Q: Why won't the Time Capsule / WiFi work with the Clear G4?
I have an Apple WiFi Airport Extreme with Time Capsule attached via Ethernet to my Mac laptop running OSX 10.7.3. The 802.11 will not operate in wireless mode when the Clear G4 dongle USB is operating. I'd like to buy an iPad, but cannot get local wireless signal that uses Clear communications as the WiMax interface. The WiFi will not generate a signal even when the Clear modem is used from which I get a telephone dial tone.
It all used to work fine when the ISP was Time Warner or AT&T. Why not Clear?
Time Capsule / 802.11 WiFi, Mac OS X (10.7.3), Using Clear G4 via USB
Posted on Mar 26, 2012 10:24 AM
Success! This is what I did to make a wireless network, connecting multiple computers simultaneously, with backups to Time Capsules, routing to WiMax Clear 4G for wireless ISP. Getting Mac TC/802.11N to work with the Clear 4G table top modem was pretty mysterious, but here goes..
Power down and disconnect all wires.
Connect the Clear 4G Desk modem by Ethernet cables to Clear Phone router. Power up the phone router. Connect the telephone and test for dial tone.
Connect the Ethernet output to the WAN port of a Netgear Firewall router, then power up the router.
Connect to one computer by Ethernet cable only, then boot it up, communicating only by wire, not WiFi.
Connect one Ethernet output from the NetGear router to the powerless Mac TC/WiFi WAN slot.
Power up the TC/WiFi 802.11 and immediately use the end of a paperclip to push in the back reset button.
Give the TC/WiFi some patience, as the front LED will glow amber, then blink for at least 5 minutes as it resets.
Once the light turns green on the TC/WiFi, get on the wired computer. Test for both a WiFi signal and Ethernet connection.
Turn on Airport WiFi on the computer and watch for the signal from the TC/WiFi (NOT a local network, which can be made but will not connect to the internet).
Connect when power down any other computers or printers. Then turn them on to access the wireless signal fro TC/WiFi.
I did not have to pay any manual setting games the subnets, masks, or anything else.
Once pleased with WiFi through the TC to each machine, then I further tested whether a simulataneous wired Ethernet cable would interfere with the WiFi -- it does not, except that I ran the wires out of the LAN ports on the NetGear, not the Mac TC/WiFi.
Conclusion: The intervening NetGear router allowed the WAN signal to be altered before entering the TC/WiFi unit. I have no explanation why this occurred. Perhaps pushing the reset on the TC/WiFi also helped.
Now I can go WiFi to 4G Wimax on multiple computers simultaneously, with Time Capsule capability, without purchasing any hardware besides the Clear 4G modem. No need now to get another AT&T contract account, nor purchase the more expensive 4G WiFi version of the iPad tablet. Because of the TC/Wifi backup HD and router capability in one unit, a Clearspot 4G is unnecessary in this arrangement. The Clear 4G USB stick is relegated to remote application, or during power outages. Basically, only a simple Clear desk top modem with phone splitter and an old NetGear router provides local network wireless, wired and phone services.
FYI, after porting over the phone # from AT&T to Clear, I put a 2:1 RJ spitter into the wall port. I then disconnected the house phone network from the phone company box where the street wire comes in. Free from the phone company, the Clear splitter phone RJ-11 wire was connected to the 2:1 splitter at the wall. The other port at the wall splitter provided an access for phone wire back to my phone/fax machine. The 12V signal was also distributed throughout the telephone wires of the house, now that the phone company connection was terminated at the box. That makes the home phone lines, including security system, all connect through one Clear WiMax modem, along with ISP. Backup, in case of power interruption, is the Clear USB stick for internet and a cell phone for the security system.
Hope it works for others. Very pleased not to need extraneous phone company contracts, nor the more expensive 4G version of the iPAD.
Posted on Mar 28, 2012 6:49 PM