The iBook is among the most influential computers in computer history, and it's not because
of how it looks, unfortunately. I really wanted one of these as a kid.
Because it actually pioneered a technology we take completely for granted these days.
It's Wi-Fi. This laptop and its companion router were the first devices to bring Wi-Fi to the masses
after Apple in a move that solidified Wi-Fi as the standard wireless networking technology
pushed the competing standard into obscurity.
So Apple gave us Wi-Fi right up until they abandoned it.
Now this video is sponsored by ASUS because they provide what Apple won't anymore.
And I've got the whole history of airport routers and I'm going to show you what they
could do and why that's not good enough anymore.
We just upgraded our internet here at the house to one gig, which is amazing.
But this decade old airport network can't handle it, which is too bad because it's
pretty sweet. Upon their release in 2013, the airport extreme router supported the latest draft AC spec
which denoted a theoretical throughput of up to 1.3 gigabits per second, which is close
enough for me. It even supported mesh networking before all the other kids started doing it.
I have an airport express in the living room that provides a lower latency wired connection
to the TV and airplane music to the stereo.
And in the basement, I installed a two terabyte time capsule to help up speeds there and provide
local and convenient backups for my MacBooks without having to pay $10 a month for iCloud.
But unfortunately, that's not going to do because I'm not getting anywhere near the
advertised speeds. The fastest speeds I'm able to get is around 500 megabits per second and in this age of
countless wireless smart home devices crowding your network and home internet speeds reaching
up to 2.5 gigabits per second or beyond, using the latest Wi-Fi technologies is critical
and Apple doesn't offer them anymore. It's a shame really because it was Apple who pushed for the Wi-Fi technology we know
and use today. They made it happen and well before the term Wi-Fi was even a thing.
Let me explain.
Back in the late 90s, things were a lot different.
Apple was a struggling company that had fallen from glory and the internet was this new whiz
bang thing that would bring the world's information to our fingertips.
That's what the i in iMac is for because not only did it have a telephone internet modem
built in, it also had Ethernet, which was common only on business PCs at the time.
Ethernet is amazing, but the executives at Apple recognized a problem.
Constantly plugging in a laptop was never going to work, even if there were ports at
every corner, which wasn't possible anyway because retrofitting centuries of asbestos
filled building construction, especially in schools, was not something Apple could do
or expect to happen quickly. The answer, of course, is wireless.
The most viable seeming wireless standard at the time was called HomeRF, which is being
developed by a consortium that included Intel, Motorola and Siemens, among others.
It had momentum and according to John Rubenstein in an interview with the Computer History
Museum, the HomeRF team was pushing the FCC standards to make it work for them.
Better for HomeRF versus, you know, not as good for Wi-Fi.
Sounds good enough. Well, Apple didn't go with HomeRF.
Okay, so one thing I really wanted to try is the first ever network, so I got the first
devices that used them and it was a huge pain to get this iBook to work.
There was another technology called Waveland that was developed by a team at NCR in the
Netherlands. Today, under the leadership of Vic Hayes, known as the father of Wi-Fi, turned the technology
into the first IEEE standard 802.11 by the late 90s.
In that first standard, things were still being figured out, but Apple saw potential.
The technology was being used in industrial and commercial applications, so it was expensive,
big and inefficient. But Apple, using their muscle, essentially pushed for the technology to be scaled down
to a $100 PC card and $300 airport base station, leading to the implementation of the 802.11
B standard they introduced to the mainstream in 1999.
What I've seen, many of the executives talk really fondly about the airport project, whether
it was bringing the technology to market or marketing it at the iBook launch keynote.
They made Phil Schiller jump off a scaffold onto a mat in front of everyone.
You might not have the momentous reputation as the iMac, but I'd argue that it was more
impactful to our daily life. And Apple really committed to Wi-Fi.
From then on, every Mac that was released incorporated Wi-Fi intent is to make sure
anyone could simply adopt Wi-Fi when they were ready just by plugging this card in.
I tried so hard to get this to work, but unfortunately I just can't get the base station to connect
to the internet. And even if I could, I probably wouldn't even be able to get to a speed test website
to verify the 11 megabits per second throughput that this supports.
This uses Wi-Fi 1. The final airport setup only supports the draft version of Wi-Fi 5.
Now Apple devices released in the past year support 6e.
That includes the new MacBook Pros, iMacs, iPad Pros, and iPhone 15 Pro.
So that's why this video is sponsored.
This is the top router from ASUS, their ET12.
It's very beautiful. It and their spider looking AXE7800 support the current Wi-Fi 6e standard.
7 is still in development, though ASUS has a router for that too.
We've come a long way, three wireless bands with a backhaul for the mesh network and speeds
of almost 10 gigabits per second. Yep, looks like we're getting the full gigabit speeds just about anywhere in the house.
But there's more too. These routers support 2.5 gig Ethernet, meaning you can connect the latest high speed network
attached storage and be ready for future internet speed upgrades.
There are advanced features at no extra cost, like a simple to use network setup app, built
in VPN, security, and family profiles to manage the young ins internet usage.
One thing I really like is how you can add any AI mesh-supported ASUS routers to your
wireless network should you need more coverage, and you can find out all about it in the link
below. Now, Apple was also doing mesh before and early too.
Back when Wireless G, now called Wireless 3, was released, Apple was right at the front
lines with this airport extreme, and in 2004 they released this very handy airport express.
It could be used as a standalone router, of course, but it could also connect and expand
your existing network, while also serving as a printer, server through the USB port,
and music through the audio output and airplay.
Though that was called air tunes at the time.
And that does mean you'd have to place your printer next to your speakers, doesn't it?
Nevertheless, if you were outputting from iTunes, these supported multi-room audio at
the same time as the plucky startup Sonos.
For the next decade, Apple kept up with the wireless technologies releasing models that
supported the faster wireless N, Wi-Fi 4 standard.
They also introduced the convenience and security of local backups with the time capsule, which
was an airport extreme with a hard drive built into it.
Yes, airport routers were one of the more expensive options at the time, but if you
were an Apple user, you got a pretty simple and reliable setup with technologies the
mainstream didn't adopt until years later.
So what happened? Well, in 2013 Apple released their final suite of routers.
Later they disbanded the entire airport team, and then in 2018 they discontinued and sold
off the long, old models.
You don't have to throw out these airports, by the way.
The last airport Express actually supports the current AirPlay 2 standard, and the time
machine can be connected to any network just like any device to still be used to back up
your Macs. So that's nice. But if you want the fastest speeds and latest technologies, you have to look elsewhere.
Like these ASUS routers. And thanks to them for sponsoring this video.
Thanks for connecting to this Mac Address wirelessly. I'm curious in the comments below when you got your first Wi-Fi router, and if you want
to check out another video we did, check out the one where I left an air-tagged backpack
on a train and then had to go find it again.