Setup network in large house using Time Capsule, Airports (2 Express, 1 Extreme) and powerline adapters

Apologies. I have a 17 month old. Concentration has become a luxury. I don't really get a few uninterrupted minutes to plan and organize posts, unfortunately. So rather than inundate you with posts or sneak in edits, I'll just mentally queue my questions for later posts.

Thanks, I understand that it is not easy when 4 different things are going on at the same time. 😉

With the settings above, the TC will "ask" the Uverse modem/router for the 192.168.1.2 address....and, if the Uverse has not already assigned that address to another device, the TC will get it. If you have a way to tell the Uverse router to always issue that same IP address.....192.168.1.2.....to the Time Capsule, that would be recommended......since will insure that the TC always gets the same IP address no matter what.

Same for other AirPorts as they are added to the network.

You don't really have to leave the Time Capsule working for 2 hours.

The idea here is that I want you to be confident that the Time Capsule is working well in Bridge Mode before we proceed further. Post back when you are ready to add the next device.

I assume you recommend a factory reset for each?

That would be a very good idea, since you are basically rebuilding your network, that will give each device a fresh start.

Once you have done the Factory Default Reset, here is what I would recommend:

Temporarily, use a spare Ethernet cable......virtually any length will do......and connect that from a LAN <--> port on the Time Capsule to the WAN "O" port on the AirPort Express

Use the setup wizard to configure the Express. This is very quick and easy. Post back if you are not familiar with the wizard setup.

Once you have a green light on the AirPort Express, connect your computer to the LAN <--> port on the Express and run a speed check. Write that down and keep a record as you go.

Now, power off the Express and disconnect the Ethernet cable that you used to setup the Express and take the initial speed check.

Connect an Ethernet cable from a LAN <--> port on the Time Capsule to an Ethernet Over Powerline (EOP) adapter and plug the adapter into the wall AC socket. Connect another EOP adapter at the remote location where you want to install the Express and hook up the Express, then power up the Express.

Give the EOP adapters 5-10 minutes to stabilize and then run another speed check by connecting your computer to the LAN <--> port on the Express and note the results on your documentation sheet. This will tell you how well the EOP adapters are working.

You might want to experiment with a slightly different location for the EOP adapter and Express to see if the change helps or hinders the speed.

You may be wondering why I recommended connecting the EOP adapter to the LAN port on the Time Capsule. That is because I doubt that the Uverse is using Gigabit or 1,000 Mbps ports. The Uverse is therefore likely limited to 100 Mbps speeds over the network. That won't hurt your Internet connection that much, but I imagine that you are going to be backing up over the network to the Time Capsule.

Since the Time Capsule ports are likely 10 times faster than the Uverse ports, backups, file copies, etc will move over the network with capable devices much faster.

The other reason why I recommend connecting the EOP adapter to the LAN port on the Time Capsule is that you may decide at some point that you want to try to setup the Time Capsule to do routing......like Apple recommends. If you already have everything wired up and connected, the change over......if you decide to do that....will go much faster and easier that way.

So, go ahead and set up one of the Express devices....and please post back on your speed checks.

If you are happy with the results of the Express installation, then go ahead and setup and install the second Express exactly the same way as you did the first Express. Be sure to note your speed checks with the Express connected directly to the Time Capsule using your spare test Ethernet cable and then through the EOP adapters.

I did not mention this in the notes above, but I assume that you want to set up each Express to use a Static IP and also configure the Uverse router to provide that IP to each respective device.

This is a good idea, since you know what IP address each Express will always receive.

An Apple USB to Ethernet adapter......or a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter.....is really a "must have" item with any of the newer Apple laptops.

Post back at your convenience, when you can.

I did confirm that the Uverse Gateway (a Motorola NVG589) does have 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports. Let me know if this changes your analysis at all

In theory, no. But, things just seem to work better when Apple devices connect to other Apple devices, and the display in AirPort Utility will be more accurate. I cannot say why. The other reason to leave things connected to the Time Capsule would be in case you want to change the setup of the Time Capsule.

I pretty consistently get a “No DNS Servers” error when I first setup any Airport Express via powerline.

That is why I recommended that you configure the AirPort Express when it is connected directly to the Time Capsule. If the Express picks up the DNS Servers that the Time Capsule is using that way, then so too should the powerline adapters. If you can manually change the settings once you have the Express connected to the powerline product, that is one way to go, but that is basically covering up a fault of the powerline product.

I get approx 50Mbps DL over WiFi (the max speed of our Uverse service) when upstairs right next to the Time Capsule. I get 35 downstairs with an EOP to Airport Express, computer connected via Wifi.

Not too bad. If you had the Express connected via an Ethernet cable back to the Time Capsule, you could expect 50 Mbps.

I setup the second Express and got 43 Mbps via WiFi

Pretty good.

It appears to dip when other sources are streaming video or gaming, but that’s to be expected, right?

Corrrect. That is why you want as fast an Internet connection as your budget will allow.

BTW, while browsing the settings on the Uverse, I noticed that I can set each of the 4 LAN ports to Auto, or assign them a speed: 100M, 10M or 1G (then full or half duplex of each of those speeds). I have no idea whether this is advisable.

I would keep the setting at Auto unless there is a reason to change it.

If it’s faster, we're switching back to cable. In that case, can I just unplug the Time Capsule, move it downstairs and plug it into the cable modem

No, you will have to reset the Time Capsule back to factory default settings and then set it up again whenever you change the modem or provider. You can probably get away without resetting the AirPort Expresses,since they will pick up the signal from the Time Capsule.

I may get the Double NAT error back that I was getting before

Not if the Time Capsule is set up in Bridge Mode. It sounds like you have a cable modem/router, also known as a gateway.......not a simple cable modem.

If you used a simple modem, then the Time Capsule could be configured to use DHCP and NAT and it would run your network.

You can probably get away without resetting the AirPort Expresses,since they will pick up the signal from the Time Capsule.

If you setup the Express with a Static IP address, you will likely need to change that setting.

Looks like the EOP adapters are doing a nice job, and you may be able to get by without running Ethernet cabling.