd work as a VPN like service, allowing you to use your home internet connection if you had broadband services, and access the other machines on the network.

[@tvdan1043]

I started with the old stalwart of '00s wifi: The Linksys WRT-54G. Bought it in 2005 along with a matching PC card for my laptop. Used it for more than a decade until I ditched the cable internet in my neighborhood (Cox) because the router could still handle more speed than my ISP-provided modem could provide. Once I switched to fiber internet I had to upgrade my router but I still kept the old Linksys as a backup and had to use it a couple of times. Those things were tanks!

[@Liniboy43]

Omg the moment he pulled back the keyboard, taking it apart in 5 seconds. If only our modern MacBooks could have a replaceable keyboard like this. It literally takes hours and ~100 screws to replace the new MacBook keyboards :0

[@MindfulProgramming]

seriously that was so cool to see. Apple please bring this back!

[@vaughnsc]

Since you asked: I was at MWNY’99, saw the AirPort banner as I walked in the convention center, and promptly preordered the iBook (marketed as ‘iMac To Go’) and the OG ABS (which amusingly also had an OEM WaveLAN PC Card inside). Prior to delivery I was hauling a 50 foot 10BaseT cable around the house. IIRC the routing was performed by CommuniGate software on my desktop Mac, using dialup. Good times!

[@cnelson3225]

I have pretty fond memories of the Apple Airport routers. The school I worked for had them deployed and they had about 50 of them in their network just in one building. They never stood out in any way or had amazing features, but they worked every day up until they all got replaced by a high end ruckus system right when I left. They're pretty legit and I have an old dome shaped one in my apple collection just because I had such a good time with them.

[@azblueauthor8081]

These dives into old Apple tech is why I subbed to this channel, even though I love the rest of the LMG stuff.

[@kraizyace2612]

My first wireless router was a Netgear WNDR3700 I bought back in 2010 to go with the HP Pavilion dv7-3165dx I had purchased (names just rolled off the tongue back then). In 2017 I flashed DD-WRT onto it to squeeze some extra life into it. I still have it to this day, but instead I'm currently using a crappy Arris SurfBoard cable modem since my local NEX didn't have that good of a selection to choose from.

[@WilliamHaisch]

The first graphite AirPort had a WaveLAN Silver PCMCIA card in a carrier that hooked it up to Ethernet or a phone line! 😊 I used to pilfer old AirPort base stations to upgrade old PC laptops that needed wireless. The Silver version could only do 64-bit WEP encryption (I bet it made it easier to export!). The Gold version could do 128-bit WEP.

[@BLASTIC0]

that last Apple Airport router, the 2013 model was the BEST FREAKING ROUTER EVER, so reliable... Im actually still using it and I do some pretty intense stuff. I just dont have any devices that use wifi that are, say, lacking or wanting for more speed. the model before that one was pretty darn good too, only died on me because i had it hanging out a window for range and forgot to pull it back in before it rained. lol

[@brokawmike]

I put mine in the in-laws house a couple years ago and have not had a single wireless complaint since. Couldn’t say the same for the Orbis, Eeros, or ASUS mesh stuff I’ve tried until landing on the AMPLIFI kit

[@OthMar39]

Last week I bought two AirPort Extreme and one Express to extended the WiFi signal to cover my whole apartment. I’m very happy with the setup and didn’t notice any issues.

[@fraliexb]

I got my first wifi router around 2001-2003. Probably a rental model from my isp (insight broadband), which became spectrum eventually, and a combination modem/router/wifi unit (arris). Even think it was only 802.11b

[@SparkyGaming212]

I actually still have my family’s old 1st gen Airport Express. It still works and I can still use it as an access point or Airplay receiver. Never tested the printer functionality, but honestly never really needed it.

[@cromulence]

I still use the same 6G AirPort Extreme and I can absolutely get 1gbps speeds wireless to my NAS reliably. They’re great value for what’s still a decent router. I wish they’d continued the line.

[@mo3k]

Great video! Love the historical 90s vibes and information lead up to today. As a sad subscriber on iCloud Family PLUS Extra Storage, I would love a modern local iCloud-time-capsule approach.

[@QuinTheFly]

After a faux pas repairing my iBook G3, I demanded compensation. AppleCare offered me an AirPort Express for my troubles. It was amazing! It was my first foray into WiFi and led to me implementing Extremes. I was sad when the line ended. Great nostalgia trip

[@SamMoffatt]

The Airports also used to have support for enterprise style features like RADIUS auth and SNMP. I used one as my home gateway for years and loved that I could monitor it easily. They were more expensive but they also had many more features. I tried to move to some Eero’s but they couldn’t see stuff on my network the Airports have no issues with. The old MacOS Server also used to support managing them as well for a great ecosystem experience.

[@AlanTheBeast100]

First WiFi/Router was a used Netgear I traded for a computer case. I gave that Netgear WiFi/Router to a friend. He used it for years. All in all it saw well over 10 years use. I had an AirPort (the small audio one), but always had connection issues of some sort with whatever WiFi router I was using at the time. Sent it back.

[@rkchang77]

My first wireless router also had an integrated parallel port, so that it could also serve as a printer server. I want to say that it was a Siemens router from 2002-ish. I remember the wireless part working flawlessly. To make it a viable print server to work with my iBook at the time, I had to do some finagling with CUPS print server interface. I seem to remember that it only lasted about 2-3 years, because I by the end of grad school, I had switched over to using a Linksys router and an external Hawking print server.

[@LubomirGeorgiev]

My first one was of course WRT54G probably 2004-2005. Back then many laptops still didnt have built in WIFI and needed a PCMCIA one.

[@TheRockingest]

Apple had Airport incorporated in the Pismo Powerbook around the same time as the iBook. Talk about a really cool laptop! on it you had 2 bays that you could swap out different peripherals you could even put in a battery on one side and then ANOTHER battery on the other side! The airport express was super cool for building a wireless sound system in your house. You could plug a bunch of them like Glade air fresheners around your house and then select them with your iPhone or Macbook iTunes to play music in one room or area at a time or all. Truly cool stuff.

[@Epicgamer_Mac]

Our home is kitted out with four Eero Pro 6 WiFi mesh router hubs, but I still have my AirPort Express 2nd gen. That was my first router. I use it as an AirPlay target for my 21-year-old Hifi system!

[@randocalrissian9217]

I'm an AirPort Extreme to Asus router convert. My neighborhood got upgraded to fiber and I needed a modern router that could handle > 2.5Gbps WAN. I ended up getting the GT-AXE16000 and it's been working very well in my mostly Apple device and AirPrint environment. it sits nexts to my fiber modem and my PS5.

[@Maximusrex4575]

My first Wi-Fi router was an Orinoco and it supported Dial-up as well as Broadband, which was just starting to become common where I lived in the early 2000's. It had a PC card for my Laptop and the router itself had a PC Card hidden inside. These days my house is wired with 4 UniFi APs, 3 inside and one outside for back yard coverage.

[@brokawmike]

Despite being pretty network savvy, when I’m at home I just want stuff to work. Airport was an absolute godsend, starting in the mid 2000’s when I could walk around our college house like a god getting internet on my PowerBook anywhere, with the rest of the guys running Ethernet through windows and holes in the walls. When I switched from my AirPort Extreme in 2017 to newer mesh setups, it wasn’t until I got AMPLIFI Aliens in 2022 that I had an “it just works”experience. If Apple released a WiFi 6e/7 AirPort Extreme, I’d buy a pair immediately.

[@marksterling8286]

I got my first WiFi access point back in 2001 my internet connection was still dialup at home but I had a Linux box act as the router to dialup for the network on demand. I still use 8 AirPort Extremes I love how they use the 1003 vlan for guest network. They just work (just a little slowly now)

[@evan]

I still own the time capsule and used it up until getting a wifi 6 router in 2020. I loved how perfect it was for me and for backing up everything. Wish they’d come back

[@alexmiranda6107]

the print server idea is really cool, I don't know why any company hasn't tried making printer that is also a wifi router/ethernet switch. most people with printers use network attached ones (I think), and it is usually near the router so why not combine them, lots of printers have their own wifi networks for wireless printing, why not just make it a full fat wifi router

[@alexatkin]

Because barely anyone uses printers any more, never mind wanting to leave it turned on 24/7. Quite apart from the fact what's the odds that your broadband comes into the house right where you have your printer? Plus many ISPs mandating or at least encouraging and supplying their own router anyway.

[@EthanWI349]

I purchased the iBook G4 and the AirPort Extreme base station sometime in 2004. The model that I had included a built in 56k modem for wirelessly connecting to a dial-up ISP. Even though I was still limited to dial-up speeds, it was still life changing that I could use my laptop in any room of the house.

[@TimR123]

Around 2000 with an 802.11b setup and PC Card adapters. Huge PITA to get the Windows machines I had working with it. Also challenges with my ISP which only understood that one computer could connect at a time VIA DIALUP. Yes, my first WiFi setup was access point only using a software router on my pc that would dial out on demand and share the connection. Mind blown huh 😏. Funny side effect is that my current SSID is the street I lived on back then. It just stayed when I moved and now that it’s been forever, it isn’t even a security concern.

[@notenoughmonkeys]

I always like it when companies design their hardware to have uses beyond obsolescence when their time inevitable comes. Like iMacs being usable as monitors, AirPort Extremes being useable as Time Machines, and of course Asus routers being useable as foot stools.

[@MindfulProgramming]

True, although sadly the "Target Display" feature has been obsolete for a while. Similar things exist(Sidecar and Universal Control), but.. it's still different. Also for clarity with regards to prospective buyers, Airport Extreme and Airport Time Capsule are different devices. Extreme can have attached external storage to operate as a Time Capsule, meanwhile Airport Time Capsule has built-in storage.

[@arashitempesta]

Excuse me but that 4:47 swapable bay by pulling up the keyboard is cool as hell, didnt know we had this

[@peporgan]

AirPort was awesome! I still enjoy getting out my original iBook and loading web pages. Took it to a library too :)

[@Ebalosus]

One thing I feel is missed in the history of Apple routers is that for a long time, good consumer routers were hard to find. Even as late as 2010, you were either stuck with the crap provided by your ISP, or cheap crap from your local big box electronics retailer (D-Link in my case), or you were forking over a lot of money for a commercial wireless router that even if your internet speeds could match, you were paying a hell of a lot of money for not a lot of benefit. Apple routers, despite their lack of advanced features, were actually very competitively priced compared to a lot of the competition for what you got, hence why if you owned at least one Apple product, it made perfect sense to own an Apple router. Around 2011-2012 however, consumer wireless router began to stop sucking, meaning that Apple routers started looking overpriced compared to what TP-Link or Linksys or Netgear were beginning to offer, hence the need even amongst Apple people for Apple routers declined; and is why I felt they shuttered their router division.

[@fungalgrowth]

wrt54gl was released in 2005 my friend

[@roberttranceedm]

I have an Airport Extreme in our home, active, working and we are still quite happy with it. And, it is indeed 10 years long with us.

[@N9199]

My family used the last airport time capsule and last airport extreme in our house until the pandemic hit and we needed better speed, we still have them though, but we don't actively use them anymore

[@user-cy4iz2er1p]

I still use my airport extreme and time capsules. But when all connected by an Ethernet cable you have a network for the home with close to gigabit speeds based on proximity

[@Lord_Mangoat]

I had one of the very early models of the AirPort Base Station (AKA ABS for short). Even kept updating to the latest model, until I think before the AirPort Extreme came out. Around then we got a model with WiFi built-in and it was just easier to just use that instead of buying another AirPort Base Station.

[@ThePwig]

I still have and use my AirPort Extreme AC and love it. It still has great speeds for my use. I use gigabit fiber and ethernet for important stuff and everything else is wireless at around 300-400mbps

[@5urg3x]

The PowerBook G4 Ti (Apple's first dance with Titanium, which was a fkn disaster btw) had WiFi. It was my first WiFi enabled laptop that I ever owned. And it SUCKED BALLS. The antenna was absolutely comically bad. It was this tiny little nub that you clicked in and out, and that's it. I can still to this day remember sitting in a computer science lecture hall in college, and wondering why everyone else's laptop could connect to the wifi access point, but mine couldn't. I eventually figured out that if I sat in a certain spot, it would kind of work, but even then it would still cut out all the time.

[@domkalan]

my first wifi router was a airport express, loved that thing way ahead of its time

[@speakingsoftly]

I love my TimeCapsule. I still have one sat alongside my Mini server and NAS

[@christopherneufeldt4035]

I think it was 2006 or so when I had an IMac G5 iSight, 1.9GHz. It was when my parents had AT&T internet and the network modem was from 2Wire which had wifi capabilities. I managed to figure it out and had wireless internet long before my parents knew or anyone really needed it in my family. So that was cool as it opened up so much for me in terms of learning about new technology and of course, spending too much time in forums and messaging apps at the time. But it was fun.

[@foreverchilling5120]

Wow what a blast from the past. My first job was working with the “Founder of WiFi”. 4 years later the entire department shut down. The pace of change in wifi was too fast to keep up. Crazy times the early 2000s

[@Pasi123]

We got our first Wi-Fi router in 2006 when we got fiber internet. At first the only Wi-Fi devide we had was my mom's Celeron M based Fujitsu Siemens Amilo laptop which was basically the family computer. In 2007 my mom got a Nokia E65 smartphone with Wi-Fi, at some point we also got a PCI Wi-Fi card for a PC located in a different building. My first device with Wi-Fi was my HP Compaq Mini 110c netbook in 2009 and my first smartphone with Wi-Fi was an old Nokia N93 in late 2010 or early 2011. In 2011 I also bought a Nokia N810 Internet Tablet which is a small Linux based handheld I've never had any Apple routers etc.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

i loved streaming music from my ibook g4 to my stereo via my gen1 airport express. That thing was super handy and small -oh, and it had optical.

[@PlanetLinuxChannel]

I’ve honestly found Synology routers to be the best drop-in replacement. While their up-front cost is a bit steep, it’s because the hardware and software are both REALLY good. And it offers all sorts of features like parental controls, per-device or per-user profiles, and ad blocking, all included where a lot of other brands charge an extra subscription for those things.

[@applesushi]

I remember us using WaveLAN and Orinoco cards at work. I never had HomeRF exposure but I do remember using an Apple AirPort Express for years.

[@lillieliz4442]

To this day I can remember the day wifi was first installed in our house, it was a cold August 2009, and I had just started second grade... those were the days man

[@dundermifflinity]

First time viewer, loved this video. I’ve been a sys admin for 25 years and for the last 10 years focused on ultra low latency networking for financial trading. You didn’t put a foot wrong here, it was entertaining, factually accurate right down to the back stories for WaveLAN. Nobody remembers that! I’m still laughing at Apple championing early Wi-Fi standard and leading the way for consumer adoption by managing to shrink a Wi-Fi adapter down to a PCMCIA Wi-Fi card, then insisting you have to take your laptop apart to install it under the keyboard! They’ve never changed. Aesthetics first, “ugly” but really useful PCMCIA slot on the side, never.

[@chasapple4]

The last generation AirPort Extreme can handle 50 clients. You may not have gotten the full speeds if you had channel over lapping with other Wifi Networks or devices or things causing interference. The Extreme also have a USB 2.0 port in the back for printer sharing or Storage sharing (tho now a days that would be way to slow)

[@AlphaRaptor2k6]

I used the second gen Airport(White) because it had a dial up modem and I was the only one on the network(on first a Casio, then Compaq PDA). I may have used it once on an old PC laptop, but then we got cable internet(and upgraded to a Linksys router).

[@rollor]

still have a bunch of 10-year-old airport express powering ceiling wireless speakers in the house. these things are tough, and actually cost-effect solutions 10 years ago.

[@Conchobhar]

I got a wallwart 802.11n AirPort Express in uni, which I sold to a client when I worked at a computer store years later and the store reimbursed me with the 2nd gen model 802.11n Express which I still use to this day to stream all my music to my stereo.

[@ingikjartansson]

They should go into the router business again

[@leonro]

But what could they even contribute to it?

[@JumpeFurby]

They really should not 😂

[@Zatchillac]

If you ever owned one you wouldn't say that

[@dukeseb]

They did… it’s called ubiquiti

[@Ebalosus]

⁠@@Zatchillacpray-tell? What issues have you had with them? The only issues I’ve had is a lack of advanced features.

[@IcyyDicy]

I stayed at a place with an airport router over the summer and it was genuinely awful. Constant random disconnections, broken port forwarding, and requiring a DESKTOP APP TO CONFIGURE IT. All of my problems (but port forwarding) were solved when I daisychained my own router to it.

[@taylorlightfoot]

My first wifi router was the AirPort Express. However, I was using the airport interface in an old powerbook to wirelessly share the dialup connection well before I got the AirPort Express.

[@chadhowell1328]

I still have my 2tb time capsule as well although it has been hibernating in a box for quite some time now.

[@Transit_Biker]

Man, i remember having wifi and DSL when most people still had dialup because of the airport functionality in my macs.

[@Superacerc]

My first wireless router was a trusty blue Lynksys from early 2000s. I think it was about 2002. Cant remember exactly. It had to sit on top of the linksys cable modem.

[@blackraen]

Still got my old Airport Express base station in the stuff-drawer in case I need an 802.11a/b radio.

[@CommodoreFan64]

My small town here in rural S. Carolina did not get "high speed"(8Mbps/3Mbps) internet till late 2007 from the local cable company Breezeline(formally Atlantic BroadBand), I was one of if not the first person in my town to get connected, and was stuck with their rental modem, and a Belkin 54G WiFi router with a single antenna, and it was horrible, it burned out a few weeks after I got it, so was going to town to get a new one, stopped into the local Goodwill to drop some stuff off, and found some Linksys WRT54G v3 and V4 routers, did some digging online, taught myself about DD WRT, and made them into a sudo mesh router setup along with the fan mods and never looked back. Never had anything Apple Airport as it was always too expensive for my budget, and needs.

[@baitboy3191]

it was interesting seeing laptops coming out with Wifi, and seeing the few areas that even provided it during that time.

[@MickySarge]

I am barely an Apple user. Only have an iPad. But I enjoy the production and delivery of these videos so much. Good job team.

[@scbond]

I was using an 802.11n Extreme and Express as my main network until earlier this year when I upgraded to full fibre into the house and they are now (sadly) no longer keep up. Still use the Express as a wifi adapter for my PC but now I have a TP-Link mesh. If Apple released a new AirPort mesh product I’d ditch the current setup and get Apple’s in a heartbeat.

[@BrianBoniMakes]

I had that silver wifi router, it might still be at my parent's house. I'm still using an Apple time machine to back up three macs, I put an 8T hard drive and rebooted and the thing just picked it up and off it went. Nice piece of gear. Only odd thing is I manage it from Windows, the software has more options there for some reason?

[@orion10x10]

I really liked the editing and music on this one

[@ljskywalker31]

I used to be a huge nerd for these old iBooks and airport routers back in middle school, and I had the same issues at first with connectivity. What I ended up doing to get everything to work was simply updating the OS. Mac OS 8-9 just won't cut it anymore, 10.3 Panther and especially 10.4 Tiger are your only chances. Tiger is great actually because Mozzilla actually makes a legacy brower (TenFourFox) that will run good and up to date on these machines. I was even able to mod an older version of Skype and make video call. I liked the video, but with a little more effort it's definitely possible to show how capable these old iBooks are, even on the internet.

[@PhoenixWrong_]

The iBook was in an era of my life where all I could do was window shop from a Sears catalog.

[@c0t0d0s7]

I have a tangerine and a white iBook. I need to see if they still work. I am still using an AirPort for Time Machine backups.

[@TheMelbournelad]

Hey don’t forget CSIRO here in Australia that created the base of wifi today

[@rayconstantine6761]

I remember my wife walking in the door after work, whereupon I presented her with a brand new iBook and proceeded to wave my hand around it to demonstrate the lack of wires. Amazing! Of course, I also remember punchcards, 300 baud modems, and Netscape.

[@MrStevetmq]

I got the Airport express for the music option and always wondered when a router with the word "Extreme" (extreme being more) did not have that function?

[@Love4everFree]

Gah! I have some core memories tied to the Airport Express and Extreme. Namely lots of cursing when my windows laptop wouldn't connect to it 😂 Super cool video ❤

[@johnwiiu7005]

In Germany, especially in the north we have the FritzBox System by AVM. It's like the airport but faster and it includes an easy to use yet incredibly powerful UI. I'm surprised they're not more popular outside Germany to be honest.

[@KayvonJavid]

Ubquiti has basically replaced them in the networking space

[@FOM_extras]

1:43 "that's not anywhere near fast enough" (cries in 12Mbps Australian)

[@PreciousGaming15902580rAf]

Got my first wifi connection and router way back in 2017 I believe. Then lost it in 2019 and gained it back in 2020 April I believe.

[@alistairblaire6001]

Wifi is a convenience that I take for granted so much that I don't even remember when I got my first router with wifi capability. I probably used the one built into my first cable modem. Back in the DSL days I don't think I used wifi at all.

[@AndreEian-gv6qb]

My step-father traveled around the world to conferences in the 90s showing this stuff.

[@Benzona]

I still use my original graphite model Airport out in my garage/studio. Yes it's slow but it's enough for all the "smart" crap that requires an internet connection to hook up, anything I actually want to get online with is hardwired. Even so, for 1999 the performance is pretty incredible.

[@AdventureOtaku]

I had most of the products you should including the original iBook (but mine was orange) it was a glorious time.

[@tangerinealarm]

The AirPort Express was such a useful and easy to set up product. Especially compared to the other products available at the same time.

[@fixative-xyz]

my dad got an airport express when he bought my family's snow ibook g3 (ie the boring white plastic one) back in 2003. i wound up getting a few of my own several years later for cheap because i thought it was cool i could turn any speaker with an 3.5mm aux port into an airplay speaker and i have some old mac laptops that don't like my modern wifi.

[@greebo7857]

I still use Airport for my home. I can turn o lights and close curtains by getting up and doing so, so the whole "smart"home thing leaves me cold. But Airport beats the hell out of Bluetooth for streaming music to my vintage HiFi set up, straight from my Mac or phone. And internet speeds in Oz are nothing like what you guys get, soAirport's fine for most other uses.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

I used my OG Apple AirPort Express thingy (the saucer) until 2019....

[@NeverlandSystemZor]

I loved the look of those old clamshell iBooks and sadly never had one. :( It'd be so cool to see some madman make a sleeper laptop or somehow rig a Mac Mini into one. --IF that would even be possible.

[@user-hc6ul8xi6t]

I got my first router back in 2005 and I hated it. I got my first Wireless extreme base station in 2009 and have continued using them. I still do. Yes they might not have the fastest speeds out there, but I have a mesh network with 5 Extremes(newest gen) for multiple devices that don't support the fastest speeds anyway. I also use them for their ability to broadcast and extend older network types so that I can connect devices that I still want a reliable connection for. My PSP still connects and I can still download purchased items through the PSN. As long as I can do that, I can absolutely tolerate 500mbps speeds. Also, I think Apple might just be taking a break from wireless accessory production. They did stop making displays at one point and came back to that!

[@solarbirdyz]

We had D-Link's first wifi hub, which was pretty much the first affordable wifi hub that wasn't Apple, and I know we had it by August 2002 because I have a network topology net from 16 August 2002 and it includes wifi hub "wireless" with "garon" and "pygar" as listed laptops hanging off it. ^_^

[@drefk1973]

I'm not a Mac user, but this channel is quickly becoming my favorite of the LMG channels.

[@Cyber_vir]

HomePod mini with a built-in wireless access points/router will be so fire. Have a mesh WiFi with multiple HomePods

[@a1white]

I use an old Airport Express, bought of eBay for next to nothing, to add Airplay to my home hi-fi. Use a few and you can create hi-definition multiroom audio experience on a budget that integrates with your iPhone and Mac seamlessly

[@Jonathan-bi8hr]

Watching that easy Airport upgrade is mind blowing at this point

[@TheKazragore]

Fun fact: the first WLAN prototypes were actually developed in Australia by the CSIRO.

[@omarfr67]

I bet they gonna sell the cable separate from the router if they still sell them