airport base

[Silvo Conticello]

Dear all,

I'm starting to look around for an apple base to be used at home with 
my wife's iMac and my Ti500 and I've got few questions:

a) is there any specific advantage in using the Apple airport base 
compared to non-Apple ones?
b) apart from the Apple one, do you suggest any favorite 802.11 
station? (cheaper than Apple)
c) with or without modem? I'm currently using the default cable modem 
by NTL.
d) I remember from old posts that the Ti500 has some issues regarding 
the range. What is the range from the station I should expect using the 
Ti with an airport card? Or it is better to go for a card with an 
external antenna?

TIA,
Silvo

Silvo Conticello
TiBook 500MHz/768Mb RAM/60Gb HD/OS10.2.8
E-mail: silvoc at tiscali.it
Cambridge
UK