Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A) Review

I bought this Airport Extreme at the same time I bought my iMac with the 27" monitor. I wanted to use it to print and access a hard disk on my home network. The setup was fairly easy. However, I worked for two days, off and on, to set up access to the hard disk. Setting up my Brother printer was no problem. After reading the documentation which came with the Airport, I still could not get it to work. I then tried looking up the solution using a Google search. Finally, a Mac users site mentioned that the disk had to be formatted with the Mac system. After doing that, it showed up as a shared device. Why this wasn't mentioned in the documentation that came with the Airport Extreme is beyond me. That's pretty basic I guess, but how could you overlook that in the documentation?
I also agree with another reviewer that the range could be better. Perhaps locating it someplace else in the house would work, but you're limited in where you can place these things. If the best position is on the refrigerator, I'll bet your wife wouldn't want it there, and I wouldn't blame her.
Printed from another computer worked fine. I plan on adding another hard disk (you need to get a USB hub to do this) so I will update this review depending on what results I have with that. Now that I know about the formatting, I think it will probably work fine.
Overall, I'm happy with the product. I bought the iMac because I was tired of the constant Microsoft crashes. Bottom line is that I would recommend the Airport Extreme. It's quite easy, but just remember to format your drive for an Apple if you are using a Mac.
Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A) Feature
- Simultaneous dual-band wireless base station supports 802.11b/g and 802.11n
- USB 2.0 port lets you connect and wirelessly share a hard drive and/or printer
- Three GigaBit Ethernet ports
- Guest networking for easy sharing of your internet connection with temporary guests
- Measures 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches; backed by a one-year warranty
Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A) Overview
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.
Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station (Simultaneous Dual-Band) (MC340LL/A) Specifications
The new AirPort Extreme is the perfect wireless solution for home, school, and small business. With higher speeds and greater range, the AirPort Extreme Base Station offers super fast wireless network access throughout just about any home, office, or classroom. And with simultaneous support for 802.11b/g and 802.11n bands, all your Wi-Fi devices can get the best possible wireless performance and range.
 | Apple Airport Extreme At a Glance:
- Simultaneous dual-band support for 802.11b/g and 802.11n
- USB 2.0 port for sharing a hard drive or printer
- Three Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Easy guest networking
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The sleek Airport Extreme has Ethernet ports and a USB 2.0 port. |
Simultaneous Dual-Band Support Some Wi-Fi devices use the 2.4GHz wireless band, including iPhone, iPod touch, and devices using 802.11b/g. Other devices can use either 2.4GHz or the higher-speed 5GHz band, such as the latest 802.11n-based Mac computers and Apple TV. Instead of choosing one of the bands, AirPort Extreme operates simultaneously on both bands, and your multiband devices automatically use the best available band. This means all your Wi-Fi devices get the fastest possible wireless performance and the best possible range. In addition, AirPort Extreme reduces the possibility of interference from appliances and cordless phones that use the 2.4GHz band.
Even Faster Performance Than Before
Based on the IEEE 802.11n specification, AirPort Extreme uses a technology called multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) to transmit multiple data streams simultaneously. The result? AirPort Extreme delivers data transfer speeds up to five times those of 802.11g wireless networks - while achieving up to twice the range.1 And improvements in antenna design give you up to 50 percent better Wi-Fi performance and up to 25 percent better range than with the previous-generation AirPort Extreme Base Station.2
Share an Internet Connection with up to 50 People
Up to 50 people can all share the same Internet connection, exchange files using the file-sharing capability built into Mac OS X or Windows, access local and remote file servers, annihilate the competition in multiplayer games - anything a typical network user can do, plus a number of things that are decidedly not typical, such as wireless storage and printing.3
Share a Hard Drive with Everyone
AirPort Extreme can turn your external USB hard drive into a drive you can share with all the users on your network and access securely over the Internet. This feature - AirPort Disk - is a simple and convenient way to share files among everyone in your family, office, or class.
How does it work? Just connect the external hard drive to the USB port on the back of your AirPort Extreme and - voilà - all the documents, videos, photos, and other files on the drive instantly become available to anyone on the secure network, Mac and PC users alike. It’s perfect for file sharing, collaborative projects, and more.

Connect and share a USB printer and hard drive with everyone on the network. |
You can set up password-protected accounts for everyone on the network or allow read-only access to certain files and folders. If you’re using Mac OS X Leopard, you’ll see the drive in your Finder sidebar, where it’s always available for accessing files and folders. For Mac OS X Tiger and Windows users, a simple-to-use AirPort Disk Utility provides a variety of setup options, including setting the disk to become available whenever you connect to the network.
Wireless Printing
With wireless printing through AirPort Extreme, it’s almost like having a printer in every room of the home or office. AirPort Extreme uses the Mac- and PC-compatible Bonjour networking technology to let everyone on the network take advantage of one centrally available printer. Wirelessly, of course. (Wireless printing over USB requires a compatible printer and Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later or Windows XP (SP3) or Windows Vista (SP1).)
Set up is as simple as plugging the printer into the USB port on the AirPort Extreme Base Station and adding it to the printer list on your Mac or PC. That's it!

Easily set up a guest network for visitors. |
Guest Networking Offers Access for Guests It’s easy to allow guests to use your Internet connection without sharing your password or giving them access to the rest of your network. Simply enable the guest networking feature using the AirPort Utility application and create a separate Wi-Fi network just for your friends. You can set up this guest network with a different password or with none at all. Your primary network - including your printer, attached drives, or other devices - remains secure.
Compatible with 802.11a/b/g
All currently shipping Mac systems support the next-generation 802.11n technology in the AirPort Extreme Base Station. And AirPort Extreme is compatible with Mac computers, PCs, and wireless devices such as iPhone and iPod touch that use 802.11a, b, or g technologies. You can also rest assured that AirPort Extreme works with other certified 802.11n products.
Three Wired Ethernet Ports
For computers and network devices that don't have wireless or need the consistency of a wired connection, the Airport Extreme has three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports.
The Apple Airport Extreme measures 6.5 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches. It is backed by a one-year warranty.
What's in the Box
Airport Extreme, power supply with cord, printed and electronic documentation, Software (AirPort Utility for Mac and Windows, AirPort Disk Utility for Windows, Bonjour for Windows).
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1Based on a comparison with Apple’s 802.11g products. Comparison assumes AirPort Extreme network with 802.11n-enabled computer. Accessing the wireless network requires an AirPort- or AirPort Extreme-enabled computer or other Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a/b/g/n-enabled computer. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors. Range will vary with site conditions. 2Based on a comparison with Apple’s previous-generation 802.11n products. Comparison assumes AirPort Extreme network with 802.11n-enabled computer. Accessing the wireless network requires an AirPort- or AirPort Extreme-enabled computer or other Wi-Fi Certified 802.11a/b/g/n-enabled computer. Actual performance will vary based on range, connection rate, site conditions, size of network, and other factors. Range will vary with site conditions. 3Wireless 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. Wireless printing over USB requires a compatible printer and Mac OS X v10.2.7 or later or Windows XP (SP3) or Windows Vista (SP1). |
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Customer Reviews
I Love the Apple Airport Extreme! - Photo Scooter - Kansas City
I bought this Apple Airport Extreme to replace my older Belkin 54G router. I decided to get a used one from Amazon v. New, I couldn't be happier. It was easy to setup, with my 3 Macs. I have a Macbook Pro, MacPro Tower, Mac Mini and an iPhone 3GS. It took me about 10 minutes to setup all three machines, it think it took longer to run the cords and get everything plugged in than to set it up.
I have had it for several weeks and I have reset it once due to a conflict with my Macs. I just unplugged the router and waited 30 sec the plugged it back in. I think maybe my cable internet was on the fritz rather than the Airport Extreme. Other than that it works great. I set up a main wireless connection as well as a guest option when I have visitors at my work. It was very simple. I highly recommend this router, I give it a strong A.
Great Product With Crappy Documentation - Neo Anderson - AUSTIN, TX, US
I bought this product after reading good reviews on amazon. Apple did a crappy job with the documentation regarding installation
and troubleshooting of the product. After I installed the software it was unable to detect the airport Extreme. I had to connect to the device using
Ethernet cable after that it detected it and then I configured it.
The documentation was indeed written by a 10th grader or an intern who did if followed the steps wouldn't be able to install
and configure the device.
Overall I am happy with the device and how its working better than the Linksys WRT 54G i had before. Apple does make expensive
but good products as this was my first apple product and am thinking of trying other products by them.
If you thinking of buying a great wireless router, this is the one without issues but be prepared to face installation issues
which minor after that it's smooth sailing.
Main problem: the Setup Guide - Graham Cortegiano -
The Setup Guide is so badly written that, after an hour of painful reading, I simply returned the device. Otherwise, I very much value other Apple products.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 20, 2010 23:35:14
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