Should I create a separate network for iOS devices?

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Should I create a separate network for iOS devices?

My family and I are leaving the Windows platform and going Mac/Apple. Here's what we have:

3 iPhones, 2 iPads, new iMac (coming from Santa for the kids), new MacBook Pro 15.4 with retina, Roku 3, and possibly thinking of trying Apple TV (to compare to the Roku).

I have wireless internet through ATT U-verse and their 2Wire router. I am getting the Airport Time Capsule 2TB today. My question is...should I setup the airport time capsule as a separate wifi network for all my iOS devices, or should I just extend the current 2WIRE ATT U-verse wireless network? I think the easiest thing to do would be setup the Airport TC in bridge mode to extend the network. But I recall reading a blog post where someone set up a separate network on the Airport TC for all his apple products. This sounded like a great idea because from what I understand, the iOS devices can take advantage of the Airport TC offering a better speed. Of course, I can't find the article anywhere (Murphy's Law). My thought is to keep my work laptop (windows) and the Roku 3 on the 2Wire network and the iOS devices on a separate network.

I'm new to apple products (except the phone haha) so what does the community recommend?

Thanks in advance,

AC

Airport Time Capsule 2TB-OTHER

Posted on Dec 17, 2013 8:52 AM

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Answer 1

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LaPastenague

Level 9

67,202 points

Dec 17, 2013 12:31 PM in response to chalmers627

You will simply bridge the TC and plug it into the UVerse modem router by ethernet.. LAN uverse to WAN TC.

You then go to the wireless tab and setup wireless.

You will create a wireless network.

The choice is then 100% in your hands..

You can setup

1. Wireless off on the uverse and only the TC. Or visa versa although that would be fairly dumb.

Plenty of people simply use one wireless router.

2. Run both wireless routers.. if you can separate them a bit.. a few feet .. and they should happily pick different wireless channels to separate themselves.. although if something goes haywire.. simply set channels manually.. use 11, 6, 1 .. pick one for the uverse and one for the TC 2.4ghz.. the 5ghz cannot be set.

3. Now the next choice is do you want old and new networks. Or one network to rule them all.

You can simply use the same wireless name = SSID on both devices.. same security and same password. Then you will have a roaming network.

Or setup different names. So you can point your roku and windows boxes to the uverse and your other clients to the TC..

It is totally up to you.. there is no major network difference between them.

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Answer 2

chalmers627 Author

Level 1

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Dec 17, 2013 1:00 PM in response to LaPastenague

You can simply use the same wireless name = SSID on both devices.. same security and same password. Then you will have a roaming network.

Thanks for the reply. It sounds like I should just extend my current network. My uverse router is in my basement (the bottom most floor of my house). I have a cable running from my uverse LAN port to the second floor of my house (this is the main floor) and I also have one running to the top floor of my house (where the bedrooms are).

Would the best solution be to extend my current by network running a cable from the LAN port of the uverse router to the WAN port of the airport time capsule? This would create another wireless AP, correct? I simply do what you said...use the same wireless name (SSID), security protocol, and password of the uverse router on the airport time capsule and I'm all set. But I think the airport utility has an option to "Add to an existing network." Is this the setup I should choose? I believe you have reference this kb article in another discussion post. Thanks again for your help.

Or would I set everything up, turn off wireless on the uverse router and use only the airport time capsule as the main wifi base? I'm looking for the best performance and the ability for devices for take advantage of 5ghz.

AC

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Answer 3

Dec 17, 2013 2:31 PM in response to chalmers627

Would the best solution be to extend my current by network running a cable from the LAN port of the uverse router to the WAN port of the airport time capsule? This would create another wireless AP, correct? I simply do what you said...use the same wireless name (SSID), security protocol, and password of the uverse router on the airport time capsule and I'm all set. But I think the airport utility has an option to "Add to an existing network." Is this the setup I should choose? I believe you have reference this kb article in another discussion post. Thanks again for your help.

This is the way I would do it.. but there is no right and wrong here.. just options with different uses..

The cable backbone is ideal.

You are creating another AP.. yes.. and that is why it works.. extend by wireless is slow. You are using wireless in one hop connections.

Everything else is running over fast ethernet or gigabit hopefully.

I am not sure if the add to existing network will work correctly.. if you have the TC plugged in by ethernet it should.. but manual setup of this is trivial.

Bridge the TC as per my previous post.. setup wireless exactly as normal but use same ssid and security setup.. simple to the point of trivial.

Roaming I must add is perfect in theory.. in practice stuff doesn't always swap "towers" the way you idealize.. it stays stuck to the poorer signal when a better one is right next to it.

That is the nature of wifi. A voodoo technology.. 80% black arts. and 50% science.. (in voodoo it has poor maths).

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Answer 4

chalmers627 Author

Level 1

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Dec 18, 2013 6:39 AM in response to LaPastenague

One last question. When I set up thing for roaming, will my iOS devices (that are capable) be able to take advantage of the 5GHz band on the network? Thanks again for all your help. Much appreciated.

AC

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Answer 5

Dec 18, 2013 12:14 PM in response to chalmers627

Yes, 5ghz is also available from the TC. It is up to you if you leave it to auto band swap and use a single name.. or use a second name for 5ghz and force the connection. I guess it is always better to try auto.. and if it fails then manually control it.

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