AirPort
AirPort is a discontinued line of wireless routers and network cards developed by Apple Inc. using Wi-Fi protocols. In Japan, the line of products was marketed under the brand AirMac due to previous registration by I-O Data.
Apple introduced the AirPort line in 1999. Wireless cards were discontinued in 2009 following the Mac transition to Intel processors, after all of Apple's Mac products had adopted built-in Wi-Fi. Apple's line of wireless routers consisted of the AirPort Base Station ; the AirPort Time Capsule, a variant with a built-in hard disk for automated backups; and the AirPort Express, a compact router.
In 2018, Apple discontinued the AirPort line. The remaining inventory was sold off, and Apple later sold routers from Linksys, Netgear, Amplifi and Eero in Apple retail stores.
Overview
AirPort debuted in 1999, as "one more thing" at Macworld New York, with Steve Jobs surfing the web on an iBook using wireless internet technology for the very first time in a public demo of an Apple laptop. The initial offering consisted of an optional expansion card for Apple's new line of iBook notebooks and an AirPort Base Station. The AirPort card was later added as an option for almost all of Apple's product line, including PowerBooks, eMacs, iMacs, and Power Macs. Only Xserves did not have it as a standard or optional feature. The original AirPort system allowed transfer rates up to 11 Mbit/s and was commonly used to share Internet access and files between multiple computers.In 2003, Apple introduced AirPort Extreme, based on the 802.11g specification, using Broadcom's BCM4306/BCM2050 two-chip solution. AirPort Extreme allows theoretical peak data transfer rates of up to 54 Mbit/s, and is fully backward-compatible with existing 802.11b wireless network cards and base stations. Several of Apple's desktop computers and portable computers, including the MacBook Pro, MacBook, Mac Mini, and iMac shipped with an AirPort Extreme card as standard. All other Macs of the time had an expansion slot for the card. AirPort and AirPort Extreme cards are not physically compatible: AirPort Extreme cards cannot be installed in older Macs, and AirPort cards cannot be installed in newer Macs. The original AirPort card was discontinued in June 2004.
In 2004, Apple released the AirPort Express base station as a "Swiss Army knife" multifunction product. It can be used as a portable travel router, using the same AC connectors as on Apple's AC adapters; as an audio streaming device, with both line-level and optical audio outputs; and as a USB printer sharing device, through its USB host port.
In 2007, Apple unveiled a new AirPort Extreme Base Station, which introduced 802.11 Draft-N to the Apple AirPort product line. This implementation of 802.11 Draft-N can operate in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ISM bands, and has modes that make it compatible with 802.11b/g and 802.11a. The number of Ethernet ports was increased to four—one nominally for WAN, three for LAN, but all can be used in bridged mode. A USB port was included for printers and other USB devices. The Ethernet ports were later updated to Gigabit Ethernet on all ports. The styling is similar to that of the Mac Mini and Apple TV.
In January 2008, Apple introduced Time Capsule, an AirPort Extreme with an internal hard drive. The device includes software to allow any computer running a reasonably recent version of Mac OS or Windows to access the disk as a shared volume. Macs running Mac OS X 10.5 and later, which includes the Time Machine feature, can use the Time Capsule as a wireless backup device, allowing automatic, untethered backups of the client computer. As an access point, the unit is otherwise equivalent to an AirPort Extreme, with four Gigabit Ethernet ports and a USB port for printer and disk sharing.
In March 2008, Apple released an updated AirPort Express Base Station with 802.11 Draft-N 2x2 radio. All other features remained the same. At the time, it was the least expensive device to handle both frequency bands in 2x2 802.11 Draft-N.
In March 2009, Apple unveiled AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule products with simultaneous dual-band 802.11 Draft-N radios. This allows full 802.11 Draft-N 2x2 communication in both 802.11 Draft-N bands at the same time.
In October 2009, Apple unveiled the updated AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule products with antenna improvements.
In 2011, Apple unveiled an updated AirPort Extreme base station, referred to as AirPort Extreme 802.11n . The latest AirPort base stations and cards work with third-party base stations and wireless cards that conformed to the 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11 Draft-N, and 802.11 Final-N networking standards. It was not uncommon to see wireless networks composed of several types of AirPort base station serving old and new Macintosh, Microsoft Windows, and Linux systems. Apple's software drivers for AirPort Extreme also supported some Broadcom and Atheros-based PCI Wireless adapters when fitted to Power Mac computers. Due to the developing nature of Draft-N hardware, there was no assurance that the new model would work with all 802.11 Draft-N routers and access devices from other manufacturers.
Discontinuation
In approximately 2016, Apple disbanded its wireless router team. In 2018, Apple formally discontinued all of its AirPort products, exiting the router market. Bloomberg News noted that "Apple rarely discontinues product categories" and that its decision to leave the business was "a boon for other wireless router makers."| Family brand | Image | Functions | Introduced / Discontinued |
| Card | Adds wireless networking interface to Macintosh personal computers | 1999–2005 | |
| Base Station | Wireless networking switch and internet router | 1999–2003 | |
| Extreme | Wireless networking switch and internet router; USB print server. Later versions added network-attached USB storage & backup. | 2003–2018 | |
| Express | Wireless networking switch, access point, bridge; internet router; USB print server; streaming audio receiver | 2004–2018 | |
| Time Capsule | Network-attached backup storage, wireless networking switch, and internet router | 2008–2018 |
AirPort routers
An AirPort router is used to connect AirPort-enabled computers to the Internet, each other, a wired LAN, and/or other devices.AirPort Base Station
The original AirPort Base Station features a dial-up modem and an Ethernet port. It employs a Lucent WaveLAN Silver PC Card as the Radio, and uses an embedded AMD Élan SC410 processor. It connects to the machine via the Ethernet port. It was released July 21, 1999. The Graphite AirPort Base Station is functionally identical to the Lucent RG-1000 wireless base station and can run the same firmware. Due to the original firmware-locked limitations of the Silver card, the unit can only accept 40-bit WEP encryption. Later aftermarket tweaks can enable 128-bit WEP on the Silver card. Aftermarket Linux firmware has been developed for these units to extend their useful service life.A second-generation model was introduced on November 13, 2001. It features a second Ethernet port when compared to the Graphite design, allowing for a shared Internet connection with both wired and wireless clients. Also new was the ability to connect to and share America Online's dial-up service—a feature unique to Apple base stations. This model is based on Motorola's PowerPC 855 processor and contained a fully functional original AirPort Card, which can be removed and used in any compatible Macintosh computer.
AirPort Extreme Base Station
Three different configurations of model A1034 are all called the "AirPort Extreme Base Station":1. M8799LL/A – 2 Ethernet ports, 1 USB port, external antenna connector, 1 56k modem port
2. M8930LL/A – 2 Ethernet ports, 1 USB port, external antenna connector.
3. M9397LL/A – 2 Ethernet ports, 1 USB port, external antenna connector, powered over Ethernet cable
The AirPort Base Station was discontinued after the updated AirPort Extreme was on January 7, 2003. In addition to providing wireless connection speeds of up to a maximum of 54 Mbit/s, it adds an external antenna port and a USB port. The antenna port allows the addition of a signal-boosting antenna, and the USB port allows the sharing of a USB printer. A connected printer is made available via Bonjour's "zero configuration" technology and IPP to all wired and wireless clients on the network. The CPU is an AU1500-333MBC Alchemy. A second model lacking the modem and external antenna port was briefly made available, but then discontinued after the launch of AirPort Express. On April 19, 2004, a third version, marketed as the AirPort Extreme Base Station , was introduced that supports Power over Ethernet and complies to the UL 2043 specifications for safe usage in air handling spaces, such as above suspended ceilings. All three models support the Wireless Distribution System standard. The model introduced in January 2007 does not have a corresponding PoE, UL-compliant variant.
An AirPort Extreme base station can serve a maximum of 50 wireless clients simultaneously.
AirPort Extreme 802.11n
The AirPort Extreme was updated on January 9, 2007, to support the 802.11n protocol. This revision also adds two LAN ports for a total of three. It now more closely resembles the square-shaped 1st generation Apple TV and Mac Mini, and is about the same size as the mini.The new AirPort Disk feature allows users to plug a USB hard drive into the AirPort Extreme for use as a network-attached storage device for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows clients. Users may also connect a USB hub and printer. The performance of USB hard drives attached to an AirPort Extreme is slower than if the drive were connected directly to a computer. This is due to the processor speed on the AirPort extreme. Depending on the setup and types of reads and writes, performance ranges from 0.5 to 17.5 MB/s for writing and 1.9 to 25.6 MB/s for reading. Performance for the same disk connected directly to a computer would be 6.6 to 31.6 MB/s for writing and 7.1 to 37.2 MB/s for reading.
The AirPort Extreme has no port for an external antenna.
On August 7, 2007, the AirPort Extreme began shipping with Gigabit Ethernet, matching most other Apple products.
On March 19, 2008, Apple released a firmware update for both models of the AirPort Extreme to allow AirPort Disks to be used in conjunction with Time Machine, similar to the functionality provided by Time Capsule.
On March 3, 2009, Apple unveiled a new AirPort Extreme with simultaneous dual-band 802.11 Draft-N radios. This allows full 802.11 Draft-N 2x2 communication in both 802.11 Draft-N bands at the same time.
On October 20, 2009, Apple unveiled an updated AirPort Extreme base station with antenna improvements.
On June 21, 2011, Apple unveiled an updated AirPort Extreme base station, referred to as AirPort Extreme 802.11n .