Where's my MAC?

Time Capsule ID and Ethernet ID. I assume one of these is the MAC but which one?

Both are Media Access Control (MAC) addresses which are unique identifiers for networking hardware. The Time Capsule ID is the wireless MAC address and the Ethernet ID is the wired MAC address. When configuring a WDS, you want to use the wireless MAC address.

Note: For the AirPort Extreme & AirPort Express, the wireless MAC address is called the AirPort ID.

triglyph wrote:
Time Capsule ID and Ethernet ID.

those should be it.

you can also check via airport utility. enter +manual setup+ for the TC and go to the summary tab.



J GG

There is FCC ID, Time Capsule ID and Ethernet ID. I assume one of these is the MAC but which one

The Ethernet ID would be the MAC address. But the Time Capsule ID (which is probably the AirPort ID) would be used for wireless communications.

It might be easier to Open AirPort Utility and click Manual Setup for the Time Capsule.

On the Summary page, look for

Ethernet ID which is the MAC address. You would use this if the Time Capsule were connecting to an ethernet device like a modem that required this information to connect.

AirPort ID this is for wireless identification purposes

Same question for an old "flying saucer" Airport Extreme. I am trying to get the flying saucer to be an extension of the Time Capsule network. Apple says do not use WDS, but I don't see that option so I'm going to just make it a WDS network. Is there a downside to this?

If you are configuring a WDS setup, you would need to use the AirPort ID since devices will be communicating using wireless.

If you want to use the older AirPort Extreme to extend, you will have to use the WDS settings. WDS will impose a severe penalty on your wireless network.

1) Since WDS is a "g" technology setup, your Time Capsule wireless will drop down to "g" levels, so you lose any advantage of faster "n" speeds.

2) The Wireless network bandwidth will be cut by 50%

Bottom line, with WDS you will have a "g" wireless network that is operating at half performance. "g" wireless = 54 Mbps. With WDS your network will be 26 Mbps maximum.

If you are using Snow Leopard, you should have AirPort Utility 5.5.1 already installed.

The problem is that Apple support says there is a way to extend the network with a second Airport but their directions don't seem to apply to the Airport Utility I am using (and yes, recently updated)

I'm guessing that Apple support is talking about a WDS configuration. If that is the case,

Open AirPort Utility.
Select the device that you want to configure.
Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the icons
Wireless Mode = Participate in a WDS network.

You may need to hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the selection box to see this choice. Apple hides it because of the drop in performance when you use this type of setup.

Unfortunately, the problem is you have a newer "n" Time Capsule and an older 'g" AirPort Extreme.

You cannot use Apple's "extend a wireless network" setup in this case. +All of the devices must be newer "n" devices for the "extend" setup to work.+

You can verify this by checking the settings on your older "g" AirPort Extreme.

Open AirPort Utility - Click Manual Setup
Click the Wireless tab below the icons
Click the setting for Wireless Mode

You will not be able to find a setting for "Extend a wireless network" because it is not there. This feature was added on newer "n" devices from Apple.

If you want to provide more coverage for your Time Capsule, your only option is to use the WDS setup for both the Time Capsule and your AirPort Extreme.

Message was edited by: Bob Timmons

What we're really trying to say is that if you are planning to make backups to the Time Capsule using wireless, it is going to be very slow and it will take a very long time.