By Joe Rosensteel

March 20, 2024 9:35 AM PT

It’s time for a new AirPort

Jason recently reviewed the new M3 MacBook Air, and a key feature of the new models is Wi-Fi 6E support. Wi-Fi 6E is a big deal because it adds the 6GHz spectrum to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands we’re all used to.

The M3 Air also adds support for Wi-Fi 6E, while the older M2 models only support Wi-Fi 6. The difference is real. On my home Internet connection, I was able to get 931 Mbps down and 813 MBps up via Wi-Fi, which is more or less the same speed as my wired connection to my router. In the same spot, my M2 Air could only manage 618 up and 700 down. I wouldn’t buy a new laptop just to have faster Wi-Fi—and keep in mind that you need to upgrade your router and possibly your home internet to take advantage of these speeds—but that’s the fastest Wi-Fi connection I’ve ever experienced.

Jason didn’t get that speed boost from an Apple-made wireless router, because Apple got out of making those long ago. He didn’t get that speed from a wireless router currently for sale at the Apple Store because the only two options are the Linksys Velop AX4200 WiFi 6 Mesh System, and AmpliFi Alien Router (with optional mesh extenders). Linksys does make a version of their Velop mesh network with 6E, but it’s not for sale through Apple.

Jason used an Eero 6E router, and wasted half a day trying to change his network topology to allow for it so he could see that speed difference.¹

It seems like a great time for Apple to sell a friendly 6E router.

Apple was the catalyst for consumer wireless internet with AirPort, but after a decade-plus of glory, they wound down AirPort and it quietly disappeared. Not with a bang, but with a whimper. The last new AirPort product was released in 2013. The AirPort team dispersed to other teams in Apple, like the group working on the 4th generation Apple TV in 2016. In 2018, the death was official. Having left an indelible mark on the wireless router industry in the form of plastic roundrect routers and bespoke “friendly” utility software, Apple left the field.

The thinking at the time was that Apple wasn’t really competitive in the market, just like they weren’t competitive in external displays, so why bother expending resources on such a thing? Other companies had the market covered, and most home Internet routers came with Wi-Fi, so why bother?² Let Apple reserve its magic dust for something other than commodity hardware with thin margins.

I never agreed with that line of thinking, because networking underpins everything that Apple does care about. Every Mac, iPad, Apple TV, HomePod, Vision Pro, and most importantly every iPhone. The iPhone is a cellular device, but when you’re at home, you’re on your Wi-Fi network. If your iPhone and your wireless router aren’t playing well together than you are an unhappy person.

The performance, reliability, and ease of use of your home network really matters a lot to you, and everyone you share your home with, along with all of their devices. Just start counting everything in your home that’s on your Wi-Fi network right now.

When my AirPort Extreme died in 2019, I needed to replace it, and I didn’t need a mesh network, so I went with a terrible Wirecutter pick, the Netgear Nighthawk R7000, which would just periodically stop being on the internet until I hard-rebooted it. The Nighthawk’s design wasn’t from the Apple-aping school of rounded corners—it was presumably made by and for men who were Very Serious About The Internet, which is why it looked like something you might find in the Batcave.

When I moved to a home that needed a mesh solution, I was again disappointed in a product: the Eero, which occasionally has undiagnosable flaky moments, and always bumps one of my smart plugs off the network when it restarts after a software update.

We all love AirPort security

Let’s not forget about how your router figures into your security and privacy, which are both things Apple cares about. To get around sketchy networking, Apple has added iCloud Private Relay to operate on any network inside and outside your home. However, sometimes iCloud Private Relay doesn’t get along with a network, or a service. You have no recourse but to toggle it off, and see if the site works. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a blessed Apple router in your home that iCloud Private Relay would always play nice with?

Apple also obfuscates your devices on a network, which is a great feature on untrusted networks. However, when I am at home, it sometimes decides to play Cold War spy games with my Eero router. Occasionally a handful of devices will simply be “Unnamed Device” and I have no idea what each one is. What if an Apple-blessed router could be consistently entrusted with my device names?

While I don’t have any little tweens getting into trouble online, I know that parental controls are a big deal for some people, and they have to set those parental controls on Apple IDs and on routers, and etc. What if that was unified?

Home is where the hub is

Putting aside the absolute mess of the software side of Home, let’s discuss the networking side of Home. Apple leans heavily on Apple TVs and HomePods to provide the networking backbone for all the connected smart home devices you have.

I’m not sure that’s a useful strategy because when there are issues with your home network, the device designated as your Home Hub loses the game of musical chairs, and a device you do not want to be Home Hub is selected. You want a device that has robust connectivity, which is usually the most modern Apple TV you have (except the $129 one they’re selling without a Thread radio, and without Ethernet).

The device that has the most robust connectivity in my home is my Eero wired to my fiber connection, and its affiliated Eeros. Eero’s Thread network is not compatible with Apple’s approach to Thread, which is just great. Some day Matter might deliver on its promise, but I’m not holding my breath.

What if Apple shipped mesh network devices? Devices that could be the backbone for a Home initiative that Apple allegedly cares about?

Bring back spinning disks!

I’m just kidding about enthusiasm for spinning disks, but one of the strengths of Apple’s AirPort line was that you could shove Time Machine backups somewhere that wasn’t wired to your Mac. Time Capsule was a slow hard drive crammed into the white plastic of your internet router. There was also an option to hook up an external drive to your AirPort Extreme over the USB cable. It was a good idea, because it took something hanging off of your Mac and moved it somewhere else where it could be quiet. Also not everyone wants to build and maintain a NAS.

Yes, backing up a Mac via Wi-Fi back then was slower than doing it over a wire, but wireless networking was also slower back then. I would be interested to see what Apple could do with a 6E router. Surely it’ll never be blistering speeds, but it could be a quiet, competent solution.

And just think of how much they could charge for that embedded solid-state storage! They’re leaving money on the table! Bleed us dry, Tim! Sell a line of them: AirPort Express mesh nodes, AirPort Extreme with ports, AirPort Ultra with Time Capsule (just skip the titanium finish).

Step 4: Profit

I know that it’s still easy to argue that Apple doesn’t need to make wireless routers. They won’t make enough money to make it worth the effort. Whatever “enough money” means is so flexible when you think about all the various things Apple does make. Those networking boffins are better allocated to other products, rather than making commodity hardware.

The return of Apple to the monitor market illustrates how effective Apple’s integration can be when it comes to supposedly superfluous product categories, especially when those products complement or support the products Apple already makes lots of money on… like the Macs it sells that use those displays. It’s called synergy, people.

Designing networking solutions in every device to work around the one component Apple doesn’t want to make is a lot of effort. The R&D can’t cost more than a self-driving, bread-loaf saloon, and the benefits of an Apple wireless router will lift all of Apple’s products. It’s time to head back to the AirPort³.

[Joe Rosensteel is a VFX artist, writer, and co-host of the Defocused and Unhelpful Suggestions podcasts.]

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