New AirPort Time Capsule & iPhone connection problems

I do not have an AC version TC yet.. so please take this as general guidelines..

When you have issues like you have found.. a normal kind of event for wireless btw..

Try a clean setup of the TC again..

I recommend even doing a factory reset and start over.. but up to you.

Since troublesome settings come from using too much auto.. reduce the level of automagical settings.

1. Use all names that are short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Not Apple type names.. long, spaces and characters like apostrophe.

2. If the reset and new setup doesn't work.. Setup wireless with a different name for 5ghz.. This allows some devices to select 2.4ghz only.. like the iphones.. and the MBA to connect at 5ghz. And you can select it. This is to see if that fixes it.. you do not have to keep this permanently.. unless it is the only way you can fix it.

3. Fixed wireless channels.. again.. too much auto.. set the wireless channels yourself.. and test. 1, 6, 11

These are the main non-overlapping channels at 2.4ghz.. putting in between channels will not help as they simply have double overlap. eg pick channel 4.. well it will get interference from devices on 1 and 6.

5ghz is less of a problem as there is less interference but try a low down channel.. 36-40 and a higher up channel, >150.

I reset the Time Capsule to factory settings.

Assigning 2.4ghz to channel #1 and 5ghz to channel #36 works for about 24 hours and then I get the same error.

Also...the Time Capsule is extreamly hot to the touch. Is this normal?

Ok.. the TC has failed.. take it back for warranty replacement.. no it should not be hot.. it should be cool. Something is seriously wrong.

I'm experiencing the same issue with wifi connectivity between iOS clients and the new 802.11ac Time Capsule. Our iPads and iPhones have no problem discovering the Time Capsule wireless networks and getting an IP address, and remain "connected" (at least according to the wifi indicator in the status bar), but are periodically unable to connect to the Internet (local network connectivity seems unaffected). This can happen as frequently as every 15 seconds during a web browsing session.

I've tried several things:

1. Using the "guest" network for my iOS devices, while my Time Capsule backups happen over the 5GHz network. No difference.
2. Renewing the DHCP lease on the iOS devices (via iOS wifi settings).
3. Turning on/off wifi and reconnecting.

Only #3 works, and even then, it only works for a short time until the problem inevitably returns.

Have the latest firmware installed on the Time Capsule. Judging from other posts it seems like this may affect all the new Time Capsules because exchanged devices apparently have the same problem. I hope Apple fixes it soon because having flaky wifi is really annoying.

Throwing my hat in:

I have these exact problems. I set this unit up out of the box with no automatic settings (I set up enterprise WiFi for a living, so I am well versed in the nuances of each setting.)

Completely unrelated observation:

I am very disappointed in the lack of versatility that this unit has. I guess that is Apple's thing though.

More Info:

I am on version 7.7.1, which is, I think, the latest version (unless a new version came out within the past week). I have not tried setting it to factory defaults and redoing the settings just yet. I have no faith that resetting to factory defaults will accomplish anything other than waste time.

Ack!

It is really annoying. Simply because I just came from a router with a known bug (for almost a year now) that was very similar. So I bought this one so that I can avoid issues.... AND IT HAS THE SAME BUG. W the F!?

My pessimism at work:

You get what you pay for is no longer a universal truth I guess. Time for me to readjust my expectations.

I did the factory default last night. The only things that I changed were:

1. Set the SSID names different (2.4Ghz/5Ghz)

a. No spaces or other special characters

2. Set the channels statically

a. Set to channel 1 and 36 (I did a scan and these are the least used in my area

3. Named the unit a single word

a. No special characters and no numbers

4. Set the DHCP lease time to 8 days

5. Set the IP range to 192.168.1.0/24 (Needed to not have to change my print server)

6. Set the DHCP lease pool from .64 to .127

Still todo:

1. Reserve the print server IP address

2. Play with short DHCP leases to test if DHCP leases are involved with this issue.

a. if they are involved, I am going to set up my own DHCP server instead.

enozraw,

When you say they can't connect, are you sure you are typing in the password correctly for the WiFi account? Is the Laptop connected wirelessly or via Ethernet port? If Ethernet, try it WiFi. Make sure you are not trying to use the device password to connect to the WiFi. Two different passwords. Test the device by NOT setting a WiFi password to see if the iPhone will connect that way. Then work up from there.

You don't happen to have another router, do you? It sounds like something is in conflict or that it is trying to auto-connect to another network within range, Maybe someone's MiFi, or a neighbor's network. If you set up your WiFi network on the TC without a network password it shouldn't be asking any device for a password. That would be a good test to start with, like I mentioned before. Also, try removing or "Forget" the other networks around you that the devices could be trying to connect to.

The settings for 4 - 6 are under the network tab...

However, you need to open the Airport in advanced mode.

Open the airport software.

Choose option a for normal mode

Choose option b for advanced mode

Option a: If you click on the picture of the airport, you get a pop out window that has an "edit" button. Click edit.

Option b: Hold down the option key on your keyboard. Double click the picture of the airport. A new window pops up.

I think this will be enough for you to find the settings, however if you need more info, please let me know.

I have exactly the same problem with my new capsule 2013, which I tried to install yesterday. With the previous capsule such problems were not observed. Today I'll try to play around with the options listed above in the chat.

Results:

After running this for a few days, I will say that the problem is alleviated enough to be bearable. I am 95% sure that my issue is with the DHCP service.

Next steps & Testing:

I have a Cisco switch that I intend on connecting to the Airport. I am going to run DHCP services on the switch instead. I will let you know what the results are.

Techno babble & kudos to Apple:

I did reserve 192.168.1.32 for my printer. Notice that that IP address is *outside* of the DHCP range. I am pleased that Apple didn't mess up the ability to reserve IP addresses outside of the scope range like all other DHCP servers can do.