Extending Home Network

You are very welcome, but there are still some additional things to do to improve the reliability of the network. Post back if you are interested.

I'm going to be off-line for a few hours, so it will be awhile before I can work on this. In the meantime, you can use things as they are.

Thanks for the clarification. Happy Holidays!

I think we've been through most of this before, but the new illustrations are great.

Do you want the EE router to control the distribution of IP addresses to all the AirPorts and other connected devices on the network? There are both advantages and disadvantages to doing this.

Do you want the Time Capsule to distribute IP addresses to all of the AirPorts and other connected devices on the network? There are both advantages and disadvantages to doing this.

If you call Apple Support, they will tell you that you must set things up this way. That does not mean they are necessarily correct though.

Either way you choose, It is going to be a long, tedious process to get everything working. It's one step at a time with one device at a time. You can't set up another device until the previous device is working well, so most of the network may be down for a significant amount of time.

You will be using a Mac running a current or recent operating system to set up and check things, correct?

I cannot tell what product the "Hive Hub" might be. An older AirPort Extreme maybe?

Having the EE router issue IP addresses with all the AirPorts in Off (Bridge Mode) is the simplest way to set up the network. This is probably OK....assuming that the EE router can provide enough IP addresses for all of the devices on your network. That's 6 devices on your network layout plus your other devices, computers, iPhone, iPads, etc. I'm guessing that you might need a router that is cable of providing 25 separate IP addresses or more to allow for future expansion on the network.

So the first question would be......what are the capabilities of the EE router in this regard? Some routers that are provided by Internet Service Providers are set up to only allow 10 devices to connect, for example. Others less, some more.

It really would not make sense to try to set up the EE router to provide all the IP addresses until you know for sure that it is capable of providing at least 20-25 IP addresses, maybe more.

Next item if the EE router is going to provide all the IP addresses..........you have the Time Capsule set up to provide a wireless network.....but.....all of your devices that will have to receive an IP address that is being passed through the Time Capsule to other devices and passed through yet again on some of your other AirPorts to reach a device connected to the network. Makes things a bit more complicated.

If you set up the Time Capsule to pick up only one IP address from the EE router and then provide IP addresses to all the other devices on the network, the Time Capsule can provide up to 200 IP addresses to network devices. You'll never need all that capability, but you'll also never need to wonder whether your not your router in charge will run out of IP addresses.

Another factor to consider is that in an extended network, the other AirPort routers seem to just work better because they are receiving their connection credentials from another Apple router, not a third party router. This makes the set up of other AirPorts easier using AirPort Utility because the set up "wizard" will work better this way.

The downside to setting up the Time Capsule is that you will initially see a message that there is a Double NAT condition on the network, which is really telling you that you have two routers on the network.......the EE router and the Time Capsule router.....both trying to control the network. This is not a problem.....IF.....all of your other network devices connect to the Time Capsule and not to the EE router. Then, you can use the option in AirPort Utility to "ignore" the Double NAT status message and the Time Capsule will display a green light.

So, if the EE router is also providing a wireless network, all your WiFi devices must connect to the Time Capsule. They cannot connect to the EE router in this type of network setup with the Time Capsule in charge of connections to devices on your network.

I think you can easily see why Apple says that you need to set up the Time Capsule to provide IP addresses. I don't always agree with this if the user has a very simple home network. But.......your network is not simple.

If this were my network, I would put the Time Capsule in charge of providing IP addresses. But, this is your network, so it will be your decision on whether you want the EE router "in charge" or the Time Capsule "in charge".

So, we'll need to know how you want to proceed before we start.

In order to check connections as we go.......you really will need a laptop with an Ethernet port to be able to test things......before we connect an AirPort (and set it up again if necessary). The MBP would be great if it has an Ethernet port. If it doesn't.....an adapter to allow this would be well worth the money. It's great item to keep in your desk drawer to test things.

If we cannot test the Ethernet connections of the Ethernet cabling, we'll have to assume that the cable is working correctly. Experience tells me all the time that it is very dangerous to assume anything when you are setting up a network.

OK, thanks.

Open AirPort Utility again

Click on the Time Caspule, then click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click on the Network tab at the top of the next window

Change the setting for Network Mode from "Off (Bridge Mode)" to "DHCP and NAT"

Click Update at the lower right of the window and give the TC a minute to restart

At this point, the Time Capsule indicator light will be blinking amber. Do not worry about this for now.

Power off the Time Capsule

Power off the EE router

Wait a minute

Power up the EE router

Power up the Time Capsule

The amber light will still be blinking on the TC.

Check to make sure that you can connect to the TC wireless network and get a good Internet connection that way

Then, turn off the WiFi on the MBP and check to make sure that you can get a good Internet connection when you connect to each of the 3 LAN Ethernet ports on the Time Capsule

If all is well, open AirPort Utility again

Click on the TC

Click on the amber dot next to Status in the smaller window that appears to see a message about Double NAT or it might indicate a Private IP address at the WAN port on the TC

There will be an option to "Ignore" the Double NAT

Click on that and update if a button appears, otherwise wait a minute and the light on the TC should now be green

Post back to confirm

Setting up a Reserved IP Address for the AirPort Express is a bit more complicated.

On your Mac

Open AirPort Utility and click on Office AirPort Express and a smaller window will appear

Hover your mouse over the name of the device at the top of the smaller window and the model number and identification information about the device will appear

Write down the Ethernet ID, which is also known as the MAC Address

Close the windows

Move your MBP near the Time Capsule

Open AirPort Utility and click on the Time Capsule and a smaller window will appear

Click Edit

Click the Network tab at the top of the next window

Click the + button under the DHCP Reservations window

Under Description.......Type in......Office AirPort Express

Reserve Address by MAC Address

MAC Address........Type in the Ethernet ID, also known as the MAC Address that you wrote down previously

IPv4 Address.......Type in the IP Address number that you want the Office Express to always have.......something that you will easily recognize........like 10.0.1.20

Click on Save

Click on Update to save the Reservation settings and let the Time Capsule restart

Repeat the same process for the Top Bedroom Express to get the Ethernet ID for that device and use an IPv4 Address like 10.0.1.30 for that Express

IF......the EE router can be programmed to do the same type of thing for the Time Capsule, it would be a good idea to do this. But, this has to be done from the EE router, not from the Time Capsule.

I haven't set up the Time Capsule yet, it looks like you can adjust those settings. I'm hesitating slightly as the edit layout isn't as simple and intuitive as Apple's

Sorry, I am not following this. The Time Capsule.....is....an Apple router, so you would use the same AirPort Utility application to make any changes to the set up of the Time Capsule.

If things are working well now, then you might want to leave well enough alone. The Reserved IP addresses are "tweaks" for the network to reduce some variables that now exist, but it is not mandatory to incorporate these "tweaks".

Correction, when you open AirPort Utility and select the Network tab at the top of the screen, change the setting for Router Mode from "Off (Bridge Mode)" to "DHCP and NAT", then click Update