Original AirPort card question.

[TheMacGuy]

I purchased an eMac off of Craigslist and didn't know the model. It turns out it is the original model that will only work with the original AirPort card. My network currently has 3 5th Gen AirPort Extreme base-stations and is running on the 5 GHz band. Do I need to get an original AirPort base-station to run this eMac, or do I just need to turn on the 2.4 GHz band?

Thanks.

 

[mcdermd]

If they are dual-radio APEs, you can run 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz simultaneously (and - I think - run 802.11n on 5 GHz and 802.11b/g on 2.4 GHz). If they are single-radio APEs, I'd just pick up an 802.11b-capable access point for a couple of dollars. Recently, I've bought an 802.11b "Snow" Airport base station and an 802.11g APE "UFO" base station for under $5 each.

 

[waynestewart]

I've used the original airport card to connect to an Airport Extreme base station quite a few times. I never did anything special, just put in the password and I was connected. All I recall ever doing with the router is setting the password

 

[mcdermd]

The newer extreme base stations have an option to broadcast 802.11n-only on 5GHz. 802.11b/g are 2.4GHz only. If he is running 5GHz on his APE, I'd just say get a cheap AP for his "b" devices.