The List
Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the list. If
you have information about WAPs that are not on this list, please
tell us about
it.
3-Com
- Model(s) tested: Access Point 2000
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: Alexis Iglauer
- Notes:
- Alexis Iglauer: I use a 3Com Access Point
2000, worked out of the box with the 1.0.0 firmware, talking
to an iBook and to a Windoze laptop with a 3Com XJack card. No
Appletalk, but the 64 and 128 bit WEP both work fine.
The browser based setup program only works properly
in IE (most of it works fine in Chimera, but the page to set
up the WEP keys seems to need IE). I haven't tried Omniweb/Opera
yet.
Actiontec
- Model(s) tested: GS414AD9-01UK
- AppleTalk support: unknown
- WEP compatibility: yes 64-bit (128-bit unknown)
- Tested by: "NeedForSpeed"
- Notes:
- NeedForSpeed: I have 2 airport cards talking
to it and 1 PC card on 40/64bit WEP
Apple
- Model(s) tested: Snow (white) 3-port Airport BaseStation
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: NAL
- Notes:
- The Airport BaseStation is the WAP of choice
for most Macintosh users, and while it is a little expensive,
it has the not inconsiderable advantage of being fully-compatible
with the Airport cards. It is a full router that provides a dial-on-demand
Internet connection through its built-in modem, or it can use
a broadband connection via its WAN port.
Asus
- Model(s) tested: AAM6030VI
AppleTalk support: NO
WEP compatibility: Yes 64/128bit
Tested by: David Anderson
Notes:
- David Anderson: The 6030VI is the larger
brother of the Asus 6000EV, with the inclusion of an 802.11b
wireless access point and a 4 port 10/100Mbps switching hub.
AppleTalk did not work, so could not use the WAP for filesharing,
however internet access was OK.
Belkin
- Model(s) tested: F5D6130U
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: yes
- Tested by: Daniele Procida, Donald Meston, Patrick Navin
- Notes:
- Daniele Procida: To get it working with AppleTalk
required several firmware upgrade attempts. The version which
worked was F5D6230-3-v1.10.005.d01.dlf. I got it from <eurosupport@belkin.com>.
- Donald Meston: It supports WEP here using
a cheapo Sitecomm PCMCIA card and the ioxperts driver under both
9 and X. Appletalk is fine. With this card the 1.0b16 driver
for MacOS X kills my machine every time - b15 works just fine.
Belkin
- Model(s) tested: F5D6230U
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: yes
- Tested by: Farhad Anklesaria, Patrick Navin, John Priddle
- Notes:
- Farhad Anklesaria: I'm using the Belkin F5D6230-3
WAP, with the firmware upgrade. Works fine with Macs including
MacOS X; passes appletalk, old LaserWriter IIg works.
- Patrick Navin: just to let you know WEP is
fully supported on both the Belkin models
- John Priddle: requires firmware 1.20.000
or higher to pass Appletalk from wired to wireless
Belkin
- Model(s) tested: F5D7230UK4
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: not tested
- Tested by: Daniele Procida
- Notes:
- Daniele Procida: hideous plastic design,
but seems to work well.
Buffalo AirStation
- Model(s) tested: WLA-L11G
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: NAL, Daniele Procida, Jon Bradbury, Christian
Hewitt
- Notes:
- The Buffalo did not rate highly for looks,
but worked well. It is likely that the same technology is used
in other Buffalo WAP products.
DLink
- Model(s) tested: 900AP+
- AppleTalk support: no
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: NAL
- Notes:
- DLink tech support says that they have no plans to support
AppleTalk: that is right, it is not designed
for appletalk as it dont' support it. there is no firmware and
no plans for appletalk. it's an apple standard and will never
be available. it's proprietary information to apple.
Linksys
- Model(s) tested: BWFW11S4
- AppleTalk support: yes (well. maybe)
- WEP compatibility: Yes
- Tested by: Bill Rowe, Jim Glidewell
- Notes:
- Bill Rowe: WEP works fine over this network.
While AppleTalk is not officially supported by Linksys, I have
no problem sharing a printer via AppleTalk over the network.
- Jim Glidewell: Turns out that the model I
got was BEFW11S4 *version 2*, which had different hardware innards,
different firmware, and no AT support.
- Bill Rowe: FWIW, the model I am using is
BEFW11S4 version 2 and printing over the
network via AppleTalk seems to work fine.
Linksys
- Model(s) tested: WET11
- AppleTalk support: no
- WEP compatibility: Yes
- Tested by: Tom Harrington, Tom Klein
- Notes:
- Tom Harrington: WEP works fine connecting
to an Apple Airport base station. I have no idea about AppleTalk...
"works" so far does not include the possibility of
upgrading the WET11's firmware.
- However note that it's not actually a WAP.
It's more like the USB-to-Ethernet adapters that are becoming
common, except that it uses Ethernet instead of USB....This would
be a fantastic setup if the WET11 didn't require rebooting so
often.
- Tom Klein: the linksys wet11, current firmware
version 1.4.3, does not handle appletalk properly. tech
support has not indicated when this will be fixed, if at all.
their latest response was that "no linksys products support
macintosh".
Netgear
- Model(s) tested: MR314
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: unknown
- Tested by: Daniele Procida, Steve Hix, "Brian"
- Notes:
- Daniele Procida: Netgear's MR314 works, with
lousy WEP password support
- Steve Hix: The NetGear MR314, at least, does
AppleTalk just fine.
- Brian: I have a Linksys BEFSR41 on my cable
modem, when I got the Netgear WAP I just turned off NAT on the
Netgear, and hooked it to a open port on the BEFSR41 so that
I can find my printer and use
filesharing between CPUs via wireless and both routers (OS 9.1
and 8.6 machines)
Netgear
- Model(s) tested: DG824
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: yes
- Tested by: Clive Sweeting
- Notes:
- Clive Sweeting: It works fine with Airport
cards, 128-bit WEP, 9 or X....I can confirm it bridges Appletalk.
Netgear
- Model(s) tested: MR814
- AppleTalk support: unknown
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: Kevin Buesing
- Notes:
- Kevin Buesing: The netgear MR-814 was not
a V2 (check that on the model on the bottom of the device) and
it was upgraded to the 4.09 firmware from netgear's site. Make
sure to use the hex key instead of ascii when setting up WEP.
I was using airport software 3.0 from Apple on Jagur 10.2.5.
A D-Link 714+ did not work and was returned in exchange for this
device. Great deal at $99 with a 30 dollar rebate! The locking
out of other mac addresses works quite well, and the configuration
of the device is quite simple (via webpage).
Orinoco
- Model(s) tested: RG1100
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: Tim Wright
- Notes:
- Tim Wright: I'm pretty happy with it, personally.
It routes Appletalk flawlessly (obviously) and the fact that
it's hardware identical with Apple's own solution offers a certain
amount of peace of mind that it shouldn't be affected by any
future tweaks by Apple.
SMC
- Model(s) tested: SMC2404WBR
- AppleTalk support: No
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: Tim Cutts, Clark Martin, Paul Ransom, Stefan Haller
- Notes:
- Tim Cutts: I have no problems using it with
my Mac laptops, nor do I have any trouble connecting to it from
Windows and Linux machines.
- Clark Martin: I bought an SMC router / AP
as they claim it does AppleTalk but have never had it work (although
it can see the network number range when have a router on the
net).
- Paul Ransom: I borrowed my neighbour's SMC2404WBR
but I couldn't get it to work with Appletalk on my machines (OS
7.5.5, OS 8.6) across the wireless bridge.
- Stefan Haller: It has 128-bit WEP and MAC
access control, which is all I need (I think). I don't think
it routes AppleTalk, which is no issue for me.
SpeedTouch
- Model(s) tested: ST570
- AppleTalk support: Yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: NAL
- Notes:
- The SpeedTouch 570 is a combined ADSL router/wireless
access point; it is essentially the ST510 ADSL-ethernet router
with a WAP built-in. Both Appletalk and WEP work well with the
Airport drivers.
Vigor
- Model(s) tested: 2600We
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: both 64- and 128-bit
- Tested by: NAL
- Notes:
- The 2600We is a combined ADSL router/wireless
access point/firewall/VPN router and a good choice for Mac users
who have both wired and wireless LANs they want to connect to
an ADSL service.
Zyxel
- Model(s) tested: P650HW
- AppleTalk support: yes
- WEP compatibility: No
- Tested by: NAL
- Notes:
- The P650HW is a combined ADSL router/wireless
access point based on the ZyAir wireless cards, so the comments
apply to everything that uses the ZyAir card. When WEP is enabled
on the Zyxel, the Macs configured with a matching WEP key can
join the WLAN, but as soon as they start to send any data, they
drop off the WLAN and the Airport Utility reports that "there
are no basestations in range".
- NB. The WEP incompatibility is fixed with
Apple's AirPort 3.1.1 update. Even though this is for OSX only,
once you have applied the update, WEP will work in OS9 as well.
We speculate that something in the Airport card itself has been
updated (as well as the OSX-only drivers).
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