How to correctly set-up my Time Capsule with my ISP's Arris WTM552G modem/router?

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How to correctly set-up my Time Capsule with my ISP's Arris WTM552G modem/router?

I bought a Time Capsule 2TB as a back-up but also to speed up my wifi between my devices at home (Macbook Pro Retina late 2013, iPhone 5c, iPad Air, etc) with the new 802.11ac technology. I put the Ethernet cable coming from my cable modem Arris WTM552G (which has a wifi included) to the WAN port in my Time Capsule, plugged to the AC and then went to my Macbook and opened Airport Utility to set it up, it seems it worked, but when I go and try to connect to my new's Time Capsule Wifi's signal in 5gHz it won't work, it shows an exclamation mark above the Wifi icon and says "Alert: No internet connection". But when I go and connect to my former wifi's signal from my Arris (it's still working that one) I can connect, but only in 802.11g and 2.4 GHz.

I want to take advantage of this Time Capsule, and use the 802.11ac 5GHz technology with my compatible devices, but it just won't work. What am I doing wrong?

I use Mavericks 10.9.4 and iOS 7,

Thanks in advance.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Jul 18, 2014 10:42 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 18, 2014 2:41 PM in response to CarlosMena

It sounds like the Arris is a modem router.. in which case the TC should be in bridge mode.

You should have the TC then set to create a wireless network. I strongly recommend you change the names of the wireless to TC24ghz for 2.4ghz and TC5ghz for the 5ghz at least until you have the issues sorted. The reason being that Macs cannot connect to 5ghz if the signal is stronger from 2.4ghz. They connect to strongest signal not fastest speed.

Use the wireless options to set 5ghz.

Then it is simple to select 5ghz in the mac.

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Answer 2

Loner T

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Jul 18, 2014 2:47 PM in response to CarlosMena

You may also be able to turn off the Arris WiFi completely.

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Answer 3

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 18, 2014 6:56 PM in response to CarlosMena

Hey I tried what you said LePastenague, or at least I think I did. But it didn't work. Before the Time Capsule my Wi-Fi signal was "VALENTINA", that through the Arris modem/router. Now I have three signals, VALENTINA, tc24ghz and tc5ghz. The latter two won't work, same message and icon ("Alert: No internet connection"). I'll post some snapshots, maybe they'll help.

Should I turn off the Arris WiFi completely Loner T? any idea of how do I do that? I tried looking into the settings but didn't find any "turn off" or "disable" option. I really don't know much about network settings.

Thanks for your replies

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Answer 4

Jul 18, 2014 7:09 PM in response to CarlosMena

I don't see any particular issues.

When you state..

But it didn't work.

What didn't work.. you need to give me something specific..

Wireless connection worked fine from your screenshots.

If it is simply failing to get internet.. after you swap over to the TC did you reboot the entire network.. because it is important for IP addresses to get sorted..

Restart in correct order.. modem.. TC.. clients with a couple of min gap for each item to start up.

No luck please take screenshots of the IP in the computer.. nothing needs to be hidden.. it is all private IP. Or standard DNS.

So mine looks like this.

I recommend you have ipv6 set to link-local only as you see I have.

Then on the DNS tab.

You should show the arris router.. You may also show the ISP DNS IP.

If all of that is correct open a terminal and ping the ISP dns address.. or ping google dns. 8.8.8.8

I highly recommend if ping works to IP address but fails to URL then please change DNS to google in the computer and see what happens.

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Answer 5

Loner T

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Jul 18, 2014 7:14 PM in response to CarlosMena

Couple of suggestions/questions...

1. tc5ghz says country code is Chile, is that correct?

2. I did not see anything in the manual for disabling Arris WiFi.

3. It may be a problem to have the 2.4 from Arris and 2.4 from the Airport which can cause issues.

4. Does your client get an IP address when connected to either tc24ghz or tc5ghz?

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Answer 6

Jul 18, 2014 7:21 PM in response to Loner T

3. It may be a problem to have the 2.4 from Arris and 2.4 from the Airport which can cause issues.

Wireless on the Arris and on the TC are fine.. one is using channel 1 and the other is using channel 11.. that is more than sufficient spacing to prevent issues.. especially when the arris is only G wireless.

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Answer 7

Loner T

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Jul 18, 2014 7:28 PM in response to LaPastenague

It may also be helpful to look at the Console logs for Airport entries, if they can tell us something about client connections. The other option is to run Wireless Diagnostics. BTW, I dislike the missing Radio modes in the new 6.x Utility.

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Answer 8

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 8:35 AM in response to LaPastenague

1.- Yes, WiFi works, but I has no internet connection when I use the Time Capsule's "tc5ghz" or "tc24ghz", only has internet when I use an ehternet cable from my Time Capsule's pan ports to my Macbook Pro's ehernet/thunderbolt adapter. The only other way I has internet connection is when I use VALENTINA WiFi signal, which comes from my ARRIS.

Okay, this is what I get when I'm successfully connected to Valentina:

When I try to ping while connected to Valentina I get this:

So I tried with the DSN addresses and it failed, then tried with 8.8.8.8 and www.google.cl and it worked, then tried with the TCP/IP addresses and it worked only with the IPv4 address. I don't really understand what these results mean, just tried to do give the more antecedents possible.

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Answer 9

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 8:38 AM in response to CarlosMena

Now when I connect to the tc5ghz signal I get these:

Should I add the DSN addresses that I see when I'm connected to VALENTINA to the DNS tab when I'm connected to tc5ghz? because now it's empty that tab as you can see, I haven't done anything though.

Thanks!

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Answer 10

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 8:42 AM in response to Loner T

1. Yes, I'm from Chile. Greetings from Chile.

2. Nor did I.

4.a) When I connect to the tc24ghz it says

4.b) When I connect to the tc5ghz it says

Thanks

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Answer 11

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 8:53 AM in response to CarlosMena

It's funny cause now the tc5ghz says "Wi-Fi has the self-assigned IP address fe80::bae8:56ff:fe37:9b5c and will not be able to connect to the Internet." When earlier when I sent those screenshots it said it had the "Wi-Fi has the self-assigned IP address 169.254.137.147 and will not be able to connect to the Internet". So it seems it went from IPv4 to IPv6, I don't know if that's important or somehow relevant.

I'm sorry to post so many posts, I just can't find the edit button in my posts.

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Answer 12

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 9:23 AM in response to Loner T

I run Wireless Diagnostics:

Now when I open Airport utility when connected to the tc5ghz or tc24ghz I just get this:

But when I connect to VALENTINA I get these:

When connected to VALENTINA and opened the airport utility I noticed a discrepancy between the IPv4 Address:

One says 192.168.2.6 and the other 192.168.2.11... does it matter?

* And Yes last night I tried resetting the modem/router ARRIS, then the Time Capsule, then the Macbook. When I first set up the Time Capsule I followed the instruction from the manual. Here I was with my Macbook connected to Valentina, went open the Time Capsule's box and set it up, ethernet cable from ARRIS to TC's WAN, and TC to the AC. Then went to my Macbook who was still connected to VALENTINA, clicked on my time's capsule name in the wifi menu in the upper toolbar, and followed the instructions, created a new network and it said it worked... but I was still connected to VALENTINA, when I tried to get to the Time Capsule's WiFi signal I didn't get internet.

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Answer 13

Loner T

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Jul 19, 2014 9:52 AM in response to CarlosMena

1. You want to make iPv6 link-local only.

2. You seem to have IP address conflicts. Is your AC configured in Bridge mode? Screen shots may be confusing (too many pictures, perhaps).

3. You should have a single DHCP server in your LAN segment, or each individual DHCP server must have dedicated non-overlapping blocks of private IPs. Public IPs on the LAN DHCP will cause lot more problems.

4. You should verify the country code on each of your SSIDs and they should match your client, otherwise it becomes very hard to debug. Couple of days, a poster from Chile had his AP set to Laos, and his laptop was XO.

"When I first set up the Time Capsule I followed the instruction from the manual. Here I was with my Macbook connected to Valentina, went open the Time Capsule's box and set it up, ethernet cable from ARRIS to TC's WAN, and TC to the AC. Then went to my Macbook who was still connected to VALENTINA, clicked on my time's capsule name in the wifi menu in the upper toolbar, and followed the instructions, created a new network and it said it worked... but I was still connected to VALENTINA, when I tried to get to the Time Capsule's WiFi signal I didn't get internet."

Does your ethernet connection to the LAN ports on the 802.11ac allow internet connectivity? The Macbook will not automatically switch to the ac wifi network, it should stay connected to VALENTINA.

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Answer 14

CarlosMena Author

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Jul 19, 2014 11:37 AM in response to Loner T

1. I made IPv6 link-local only

2. I guess you mean the Time Capsule when you says "AC". Yes my Time Capsule is configures as Bridge mode: "Router mode: Off (Bridge mode)"

3. I don't know what you mean, you're talking to a real dummy over here.

4. I don't know how to verify the country code of each SSIDs (those are the names of my WiFi signals, right? like VALENTINA, tc5ghz, etc?)

Thanks

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Answer 15

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jul 19, 2014 12:57 PM in response to CarlosMena

AC is your 802.11ac Airport.

"only has internet when I use an ehternet cable from my Time Capsule's pan ports to my Macbook Pro's ehernet/thunderbolt adapter."

That means the Airport can pass a DHCP request (a request which says give me DNS and IP for my MAC) and allocate it to the TB-to-Ethernet adapter and you have access to the internet. It should be doing the same thing for tc24ghz and tc5ghz, but it is not.

In Airport Utility -> Wireless -> Wireless Options it should show you the country code. One of your screen shots does show Chile, so it seems to match. Your computer's WiFi adapter and the AC's country code must match for things to work. You can see the country code of the computer via About This Mac -> More Info -> System Report -> Network -> WiFi.

If you connect to Valentina without any issues, then the country codes match.

On page 66 of the Arris modem manual, you can see the client list (wifi and wired). It should show you the Airport (AC) also as a valid client. The AC does show you a client's MAC address, but it does not get an IP.

Is it possible that your Cable provider allows only one client on either wifi or LAN as a policy?

Can you check what your screen looks like (similar to this) - http://screenshots.portforward.com/routers/Arris/WTM552G/LAN_Settings.htm

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