Some weeks ago I bought a MacBook and I was quite happy with it. It does everything I need it to do and more. I made my first podcast using GarageBand, but I was missing one thing: WiFi. I live in an appartment together with 2 other students and they have old computers incapable of WiFi support. We have a brand new Linksys router without WiFi capability. The Linksys router will stay here when I move out. I also travel a lot and for instance at my brother’s they don’t have a router at all. They have a cable modem with one port and one PC attached to it. The PC is capable of WiFi, but since the modem doesn’t support it, it’s not being used.

Therefore I decided it was handy to get my own WiFi. I don’t need a WiFi Access Point, because I cannot use that here. It would have to replace the current brand new router. To meet the needs of my roommates I would have to buy an additional switch. Together that would be over € 100 and after I move out, I probably never use the switch again and I’m stuck with a cheap WiFi Acesspoint for cable I’m not planning to use, since I won’t have cable there but DSL and I already have a ADSL modem router with four ports myself. So the most sensible thing to do is buying a device that enables me here to create a wireless internet connection and I will be using it later when I move out as a wireless printer server or to stream audio from my laptop to a stereoset. Hence the Airport Express.

I had my very own wireless network within 5 minutes after unboxing the thing. This is how it works. There are 3 ports in the device: audio jack, USB and UTP (ethernet). In order to create a wireless network without messing my roommates’ internet connection up, I use the last port and put in a short ethernet cable, the other end goes into the AirPort Extreme’s ethernet port. I plug the device into a outlet, install the AirPort Express Software on my laptop and it recognizes the internet settings I saved in my router. I make it a bridge, which means it’s attached to a router with DHCP and NAT already and I’m online. That’s all. When I want to access my HP Deskjet printer wirelessly, I just plug in the printer’s USB cable and I’m done. Same story for streaming audio: just attach the stereo using a audio cable to the device and you can listen your iTunes music using your stereo instead of the laptop. Since it’s a small device, you can put it easily in your laptop bag. It’s not much bigger than a MacBook power adapter.

It’s great and I love it!

Posted under Gadgets