[X4U] Airport Extreme and AT&T/SBC

[Tim Collier]

On Aug 27, 2007, at 12:15 PM, Ed Gould wrote:

>
> On Aug 26, 2007, at 11:01 PM, Linda wrote:
>
>> On 8/26/07 10:43 PM, Cheryl Homiak wrote:
>>
>>> It seems to me
>>> that it might be simpler and safer to just get the DSL modem and  
>>> connect
>>> it to my Airport Extreme pretty much as I have been doing with my  
>>> Charter
>>> cable modem.
>>
>> One year ago, we quit Charter, gave back their modem, and started  
>> with
>> AT&T/SBC (sbcglobal.net). We did exactly what you are suggesting:  
>> simply
>> ...lied had the same LAN IP that my router had
>> (192.168.0.1), which meant that I had to choose a new IP for my  
>> router
>> (192.168.10.1), but other than that, it was pretty straightforward.
>>
> Linda,
>
> My experience has been quite the opposite. I know wish that I had  
> not given up DSL. It was reasonable for about a year and then at  
> least 2 -3 times a day I must reboot my mac to get the connection  
> back. I suspect its a software issue with 10.4.10 as the problem  
> started after the upgrade.
>
> Ed
>

I've had DSL (BellSouth, now AT&T) for many years and because we've  
had problems at times with DSL going down for days, we also have  
Comcast cable (which can also go down for days).  So, I always have  
an internet connection--as mostly they are both up at the same time.   
OK, explanation over.
My first network was wired, using DSL only.  It worked fine, never  
had any problems, this was using a Linksys router.  Then we went  
wireless.  But since I'm an Apple hardware fanatic, my first wireless  
network was with the white airport extreme (the one that looked like  
a flying saucer).  Now that the Intel Macs have the faster 'n'  
protocol, we upgraded to the new flat square airport extremes (we  
have 2).  The airports are connected to the cable modem and all of  
our Macs get a wireless signal.  My Mac Pro is directly connected to  
the DSL modem plus gets a signal from the airport network.  All of  
the Macs are running 10.4.10.  Never do we have to reboot for any  
reason.  Everything just works.  Before you go blaming an update for  
all of your problems, I would look into other explanations.  I've  
been seeing a common theme on this list lately, Everybody is blaming  
small problems on the 10.4.10 update.  We updated all of our Macs to  
10.4.10 the day it came out and we've had no problems here, not one.
So, just a few words of advice, if you buy a Mac, get AppleCare.   
Calling Apple for help with a minor problem to a big problem is easy  
and painless and they always provide you with a fix.  Before an  
update, do a backup of your system, that way you can just restore it  
if the update didn't come out like you expected (I use Carbon Copy  
Cloner and an external firewire harddrive).  Repair permissions  
before and afterwards.  Also, do regular backups of vital information.
Also, know that wireless and wired networking is EASY, unlike  
Windows!  I can share information among all of the Macs on the  
wireless network, share printers, everything--this is also easy.   
Finally, before blaming a system update for all of your problems,  
look into other explanations.  Use the console to check for  
information regarding errors and know that the terminal can be your  
friend.
--
Tim Collier
MacBook Pro 2.33 gig
http://www.timcolliermiami.com/