Wifi for Mac Pro

[westla]

Can't you put a hub ahead of your Apple WiFi device?

I don't know, can I? I told you, I really don't know anything about this networking stuff.

Would I look for a ethernet hub? Is that what it would be called?

[mikehalloran]

Can't you put a hub ahead of your Apple WiFi device?

Do not get an ethernet hub. This splits the same signal among many ports - you don't want that as each split takes a speed hit. Hubs also default to the slowest device on the network before the split. A hub may be powered or unpowered.

Get an ethernet switch. This multiplies the signal among the ports - if you have a lot of ports, there is a huge difference since there is no speed hit no matter how many ports you have. A switch is always powered. The best ones have auto-detect for reverse/crossover cables (not all are orange) and connection speed.

There used to be a large price difference; now it is minor. You do have to read the box to make sure you are getting a switch and not a hub.

All of these are switches except for the one designed to bring ethernet to a MacBook with usb only.

http://eshop.macsales.com/search/Networ ... %20%20Hubs

[James Steele]

As far as the card goes I found it confusing to buy one used. I even got the wrong one sent to me from an eBay seller but he let me return it. I ended up calling the local Apple Store. I they have one left in stock, a lot of times they're so happy to unload it they'll install it free—at least they did that for me.

[westla]

Would this be the right type of ethernet switch?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833704179

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833704042

I think the only difference is that the second product has a plastic case as opposed to a metal one.

[jlaudon]

As I mentioned before, but didn't seem to be noticed - get a PCIe wifi card. works great, no need for ethernet, and your house already has wifi. It does the same thing as an airport card (and it's cheaper and user installable), and unless I missed something, you probably have a spare PCIe slot?

[nk_e]

Can't recommend these enough. Brings wifi to your mac AND extended range. Plugs into a usb port and can also be used with MacBook pros and airs in place of built in wifi to extend their range. I have 2 of them.

http://store.bearextender.com/

Simple setup also.

[FutureLegends]

dsl modems are pretty damn cheap. Get a new one with more than one Ethernet jack and draw a cable to your Mac Pro if at all practical. Wired Internet connections are far more robust anyway...

[mikehalloran]

Wired Internet connections are far more robust anyway...

Absolutely.

The only server on the market supporting the new 802.11ac wi-fi standard is the current Apple Time Capsule. I don't know any PCIe cards that do. USB 2 is not capable of fast ethernet let alone fast wireless.

There may be PCIe and/or usb3 to 802.11ac someday but none have been announced by anyone.

But, if you need wi-fi on your Mac Pro, there are three ways to go as has been indicated. The OE Apple or a PCIe card will be faster than a usb2 stick - how much faster, you'd have to read the reviews and I don't know if you'd notice the difference.

OS 10.7 can exhibit some weirdness if you have Bluetooth and wireless enabled but are not using a Bluetooth device. Not an issue in 10.6 and fixed in 10.8. Also not an issue if you are using something like the Magic Trackpad. Wired mice misbehave - the solution is to turn off Bluetooth.

[westla]

Ended up going with ethernet instead of wireless. Surprised at how much faster it is.

[wylie1]

Wireless is nice convenience but I always hard wire if possible.

[Prime Mover]

From our DSL modem, we have a ethernet cable that goes to a Airport base to spread wifi throughout our house. So how would I get a second ethernet cable to go to my Mac Pro?

Here's your cheapest and best option: Deep Six the airport base station (if it only has one port than it must be ancient anyway), go down to best buy and get a Lynxsys or similar wifi router with ports for like $40. They're probably all made of the same components anyway. Then you can run Ethernet to any computers.

OR. Bug your ISP to give you a multi-port modem, I did that with mine and they traded it in for a new one with 4 ports... Faster connection too.

There's much better options for bringing Internet to your Mac Pro that are much cheaper.

[Shooshie]

1) Ethernet SWITCH, not hub.
2) Airport may be limited in speed, depending on how old it is. Better to get a good WiFi router, especially one with DUAL speed. (DP Control works much, much better on the faster speed of a dual-speed WiFi router)
3) If you use AT&T U-Verse, you may be limited to their own router, but it does have switch ports for connecting other devices. You could go through another switch if you need more cables, and I'm not sure about using a 2nd WiFi router in conjunction with an AT&T U-Verse router. I've tried it without much luck, but I'm just almost certain that there is a way to do it if I just knew the right way to set it up. AT&T's U-Verse router just doesn't have dual-speed WiFi. If it did, I'd be content with it, but it doesn't. So, I'm still looking for a way to get that faster WiFi on there.

But I'm digressing into tangents.

More to consider: Routers and switches are generally not platform specific. Someone might tell you that you can't use such-and-such with a Mac, but it's just not true. As long as you plug in the right DNS numbers and IP setups, they'll work with anything that uses WiFi. The exception is the router which claims to have a printer port for sharing printers. Those are almost always old Parallel Port printers, which are for Windows machines. You can still use those routers with a Mac, but you have to set up the printer with a PC.

Speaking of printers, I only buy printers with WiFi capability. It is SOOOOO convenient not to have to plug a printer into any computer. The printer can be in another part of the room, or even in another room entirely, and it prints from all devices on the network. Always buy WiFi capable printers. Always! You won't believe the headaches that just vanish when you do.

Shooshie

[mikehalloran]

If you use AT&T U-Verse, you may be limited to their own router, but it does have switch ports for connecting other devices. You could go through another switch if you need more cables, and I'm not sure about using a 2nd WiFi router in conjunction with an AT&T U-Verse router. I've tried it without much luck, but I'm just almost certain that there is a way to do it if I just knew the right way to set it up. AT&T's U-Verse router just doesn't have dual-speed WiFi. If it did, I'd be content with it, but it doesn't. So, I'm still looking for a way to get that faster WiFi on there.

You can do what I did: Turn off wi-fi in the AT&T router. It's not very well done and either a Time Capsule or an Airport Extreme Base Station is much better. I did that when I switched to AT&T about 4 years ago and my wi-fi performance improved greatly.

Log into the router through the browser like you would any other and turn it off. AT&T tech support can walk anyone through it as the skimpy documentation isn't very good. You must be connected to the router via ethernet when you do this, of course.

The new Time Capsule and Airport Extreme have much better antennae than any previous design - that's why Apple went to the tower design. My daughter reports that her 2009 MacBook is much faster with the new server even though I bought it for my wife's new Air. Her room is at the other end of the house from the base station.



http://www.apple.com/airport-extreme/
http://www.apple.com/airport-time-capsule/