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Apple dumps wireless router development, will exit the market

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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Apple has manufactured its own line of AirPort cards and routers for 17 years, dating back to the introduction of the original AirPort Base Station in 1999. Now, the company is apparently planning to kill its support for the AirPort division, not long after announcing it would also exit the display markets. It’s been more than three years since Apple announced a new base station (its last update, in 2013, added support for the 802.11ac standard), so this move isn’t entirely surprising — but it’s also a further sign that Apple is consolidating its product lines.

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I think one of the reasons that Apple will not make routers in the future is because many people buy cheaper routers made by brands like TP-Link and Belkin, get their wireless router as a free rental from their ISP, or they rent their modem which comes with a built-in wi-fi router.
 
I tend to use name brand routers starting with Linksys and now Netgear. I don't know anything about Apple routers....
 
zoldos said:
I tend to use name brand routers starting with Linksys and now Netgear. I don't know anything about Apple routers....
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I used to use a Medialink 150 Mbps router worked pretty good for a $20 router. Now I use a Actiontec modem with a built-in 802.11N Router which is a free rental from my ISP. The Actiontec modem and router combo works pretty good.

I heard that Apple routers are pretty good, but expensive where you can get a cheaper router which is just as good.
 
I didn't know they made Routers, everyone mostly gets linksy or netgear.
 
Agreed. hehehehe I love my Netgear router, but it's old. It does the job tho and everything is hardwired via cat5. Only our smartphone uses wifi.
 
Demon_Skeith said:
I didn't know they made Routers, everyone mostly gets linksy or netgear.
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I think a lot of people are now using the router which is built-into their modem from their ISP unless the ISP requires users to pay a monthly fee to use Wi-Fi, or to rent the modem instead of buying it.

Linksys is now owned by Belkin, so now a lot of people are using Belkin routers.

Asus, TP-Link, Google, and D-link are also popular router brands.
 
Ah yes I've heard of D-link. ASUS rocks as well. Been using their motherboards for many years. Belkin seems like an "off brand" to me tho. hehehe
 
zoldos said:
Ah yes I've heard of D-link. ASUS rocks as well. Been using their motherboards for many years. Belkin seems like an "off brand" to me tho. hehehe
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I agree, Belkin seems like an "off brand", but sold at higher prices compared to other less popular brands like TP-Link, and Tenda.

I seen Belkin routers being sold at a cheap price at a discount outlet store which sells electronics, furniture, and other products.

I think Belkin routers are mainly bought by less tech-savvy users who buys Belkin's power surge bars, extension cables, HDMI cables, USB cables and chargers, and audio cable.
 
I'll stick with Netgear. I'll eventually have to get a higher speed dual band, but for now, it works.
 
I'm not surprised that apple is dumping wireless routers. It's kind of a tough market with lots of already big players and apple doesn't really add anything new. (Plus I'd imagine half their parts are made by other big players anyway...) So if anything it's probably more a move to reduce cost than anything.

I use an Asus router and it's been pretty solid. (If I remember correctly DS also uses the same one I use...) Don't get me wrong, it was kinda expensive... but damn does it work. Unlike other routers I have it doesn't need to be reset every other week. The only times I've ever reset it was because the power went out. (So not exactly a reset by choice...) It's also been able to handle the strain of a large number of devices.

(A PS4, 2 PS3s, 4 laptops, 1 tablet and 3 smart phones... Many of which were going all at once.)

So, all in all, would recommend buying Asus routers. (Actually I'd recommend Asus gear in general since it seems pretty high quality and works well. )

I'd recommend it over others I've used... I used some TP-link routers in the past and they were garbage. (Perhaps it was a bad batch of them or something. But I had 2 of them in one week and both wouldn't work properly for me. Limited my upload speed to like 40 kilobytes a second. Wouldn't allow more than 2-3 outgoing connections, etc...)
 
zoldos said:
I'll stick with Netgear. I'll eventually have to get a higher speed dual band, but for now, it works.
Click to expand...

Netgear does seem to make good routers.

But, I probably just continue using the router which is built-into my ISP modem which my ISP lent to me for free since it is good enough for my needs, and there is usually just one device which is connected to wi-fi at once. I also don't live in a very big home, so I'm not concerned about long range because I am usually only a few feet away from the modem/router most of the time.

I also don't need to worry about compatibility problems which sometimes happen when people buy the wrong type or brand of router which may not work well with my modem's brand.
 
VirusZero said:
I'm not surprised that apple is dumping wireless routers. It's kind of a tough market with lots of already big players and apple doesn't really add anything new. (Plus I'd imagine half their parts are made by other big players anyway...) So if anything it's probably more a move to reduce cost than anything.

I use an Asus router and it's been pretty solid. (If I remember correctly DS also uses the same one I use...) Don't get me wrong, it was kinda expensive... but damn does it work. Unlike other routers I have it doesn't need to be reset every other week. The only times I've ever reset it was because the power went out. (So not exactly a reset by choice...) It's also been able to handle the strain of a large number of devices.

(A PS4, 2 PS3s, 4 laptops, 1 tablet and 3 smart phones... Many of which were going all at once.)

So, all in all, would recommend buying Asus routers. (Actually I'd recommend Asus gear in general since it seems pretty high quality and works well. )

I'd recommend it over others I've used... I used some TP-link routers in the past and they were garbage. (Perhaps it was a bad batch of them or something. But I had 2 of them in one week and both wouldn't work properly for me. Limited my upload speed to like 40 kilobytes a second. Wouldn't allow more than 2-3 outgoing connections, etc...)
Click to expand...

Yep, I do have the same and its still kicking ass though I can't help but feel it gets hot at times.
 
froggyboy604 said:
Netgear does seem to make good routers.

But, I probably just continue using the router which is built-into my ISP modem which my ISP lent to me for free since it is good enough for my needs, and there is usually just one device which is connected to wi-fi at once. I also don't live in a very big home, so I'm not concerned about long range because I am usually only a few feet away from the modem/router most of the time.

I also don't need to worry about compatibility problems which sometimes happen when people buy the wrong type or brand of router which may not work well with my modem's brand.
Click to expand...
Only our phone uses the wifi and it's great anywhere in the apartment. We have 3 other devices all wired and one free one for use if get another "toy". hehe
 
Have they considered, maybe, lowering the prices of their routers so that they can at least have a chance to take on the competition?
 
Demon_Skeith said:
Apple? Lower their prices? They have no such words in their dictionary.
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Apple temporarily lower their price on their expensive converter cable which converts a USB-C port to a regular USB port, and other converter cables.

But, Apple is not known for making affordable electronics and computers, so they raise their prices on stuff like converter cables eventually.
 
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