MacBook and ATT 2Wire modem

Hi jmattix,

Let's try to gain some clarification on the connectivity hardware here. Your 2wire modem is most likely a modem/router combo device, in that it provides the connection and also offers wireless or additional ethernet ports. The AirPort Extreme is really just a fancy Apple term for "router." If you opt to purchase the AirPort Extreme you'd still require a modem for your service and in most cases I recall AT&T being picky about you using your own router. (They like to collect the monthly rental fees!)

Now, replacing the existing 2wire modem with a new one, operating the device in bridge mode and having your new AirPort Extreme Base Station serve as your wireless access point (router) would certainly work.

There are known issues with Macs of various flavors intermittently dropping connection to the 2Wire brand routers. I had the same experience myself (brand new 2Wire router and new MacBook Pro) and spent some time searching for answers. Currently, the only thing I found to work consistently is to launch Terminal and have it ping the router constantly while I am connected. This eliminates all the drops I was experiencing. I left my MacBook Pro connected for over a week straight to confirm the drops are totally gone.

Steps to ping the router in OS 10.5.8:
1. Open System Preferences
2. Click on Network
3. Highlight AirPort on left side
4. Click 'Advanced'
5. Click 'TCP/IP'
6. Highlight the number series after Router: (should be similar to ###.###.#.###)
7. Copy to the clipboard
8. Under Applications > Utilities, launch "Terminal"
9. Wait a few seconds for it to initialize and present a prompt
10. type "ping", then a space, then paste the router IP address
11. Hit Return

This will work for as long as your system is powered on. You will need to repeat the process if you restart.

I was having problems with my 2Wire as well. It was the new 2Wire Model. I was getting messages from Safari and Firefox that i could not find the server at time. So i just bridged my motorola modem to my linksys router and everything is fixed

I believe he's looking at buying a modem and a router. I would imagine the Airport router would work fine with the new modem, but someone else might know more.