Update: A growing problem with original Airport cards?

I have no idea if there are laws which require computer companies to provide parts for a certain length of time for the computers that they have manufactured. 

What I do know is that I bought three white flat panel iMacs in 2002.  All of them got original Airport cards.  The first card in my youngest daughter's iMac failed late last summer.  I was able to find some at Small Dog Electronics.  I ordered one which cost me $129 with shipping.  I should have bought three.

When I went back to Small Dog this morning to get another one to replace the one that failed in my wife's iMac, I got a cute little frowning dog with the message, "The item that you selected is no longer available.

Next I went to Apple's support website where I got the message, "AirPort cards are available from your Apple Authorized Service Provider."  So I did a search for local service providers and called the only authorized one in our area.  He told me that he had one used original Airport Card in stock which I could have for $169.  He also told me that he could not get new ones from Apple parts.

I did an online search and found some new ones at "MacSolutions" for $166. 

Am I the only one who finds these prices for original Airport Cards to be a problem that Apple needs to solve?

It's interesting that Apple points you to the dealer and the dealer has no source of supply.  I would sure like to hear some solutions for this besides buying used cards off of eBay.  Right now I have taken our spare DSL connection and moved it close enough to my wife's iMac so she can have a wired connection.

That's unfortunate because one of the reasons that I bought the iMac for our living room was that it looked great and didn't have to be wired.

The least Apple could do is go out and evangelize some folks to come up with a replacement card.  I have a feeling that lots of people are going to get angry over this when their perfectly good computers no longer will connect and it costs each $166 to get new Airport cards, if you are "lucky" enough to find one.

Having it a cost an unreasonable amount to replace Airport cards is the wrong message for Apple to send at a time when they're trying to attract new customers.

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Update
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From OWC: "Apple Airport Cards Back in Stock- Apple Airport Cards for PowerBook G4 Titanium, iBook G3s, PowerMac G4 Desktops, and more - We've got in stock for the first time in over 7 months. ** $135.00 **"  

Comments

[Jim F]

Pick up a hardware wireless Ethernet bridge -- when I installed a wireless network and wanted to connect my G4 I found that was the easiest, most economical way. I purchased an 802.11b model from Linksys for about $80 about a year and a half ago, but I'm sure that you can now find 802.11g versions to get those older Macs online at 54 Mbps -- and likely for less money than buying an 802.11b airport card.

[Jeff]

My iMac G4 can't take an airport extreme card, and I also balked at the price of an old airport card, so I bought a Belkin USB wireless adapter for much cheaper. It's been working fine.

True, it's another wire from the computer, but the unit itself is about the same size as a mouse.

[ocracokewaves]

Great suggestions. I had asked two Apple system engineers for solutions and gotten no answers. Both suggestions seem like reasonable solutions. I still don't think that these work arounds let Apple off the hook, but both beat buying overpriced Åirport cards.

[David]

In California, they must provide spare parts for at least seven years.

[Ryan]

but but but... Apple is consumer centric!

LMAO

[David]

It looks to me like Apple's OEM card manufacturer stopped making AirPort cards in 2004. Early last year we were able to buy AirPort cards through Apple Service in boxes of 25. Then they removed that option forcing us to buy one at a time. That raised the cost above the previous retail price. Late last year they stopped letting us order cards for stock. All orders are now considered repairs and require a machine serial number. The cost was again raised above our previous retail price. I believe our store cost is now above the US$166 that was mentioned in the article.
It sucks that Apple has essentially cut off supply of a product that is in enormous demand. Virtually every iBook G3 owner that walks into the store wants an AirPort card. Nobody is going to carry an Ethernet bridge into the local coffee shop and most USB thumb size 802.11 units suffer from lack of Mac driver support, poor range and poor throughput on the iBook's USB 1.1 ports.
Apple must be hoping those iBooks get retired soon, but the iBook G3 will remain a perfectly useful email and essay writing tool for another decade.

[Jay]

Macintouch has a pretty good discussion of this problem containing a variety of solutions here:
http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/wirelessnetworking/topic3792.html

Hope this helps.

[Jay]

Here's another one. This guy purchased an Orinoco Silver card for less than $20 and modified it to fit into his iBook (found this one through www.tuaw.com):

http://tanais.livejournal.com/270720.html

Looks like it requires a little bit of hackery on your part, but for $20 it might be worth it.

[Bill]

These were originally released in July of 1999, so it is actually close to the seven year window mentioned above.

I also believe that the price at that release was $199 for a new card. It was a ridiculous price, but the only option at the time. (The graphite basestations were also highly priced - $299 - as any new technology is.)

When the Airport Extreme option was released, we finally saw some price decrease in the original Airport cards.

(My wife was a Technology Coordinator for a local school at that time, and they added "temporary classrooms" the summer of 1999. The engineering aspects of the classrooms were handled by the schools maintenance personnel. She ordered ethernet cables to be run to the classrooms, but maintenance ignored the need; the classrooms were installed with no internet access capabilities. Doh! Luckily, Apple released their wireless network that summer, and the school was forced to purchase all this overpriced equipment to correct the error. It was a great solution, and made the school look "tech-savvy", but ethernet would have been cheaper in the long run.)

[Bruno Dexter]

Since the (OEM) manufacturer of the original airport card no longer manufactures the item and hasn't for sometime, it is reasonable to apply the law of supply and demand. It does cost money to warehouse and manage legacy parts. In this case, due to factors beyond Apple's control, there was no known window in which to "stock up" on product.
It does make for an unfriendly situation. But, in order to get a new fresh supply, Apple would pay dearly. A whole new tooling is not cheap.
Then, Apple WOULD have to charge 200 dollars just to break even.

[fred freem]

there is a sony card which works identically to that of an airport. i have the link at home to a guy's mac.com website where he posted the pics and the name/specs of the card. will look when i get home and get back to you!

[Chris]

Somebody please spare a thought for us Aussies. Apple used to charge AU $400 (~US$300) for the card, now, they go for AU $1400 (~US$1100) - no, cause these are not typos, that's a grand for an airport card.
Working for an AASP I tell customers to buy a Wired/Wireless bridge, or to get a new iBook, as it is only AU$200 more than the card...

[someone]

we can still get them as service parts at my apple store.

under the law in 49 states, they have to be available (parts) for 5 years, in CA its 7.

[Lee]

Oh savior, thy name is "Airport Express."

[glad]

To those of you with a G3/G4 iBook/imac/emac, the Belkin USB wireless adapter will work just fine as long as you are running panther. As for drivers they are available as I use a belkin with my G3 iBook as I had no intention of paying through the nose for an apple card. The Belkin can be used with USB 1 or USB 2 slots. I have listed two sites which should give you all the info you need and also the drivers.

http://www.symplification.com/node/209?from=10&comments_per_page=10

http://www.ralinktech.com/supp-1.htm

I hope this helps everyone.

[Greg]

It is correct that service providers cannot get new cards from Apple, they can get replacement cards if they send the old dead card back to Apple. This ensures that people who need replacement cards (if one fails) can get one. Any competant authorized service provider can get you one, usually for under $100 if you give the old card back to Apple.

[onestep]

I purchased the D-Link external USB DW-122 ... it worked for awhile, but using the Ralink driver, it was just too intermittent.

My current airport in my iBook G3 signal goes in and out... worse during the night. I thought it was the house, but even traveling it has the same problem.

[t]

my airport card has worked fine for the year i've had it up until this week. now i can barely get a signal, not to mention for some reason the password to my network is not being recognized either. i've tried the usb adapters, they rarely work. guess it's time to get a macbook. i might as well send my paychecks direclty to apple at this point.

[ththth]

The only cheap option is, as mentioned above, to buy a card with identical chipset and try to shoehorn it into your Mac. You have to crack open the casing, remove internal shielding and antenna. If you are brave, solder your own connector. Then wrap it into insulating tape and install.
This works with all G3 iBooks clamshell and white dual usb. Unfortunately the keyboard gets a bulge, especially with the clamshells. Using a saw to cut some space these cards also fit into G4 PowerMacs. I haven't heard of anyone putting one of these into an iMac though.

The compatible cards are Lucent/Orinoco silver or gold and Wavelan cards. They go for about 15 - 30 € on eBay.

Of course it's a shame that Apple doesn't sell them any more. The last product using the old Airport card was the iBook G3 900, which was sold until fall 2003. That's not so long ago. Shortly after the discontinuation of the G3 iBooks, Airport cards became harder to come by and a lot more expensive. I wonder why nobody has started a lawsuit in the US so far.

[Gunnar]

Info on usb adaptors that work and drivers for them:

http://www.sustworks.com/site/news_usb_ethernet.html

Try airportcardsdirect.com for an original airport card - $67 today PLUS $22.95 for U.S.ground shipping (a bit much, but it's less than SmallDog who lists it at $129 today for a used card).

[mbraun]

So, how does one know if their Airport card is bad, or if it is some other problem???

[ocracokewaves]

I am not sure there is an easy way except your networking quits working, and you haven't made any software changes.

As I remember the problem on my wife machine manifested itself by not even seeing networks which my laptop had no problem connecting to.

Also my wife's system worked fine when I plugged it into an Ethernet hub with a cable. I'm not sure where Apple system profiler will see a bad airport card or not.

So if other machines work fine on the network, and the machine with the potentially bad Airport card no longer works on the network, yet works fine on a wired network, I safe bet might be that you have a bad airport card especially if it is getting up in years.

I've have replaced one machine's card twice, and another one's once.

[martin geller]

Bruno Dexter mentioned a sony eqivalent for the airport card for the G3 I book. Anyfurther details available?

[ocracokewaves]

You can find some more information at :

http://www.orangeware.com/endusers/wirelessformac.html

It appears someone has done some drivers to provide more options.