AirPort Time Capsule 802.11ac limited to 100mbps w/Gigabit Fiber connection

The Time Capsule is old and the HD is likely starting to go bad

If the TC is 5years old or more just replace it.. it is not worth messing with.

For gigabit internet you need a powerful router and you may as well look at wifi6 as all the new items you buy will support it.

Asus RT-AX86U is one I would look at.

Asus firmware is really head and shoulders above the average.. and is not hard to learn.

Plus it can support Time Machine to a USB hard drive plugged into the router.. how well this works is ??? I have tested it on earlier models and would say it works OK.. If it is not reliable then use an alternative like backup software like Carbon Copy Cloner. Time Machine is not the best behaved.

My next step was to turn on the Verizon wifi and test that. But that leads me to part 2 of my question.

The alternative is to use a NAS.. keep the Verizon wifi on.. if it is good enough.. you did not say.

Buy a DS-220J Synology NAS which is the cheapest 2-bay in the current series.. and put in one large disk.. say 8TB.. and configure it for Time Machine backups.

Several of us here are now using Synology NAS and they work very well with Time Machine. Especially since it supports latest SMB3 protocol. (Neither the Time Capsule nor routers like Asus support the later protocols Apple has moved to so are forced to use older AFP which makes them less reliable). It is not cheap but you also save yourself a new router if you stick to the supplied unit.

Thank you for this information. Do you know if this ASUS unit can replace my Fios Quantum Gateway G1100? That would be ideal and reduce down to one device, instead of two.

From your comments.. where you removed the FIOS Gateway and installed your TC the Asus can also do the same.

I am guessing the connection is via fibre box with ethernet so you are using the ethernet connection to WAN of the TC.. that would be identical for any other router.

Something appears to be throttling down the wifi.

Since the hard disk is failing are you really wanting to continue using the TC? It can be done.. but beyond 5 years I think you are wasting your time.

Fixing wireless is tricky.

First thing to do is find the speed at the computer.. so for example.. I hold the option key and click wifi fan.. might be different in most recent Mac OS.

Look at the Tx rate.. 1053Mbps in the case of my AC wireless.

On the other side you can get the info from the Time Capsule.

Click the icon of the TC.. then click the wireless client you are testing.

You can see this is 877Mbps which also shows it is using 5ghz band.

If you are on 2.4ghz then the speed will be slow.. to force the speed to AC wireless you might need to give AC wireless a different name.

So in the wireless options I have given 5ghz a different name to the one on the main page.. this allows me to select it specifically.

the 2.4GHz guest network did not do the trick. I was considering still using the TC for just these devices, at least until it was dead or totally obsolete. Thoughts?

The standard wireless spectrum allows for 3 wireless routers to work in fairly close proximity to each other.

Guest wireless is useless for stuff on your local network... remember guest wireless is for clients to get access to the internet WITHOUT allowing local network connection.

Airports always use the lowest common settings for 2.4ghz.. so you can certainly try the Asus again.. make sure you set wifi 2.4ghz to N only, 20mhz only, and try using a fixed channel.. something like 8 or 9 can often work well.

Nest products are known to be finicky.

I have made what I would consider standard changes to the 2.4ghz to help its functionality.

This is from older model but would be similar.

There is an advanced menu but mostly those items can be left default.

There is also a graphical log as well as details inside the main log. Just as before.. it is important to determine if the issue is poor wireless Tx or Rx and which end is the problem.

There is also nothing wrong in using the TC for this job.. I am currently using a couple of TC plugged into the Asus which handle some of the network wifi load. The issue of course is that you need to understand which is doing what.. as the Asus cannot see what the Airport is doing.. or visa versa.

I still have the TC on the network working as the backup disk for now. Plan is to replace that with either a USB SSD or NAS attached to the 2.5GB port. Still unsure on that.

SSD is not useful.. a normal spinning disk is more than adequate for backups. Time Machine has speed limits of around 60GB/hr no matter what disk speed you use.

For a NAS.. well the is up to you.. certainly an expensive unit would see faster speeds.. but unless you really need it most domestic requirements gigabit is fine.. and normal spinning drives will normally do 180+ Mbyte/s .. well above gigabit speed.

Wifi performance improved to around 500Mbps around the house, but sadly not anywhere near what I had hoped.

You need the next lot of clients with AX cards to see big improvements.. for now 500Mbps is about the real limit for 3x3 AC wireless throughput.. just not sure what number you are quoting.. real or indicated speed.. which are very different.

One small issue with the ASUS. My daughter's 12" MacBook has horrible reception with the new router. She is not even the furthest away from the router but she is on the second floor. I have an iMac that is far away that is averaging around 300Mbps. But this 12" MacBook was stuck in the low 30s.

Through floor ceiling and older machine it might be using 2.4ghz.. so yes.. slow.

You can turn the wifi back on the TC if it was better and use that.. older equipment and AX wireless is not always a happy combo.

Unfortunately, the information that we provide may not really help......it may make things more difficult.

The Time Capsule was unique. It was the only product on the market that combined both a wireless router and a hard drive in one single package. So, if you are looking for an "all-in-one" device like a Time Capsule, your only choice will be another Time Capsule. Sites like Ebay and Amazon still offer "refurbished" and sometimes "new" products.

The closest that you will come to a Time Capsule is a router from Synology or Asus that includes a USB 3.0 port on the device that will support Time Machine backups to a hard drive that is attached to the USB port. So, you will have a "two-piece" solution instead of a "one-piece" solution.

There are very few routers that will support Time Machine in this manner. Synology and Asus mentioned above will do this, but I am not aware of any others that offer this kind of support.

Frankly, after spending a few minutes to look at the Plume product that you mention, I see nothing that would indicate that you would be able to connect a hard drive to the router and perform Time Machine backups, so if you are considering this product, I would make sure that it will do what you want.....before.....you buy.

None of the mesh WiFi systems that Apple now offers........Linksys, Eero and Netgear......mention anything about Time Machine support to a hard drive attached to the router. Some of these routers don't even have a USB port.

If I was looking at a new mesh WiFi system, I would be looking for a product called a NAS, which stands for Network Attached Storage. The NAS connects to a router using a wired Ethernet cable connection, so as long as the router has a spare Ethernet port, you can add a NAS to the system and back up over the WiFi to the NAS.

Do you know if this ASUS unit can replace my Fios Quantum Gateway G1100?

Fios normally requires that you use their gateway on their service, but you will need to get with Fios support to find out if their policies have changed and what is and is not possible. They will of course tell you that they will not be able to help on any product other than their own.

You mentioned that you were going to test the Fios WiFi to check speeds that way. Have you done this yet?

If WiFi devices are connecting to the "n" WiFi signal, they will be limited to around 100 Mbps. The "ac" signal is theoretically capable of producing speeds of up to 1,300 Mbps, but something in the range of 600-700 is more realistic if the WiFi device is close to the router.

It would help to know which signal your Mac is connecting to.

Because the Verizon Router has a coax input and the ASUS does not, I think I may have to keep the Verizon router as an intermediary until and unless I can replace the coax with ethernet. I am unsure if this is possible, but I can try and ask Verizon.

If you have fiber service, there is a device called an ONT located somewhere between the point where the outside connection enters your home and the room where your Fios gateway is located.

Fios normally configures the ONT to provide a co-ax connection to the router that they provide. Most ONTs also have an Ethernet option, but that normally requires a visit from the Fios technician. If your ONT is capable.....and Fios is willing......you might be able to run Ethernet from the ONT directly to the Asus router and by pass the Fios gateway.

Fios will likely be less than thrilled to do this for you, if they even offer that option, but it is worth checking out if you really don't need or want to use the Fios gateway.

Even if this is possible, Fios will only be responsible for the ONT. They won't help with any set up or troubleshooting on the Asus router if there are connection difficulties.

I did enable the 5ghz as a separate network on the TC and saw a marginal improvement, but nothing near the 600-700 you mention above.

Unfortunately, there is not really anything more than can do at this point, unless you want to try resetting the TC and setting it up again.....with no guarantee that this will help.

You should be seeing a Tx Rate of 600-800 with your Mac in the same room as the TC.

WiFi speeds do decline as a router ages, while Ethernet tends to remain stable. The TC just might be showing its age.

If you can locate the ONT, and you want to experiment, open it up and look to see if an Ethernet port is there. It will not hurt to try to connect a Mac using an Ethernet cable directly to the Ethernet port on the ONT to see if it is enabled.

Most likely, it is not. But, if it is, then you will know that you can run an Ethernet cable from the ONT to the location of the new router and connect that way, bypassing the Fios gateway.

If the Ethernet port is not enabled on the ONT, then a Fios tech can likely set things up for you that way......IF......Fios is willing to do this.