I have a Motorola Surfboard SBG6580 and enabled bridging. Has anyone successfully used this cable modem as part of a WDS? I'd like to have the SBG6580 as the main base and then use an older 1TB Time Capsule and Airport Express to extend the wireless network. At the moment I cannot get the TC to see the SBG's wireless network. I can manually enter the network name and password but it cannot connect.
Unfortunately, the Time Capsule will only wirelessly extend a signal from another Apple router. It is not compatible with the wireless signal from the Motorola SBG6580 for this type of purpose.
What you can do.....is establish a permanent Ethernet cable connection between the SBG6580 and Time Capsule and then configure the Time Capsule to create a wireless network using the exact same name and password as the Motorola network.
That will result in one "big" wireless network, effectively extending the Motorola network.
The downside....the Time Capsule must remain permanently connected using an Ethernet cable back to the Motorola SBG6580.
The upside.....Ethernet can be run up to 330 feet or 100 meters with virtually no loss, so you should be able to locate the Time Capsule just about anywhere that you want.
Thanks - I was afraid of that. The configuration you described is my current configuration. I had discovered the bridge option in the cable modem's config pages and had hoped I might have been able to move the TC to another location and further extend the network w/o running cat 5/6 cable.
If you need an extended network that works using wireless, you do have the option to have the Time Capsule (located close to the Motorola) create a wireless network....and then you could add another Apple device....like an AirPort Express to wirelessly extend the Time Capsule signal.
This assumes that the AirPort Express could be located where it can pick up a strong signal from the Time Capsule.
If you decide to try this setup, you could turn off the wireless on the Motorola, unless you really do need another wireless network.
Create a WDS with Motorola SBG6580 Time Capsule and Express
