Does Apple AirPort Extreme provide more than other wifi routers?

Question

I'm looking to replace my sister's AirPort Extreme with, say, a Belkin or NetGear router that I can pick up from a local store. She's concerned that her (quite old) Apple TV and maybe something else will lose some/all functionality. Anyone know if the AirPort does anything more than other wifi routers do?

Answer 1

Apple AirPort Extremes do several Apple specific things, including acting as a Bonjour Sleep Proxy (allowing other Apple device to sleep and save power but still wake when something else on the network wants to talk to them, such as AirPlay, iTunes Home Sharing, Back To My Mac, and more), supporting Back To My Mac themselves for secure remote administration and file/printer sharing, Mac-style file (AFP) and printer sharing, and Apple's fast/flexible wireless network extension protocol.

They also have higher quality firmware than most wireless routers out there, so they reliably support things that lots of other products don't do reliably, such as proper multicast support, NAT loopback (hairpinning), and they're much less likely to flake out and need to be rebooted.

Answer 2

The AirPort Extreme is nothing more than an Apple-branded router. The Apple TV, regardless of version will still be able to connect to another Wi-Fi network regardless of what router manufacturer you get. What you might be thinking of that has "anything more than other wifi routers" could be an AirPort Time Capsule which has a built-in hard drive for use with Time Machine on OS X devices to back them up, but that's still separate from the router. TL;DR go ahead and pick up another router.