The new AirPort Extreme was kind of the sneaky Apple announcement back at Macworld. Not only does it have 802.11n functionality, but it also adds three wired Ethernet ports, lets you mount USB hard drives on your network, and share printers with ease.
Unfortunately, the supposed 5x speed gain that you’re supposed to get from the new 802.11n wireless technology is not quite as universal as Apple might hope. Macworld UK reports that in Great Britain, as well as Japan, Germany, Spain, and a handful of other countries, the speed increase will be limited to half that: a more modest 2.5x improvement.
Why the difference? These countries have laws prohibiting “wide-channel operation,” in the case of the AirPort Extreme, a 40 MHz chunk of bandwidth in the 5GHz spectrum. The regulations restrict channel bandwidth to 20 MHz, cutting the AirPort Extreme’s speed gain in half.
You can confirm the difference by checking out the UK Apple page for the AirPort Extreme, which specifies only a 2.5x improvement on the existing 802.11g standard, versus the US Apple page, which lists a 5x improvement. Does this restriction affect the Apple TV too? Most likely, though since our cousins across the pond still can’t buy TV shows or movies via iTunes (though they can get music videos, video podcasts, and some Pixar shorts). Either way, that seems like less of an issue for now.
