Extending current WIFI range and signal strength in my condo using my Airport Time Capsule

In pictures.

After the reset you will get the the best guess from Apple in Airport Utility. Ignore it and click on other options.

Click on create a new network.. I find this works better when you use 3rd party router as main router.

Now you have the chance to fill in details.. Network name is the wireless SSID from your other router.

Base Station name is whatever you want to name this particular Airport.

By default it uses a single password.. so wireless password and admin password are the same.. or uncheck the box and make them different.. do write down details and use a sticker on the TC so you remember.

CLick the Next once you complete the screenshot above and it should churn and throw up some errors.. all of which you can ignore. We fix them after.

Finally get this screen.. then click on edit.

Go to the Network Tab and change to Bridge mode.

If you used some other wireless name you can also fix it here. Just click on the wireless tab.

Fill in all the changes and hit update..

If you wish to change the 5ghz to a different name.. if the Bell3000 has different names.. click the wireless options..

Here you can set any changes required.. for items on this menu.

Using AirPort Utility, simply change the name of the wireless network that the Time Capsule is using to the exact same name that the Bell router is using......and......change the password for the Time Capsule wireless network to the exact same password that the Bell router is using.

Result.....the Time Capsule will be creating and broadcasting.....and in effect extending......the Bell WiFi network.

I did play with the Time capsule and saw an area where I could extend current network in the utility app, but when i tried it it didn't work

Wrong setting. "Extend a wireless network" is used only when the Time Capsule connects to another Apple AirPort router using a wireless connection.

You are connecting the Time Capsule using Ethernet. The correct setting is illustrated above. "Create a wireless network".

Reset the TC to factory .. or just hard reset. so with the TC running.. no ethernet connected.. hold in the reset button for 10sec.. (Factory just the same but hold in reset before during and for 10sec after power on).

Now plug the TC WAN port into your ethernet cable. Reconfigure the TC to bridge mode.. which should be automatic.

In the setup use your Bell3000 wifi name and password in the TC setup.

Or go back and edit it.. up to you.

NOTE .. YOU MUST NOT USE EXTEND WIRELESS

That is only for using with multiple airport routers.

You will use Create a wireless network.

Just use the same wireless name (SSID) as the Bell.

And same password.

Also do note this will not behave especially well in terms of walking around your apartment and having devices switch routers. For that to work you really need to buy modern mesh products.

I am broadcasting the same name and detail from my TC, but still have to assign devices close to it to use that one vs my main bell!?

The idea with broadcasting the same name (SSID) is to fill your home with wifi but you do NOT need to assign devices.. indeed for the most part it is not possible. Your client devices will join the wireless with the best signal.

But this is NOT MESH.

This is a simple AP system. Mesh involves some serious effort at making handoff-roaming actually effective. This means wandering around your house with iphone or ipad it changes from one AP to another seamlessly. Rather like when you travel with your mobile phone will connect to cell tower that is best signal. Unfortunately older systems do not offer the required protocols for that to happen so your phone etc will tend to stick to whatever was closest when you woke it up.. and will not release without wifi being shut off and on again.

In the case where you would assign a device to a particular AP you will use a different SSID.. that is also a valid way to configure the network. I always see people bothered about having several wifi names available in the house.. but they are all one network and will still talk to all the clients and internet so it is not a major issue.

Mesh products now are relatively cheap for a medium quality system.. something like TP-Link M5 Deco. And it will work hugely better than TC as AP. It can use ethernet backhaul.

You could also use the wireless in Asus and add another Asus as it has built in mesh AiMesh.. not recommended for use over wifi backhaul but works fine over ethernet.

But then I could also just turn off the WIFI on it, use it as 2TB Hard drive and my TC back ups directly plug it into my Thunderbolt display Gigaport, which in essence would now give me an ethernet connect for my MacBook as it would connect via the T.bolt2 cable and then when in my office I am hardwired as needed and just use my Asus as the main Router for condo and disable bell, just using it for the fibre pull and my TV Top boxes which are hardwired to the bell modem.

Yes, you can turn off wifi in the TC and use it just for network backups. The TC can plug anywhere into the network you have suitable ethernet port. However if you plug into the thunderbolt monitor but use wireless on the computer this leads to a tricky setup. Because you now have two networks not one.

In this situation I would say a USB drive plugged into the monitor will work far better than a TC.. as local backups are much faster and more reliable.. and especially as we move to Big Sur which will use APFS formatted disk for backup.