Q: New Internet wifi network reconfiguration
Please help me figure out this mess that needs to be reconfigured. I have been going in circles with Comcast support, Arris TG862G modem/router, Apple airport manuals, and Apple support forum postings for the past week and things are still not working correctly. The goal is to have my Comcast modem/router handle telephone/fax, printer, and internet signal (~105 Mbps) to the house. Then, I want to set up wireless throughout using Apple base stations. This house is 1700 sq ft with a concrete basement, 1st and 2nd floors. Every floor has desktops and needs wireless and/or ethernet for iphones, ipads, mac laptops, apple tv, directv, and audio receiver. All devices are apple except a gaming desktop PC in the basement and an old non-wireless PC on the 2nd floor. I have a brand new Airport Extreme (802.11ac model = A1521) , Time Capsule (802.11n model = A1409), and Airport Express (802.11n model = A1392) to configure a wireless network plus lots of ethernet too. All of my equipment is once again disconnected as it kept taking down my modem/router which is on 1st floor. I'm going to factory reset all of the base stations, relocate them (suggestions?) and start from scratch as multiple attempts have made a complete mess of things. Here are my present concerns and issues:
1) After I put the Arris TG862G modem/router into bridge mode and run the ethernet to the wan port on the first base station, should I set up the base stations in 'DHCP only' or 'DHCP and NAT' using airport utility?
2) If I set up the base stations (connected using ethernet) in this order Extreme, TimeCapsule, Express should configuration be the following?
- Extreme -> create a new network
- TimeCapsule -> extend a new network
- Express -> extend a new network
3) Is a base station password the same as the network password? I was confused about this and used the same password for both on every base station device. This seems to have confused the base stations. When I bring up airport utility, each base station appears like 'myGivenName(2)' rather than 'myGivenName'. Even prior resets are not wiping this out.
4) If I select 'off' rather than 'create a new network' or 'extend a new network' does this simply make the base station a fancy ethernet hub?
I appreciate any help since this very simple process has turned into a nightmare (picture family demanding action) :-(
Posted on Mar 25, 2015 8:20 PM
Thanks to all who helped me out by answering the questions of others (from older posts in this forum) and answering my specific questions above. It took me a week, but my wireless network is now fully functioning robustly! You really clarified the issues that had me totally baffled. Apple could easily tweak those support manuals regarding the 'create a new ntwk' vs 'extend a new ntwk' which really had my head spinning at the end. My technical experience with router/modems predates wireless protocols and that was really messing with me. I only have one glitch left. The original network I set up via ethernet has left a gaming PC with a non-working network name and password 'stuck' in the ethernet network adapter. I can't seem to clear it so it updates to the conforming Yosemite happy alpha-numeric new network configuration. It's a PC running WIN 8 and I've yet to solve this issue. Since the wireless works great to the PC there is time to research WIN forums. However, if anyone has tips on this it would be helpful.
Posted on Mar 26, 2015 8:10 PM