Wireless Routers compatible with AirPort

[David Crump]

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone for all of their helpful 
replies.  Now I'd like to tell you my success story...

I've been watching eBay for a used Snow Airport over the last few 
months.  They all seem to be going for at least $200 Canadian.  Today I 
happened to stop by the local CompuSmart and asked the salesman what an 
AirPort base station was going for.  He said they had none in stock, 
but guaranteed that the Belkin wireless router they had on sale would 
work fine.  I was surprised to see that it listed Mac OS 9.x and 10.x 
on the box.  The regular price was $149.99 CDN, but came to $49.99 
after an instant $50 rebate and $50 mail-in rebate.  I eagerly opened 
the box and hooked it up.  I am sending this email wirelessly.  I have 
had an iBook since the first Blueberry model, and this is my first time 
wireless.  It is amazing.

A few things to watch out for...
The router I got was a Belkin 802.11g Wireless router (functioning at 
802.11b speeds until I have an Airport Extreme equipped laptop).  The 
box says to use Easy Install Wizard, you can use Mac OS 9.x or 10.x.  
However, the first thing you see when opening the box is a quick 
installation guide that says on it in large letters: "Start Here".  I 
opened the guide which says if you are not using Windows, go to 
Alternate Setup Method in the Manual.  I followed this advice, as the 
CD included only says windows versions on it.  The manual is very long 
and daunting, but I browsed through it as I was willing to do some work 
to get this working for the money I was saving.  I took the first steps 
and plugged in the router.  Just out of curiosity I unplugged my iBook 
before modifying any settings, turned on airport and low and behold, 
there was "belkin54g" in the Airport menu.  I connected and it worked 
immediately!
Now that I've been surfing for a while, I stuck the supplied CD in my 
drive and sure enough, there is Mac Software on the disc even though 
there is no mention of it on the CD label.  I'll be sure to get it 
loaded and put a password on the router to keep things secure.

Anyhow, sorry for being so long winded, but I am excited and wanted to 
share my story with  you.  This is a great product.
Thanks for all your help.
Dave.