Earlier I asked which USB modem to use. But now I'm thinking that perhaps getting an old (Original or Extreme) Airport Base Station might serve my cousins better?

What advantages do you see in going that route(r)? I can get an Apple USB Modem for $20 (OBO) on eBay. SO, it's CHEAP. What about the old ABSs? Good price for those? And can the dial-up modem connection be shared across the wireless part? Or, how did that work? I never had an ABS so I would not know. Any pitfalls with the older ABSs?

[web.archive.org]
[en.wikipedia.org]

Does anyone know the EXACT model numbers that HAVE MODEMS? That will be a NECESSITY.

Thanks!!

(I see this bit)

Quote

="A second model (M8930LL/A) lacking the modem"

I don't know the model numbers, but the original silver ones all had modems as did the next "Snow" model. Not all Extreme round ones had modems. Does that help? I probably wouldn't get the original one because of age and they had capacitor problems. The snow would be cheap, I had one and the friend I gave it to is still using it. As far as them working well, yes they do and you can share the connection wirelessly, slow, but it works.

Okay, been searching my butt off. Here is what I think I found...

Has modem M8799LL/A 802.11g
Has modem M7601/A 802.11b [web.archive.org]

Does NOT have modem M9397LL/A 802.11g
Does NOT have modem M8930LL/A 802.11g

[en.wikipedia.org]

[shop.ebay.com]

[support.apple.com]

[support.apple.com]

[support.apple.com]

[support.apple.com]

[manuals.info.apple.com]

[manuals.info.apple.com]

[manuals.info.apple.com]

[web.archive.org]

Some models of the base station also have a built-in 56K modem port (W) for dial-up Internet access with a standard telephone line.

[web.archive.org]

[web.archive.org]

I had to upgrade from my original graphite base station to the snow base station (the model w/ modem & external antenna port) when I got my macbook, as the macbook would not reliably find the graphite base station's wireless card.

yes, you can share dial-up over wireless (macbook & tivo were using it at the same time - slowly...)

If you are using PPCs only the graphite base station should be fine.

also, I recommend vtisp.com for dialup if there is a local access number - only $40/year for 150 hours/month

Quote
Bill in NC
snow base station (the model w/ modem & external antenna port)

I don't believe the Snow had the antenna port, they started that with the Extreme version (also white, but not called "Snow" ). I've had both and they both worked fine in dial-up mode when I needed it.

So, are you saying I have missed a model?
There is a snow and a white?
I listed above only ONE white-ish model. What is the OTHER one I am missing? I sure did not find anything on that one.

There was a model just after the graphite one, it was white and normally called Snow. It was an 801.11b just like the graphite and it had a modem but no antenna port. Then they came out with the Extreme 801.11g with or without modem and always an antenna port. Then the square extremes came out with the 801.11n speed, no modem, no antenna port. There was another extreme g version for a little more money but I forgot what it did differently. I had a graphite, the snow, the extreme g and now I use the extreme square one, easily the best so far.

The snow version had an 801.11b Airport card inside, the graphite had a PC-type card. When the original Airport card was selling for over 100 bucks a few years ago, many snow basestations got taken apart.

I just spent 5 days using this exact setup - sharing by wireless a modem connection.

A few years ago, this did not seem too bad.

But the overhead on websites and IMAP/Echange emails are now so bad, it was painful to use - kind of like the feel of the ol' 14.4 modems.

The only funny management thing is that the wireless modem will connect if it is contacted by any device - including an ipod touch. So if you only have one phone line, you will have to keep people off the connection unless they are actively using it.