![]() ![]() I plugged the Airport directly into my laptop with Wireshark installed and while watching the traffic I turned on the Guest Network feature. ![]() So this morning I decided to do a little tinkering. My network is too complex, and even if it wasn’t I have FiOS Internet which means I would have to call and get my ONT re-provisioned to use the Ethernet jack instead of MoCA (coax) which would be a major hassle. So for the last year I’ve been without a guest network, a feature that I really wanted because I refuse to use the Airport as my main router. They made the requirement that the main router that connects your home to the Internet also be an Airport Extreme, otherwise the Guest Network simply does not work. However, Apple did something only Apple does. This network is firewalled off from your home network, allowing guests to surf the web without getting access to your private data. This feature allows you to create a second SSID, very simply that has access only to the internet. One of the features I was excited about was the Airport Extreme Guest Network. So I wanted to stick with them in my new house. ![]() Something Apple has generally been known for. I’ve always liked that the Airports just work, and always reliably. I bought several Airport Extremes when we built our new home in 2015. The Apple overlords have gone too far in this case, and I am going to show you how it really works! Using The Airport Extreme Guest Network with a Third Party Router The Airport Extreme Guest Wireless network can be used with almost any other brand of router as your main router, as long is it supports VLANs, but Apple has gone out of there way to make sure you don’t know that. And that really sucks when you need their gear to work with other manufactures products out of necessity and Apple we’re talking about things that have been industry standards for decades! Apple loves to make their technologies proprietary and compatible with only other Apple gear. This is one of those situations where Apple really pisses me off. Use Apple’s serial number lookup page to find your model.Is it possible to use Apple’s Airport Extreme Guest Network without using the Airport as your main router? YES. ![]() You can find the serial number for the Express on the side of the device (first generation) or on the bottom (second generation). Apple released a second generation Express in 2012 which used a square design like a smaller version of the Airport Extreme and had two Ethernet ports. The portable router could plug directly into a wall power socket and featured one Ethernet for connecting to an existing network. In the same period, Apple released a router named the Airport Express which worked as a miniature version of the Airport Extreme. Use the serial numbers to differentiate the two devices, and see this separate iFixit page for repair information on the Time Capsule. The Airport Time Capsule is a similar device it is identical to the Extreme but has an internal hard drive for backups. You can find the serial number on the bottom of all Airport Extreme models and use Apple’s serial number lookup page to find your specific router. The final version, model A1521, was much taller than all previous revisions. Apple released six more revisions of the Airport Extreme through 2013 which all featured a new square design and faster dual band 2.4/5 GHz networking. You can distinguish this model from the Base Stations because this router has the words “Airport Extreme“ written on the top of the shell. The first generation of the Airport Extreme featured the same UFO design as the Base Station, but used a faster Wi-Fi standard and included a USB port for sharing printers on your network. In 2003, Apple released the Airport Extreme, which superseded the Base Station. You can identify both of these routers by their conical shape shown on this CBS News page. Apple released a revised Base Station in 2001 with a second Ethernet port and a white shell. The Airport Base Station is shaped like a UFO saucer topped with a cone, and the first model had a gray plastic shell. The original Base Station featured an Ethernet port to connect to an external modem as well as a built-in 56k dialup modem. Apple introduced its first wireless router in July 1999 with the release of the Airport Base Station. ![]()
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