JRightnowing
Level 1 (4 points)
Wireless

Q: My Airport Extreme guest network has stopped working.

Recently all the computers and devices on my home network were not working on many websites.  The browser (use Chrome) spent a long time "Resolving host" and eventually failed and gave a "DNS error message". 

I run the home network on and Airport Extreme and run a Guest Network for tenants.  They had the same experience.  I have the router from our ISP set to have it's wireless function turned off so there is no signal interference with the Airport extreme.  This set up has worked for a long time.

 

I read a lot of reports online about iPv6 issues and tried the "Link-local only" setting but that didn't make any difference, so I set it back to "Automatically".

 

I then used a Cat5 cable to plug my MacBook Pro directly into the router and switched of my computer's WiFi.  Then everything worked just fine (on my computer) and all websites came up nice and fast.  So I figured it was a problem with the Airport Extreme (which is in a 2TB Time Capsule - 2nd gen I believe).  So I did the hard reset to factory settings on the Airport Extreme and set up my Network again.  This worked.  Everything works on the network again.

 

However, I set up the Guest Network again but it is not working.  We can see the Guest Network from all the device but when you click on it the wheel just keeps turning and the prompt for password never comes up.  The Guest Network just doesn't respond.

 

Any suggestions?

Time Capsule, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 7:11 PM

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JRightnowing

Q: My Airport Extreme guest network has stopped working.

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  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Sep 25, 2016 7:27 PM in response to JRightnowing
    Level 9 (53,016 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 25, 2016 7:27 PM in response to JRightnowing

    You must have an apple airport running in router mode for wireless guest to work.

     

    I am a bit lost about your actual network equipment.. you either have an Airport Extreme or a Time Capsule or both.. but you cannot have one inside the other.

     

    There is a good chance your airport autonomously changed configuration.. from incorrect double NAT to bridge. In the process it also caused wireless guest to fail because there is no airport doing router function.

     

    If you want guest wireless, go back and reverse this configuration.

     

    I have the router from our ISP set to have it's wireless function turned off

    Turn it back on and if possible turn on guest mode.

     

    so there is no signal interference with the Airport extreme.

    There is sufficient bandwidth for 3 wireless routers to operate within the same room.. there is no signal interference caused by having separate units with their wireless set to auto channels.. each will select a different channel. You are making the network more difficult than it needs to be.

     

    Turn off guest wireless in the airport.. it is poor anyway.

  • by JRightnowing,

    JRightnowing JRightnowing Sep 25, 2016 10:50 PM in response to LaPastenague
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 25, 2016 10:50 PM in response to LaPastenague

    Thanks for your reply LaPastenague

     

    My airport extreme is set to router mode.  I understand that when it's in Bridge Mode it cannot run the guest network and have confirmed that it hasn't reconfigured itself.

     

    "I am a bit lost about your actual network equipment.. you either have an Airport Extreme or a Time Capsule or both, but you cannot have one inside the other."

    I own a 2TB Time Capsule.  It is used for Time Machine Back-ups and has Airport Extreme functionality built in.

     

    "Turn it back on and if possible turn on guest mode."

    The ISP router doesn't have a guest mode.  That's partly why I'm using the Airport Extreme's guest network.

     

    "There is sufficient bandwidth for 3 wireless routers to operate within the same room.. there is no signal interference caused by having separate units with their wireless set to auto channels.. each will select a different channel. You are making the network more difficult than it needs to be."

    The ISP router caused constant interference for several weeks (2 years ago) until after a lot of investigation and conversations with the ISP support as well as Apple, the solution was found, to set it up without its wireless capability in order to function simply as a modem so that the Airport Extreme could run the 2 Networks.  This has worked until now.

     

    "Turn off guest wireless in the airport.. it is poor anyway."

    Now this comment is interesting.  Do you have more info on the Guest Network being problematic?  I have a feeling that it is the Guest Network functionality that has actually packed it in on my Airport Extreme, or it is stuck in a loop of some sort...  any thoughts on that?

  • by LaPastenague,

    LaPastenague LaPastenague Sep 25, 2016 11:28 PM in response to JRightnowing
    Level 9 (53,016 points)
    Wireless
    Sep 25, 2016 11:28 PM in response to JRightnowing

    Do you have more info on the Guest Network being problematic?

    http://www.chriscolotti.us/technology/apple-airports-dirty-little-secret/

     

    This is related more to extension issues.. but Apple have used an unusual method of running things.. that does cause issues.

     

    I own a 2TB Time Capsule.  It is used for Time Machine Back-ups and has Airport Extreme functionality built in.

    Ok.. it is easier just to say Time Capsule.. we do know that the Extreme and TC have the same wireless and router functionality. It can be confusing when people do misidentify the items.

     

    The ISP router doesn't have a guest mode.  That's partly why I'm using the Airport Extreme's guest network.

    It is usually fine to use the ISP router main wireless as your guest wireless.. in the end I would say it lacks the security level I would like to see but that is not usually a major issue in home setup.

     

    the solution was found, to set it up without its wireless capability in order to function simply as a modem so that the Airport Extreme could run the 2 Networks.

    The fact that the ISP router is bridged is important. I was using your statement ISP router literally ie it is your router.. whereas it is not.

     

    What model is the main router? Who is your ISP? Some ISP have made major upgrades to their networks which have caused issues specifically with Apple routers.. Cox is the main one.

     

    What model is the airport extreme?

     

    It is always worth doing a factory reset and redo the configuration from scratch. A lot of issues seem to develop over time and configurations do corrupt themselves.

     

    It is also worth looking at the actual wireless signal levels on both the main network and the guest.. use a computer and run the built in diagnostics.

     

    Check for Wi-Fi issues using your Mac - Apple Support

     

    If you are interested to figure out the issue with running both the Apple and ISP modem router's wireless doing a careful wireless analysis from the diagnostic tool could bring to light where it is failing.