Time Capsule losing connection

Honestly if the Asus is not giving you coverage .. nothing will.

As Bob noted.. power outputs are limited.. but it is still worth having a play before you reach for the extender.. shudder.

Power output is limited under FCC regs. But there are a bunch of channels used by weather radar which are allowed .. only power output can be greatly reduced if the radar is detected.. it can be worth swapping to purely wifi free license area.. ie 149-165.

And Asus has coped a big fine before for transmitting too much power.. (used to work great though) so it can be worthwhile at least checking channels and seeing if a low or high channel works best.

Mine might be a bit different to yours.. but it should show low channels.. 36-48 and the high channels.. 149-165 or something like that.. It is also possible to use other channels but only when set to auto.. ie you have no control.

Power output on the high channels is much greater.. but penetration of solids is much worse.. so in balance.. high and low channels are supposed to work out about the same.. in reality for most people the high channels do work best. So you can try a selection.. I would not expect huge improvements though.

On the 2.4ghz it can be well worthwhile turning off 40mhz.

Since Apple never uses 40mhz.. and our experience is selecting 40mhz actually is less efficient.. select 20mhz.. I personally don't worry about it.. as I use 5ghz from multiple AP.. and a channel like 8 or 9 as control channel can be useful when you have lots of other people around you on 6 or 11.

Again differences can be slight if measurable at all.. but the 2.4ghz range should be hugely superior to the 5ghz.

Your good results from the backup to the Asus inclines me to at least give it a try.

So do keep up the feedback especially if you have issues.

If you have a crystal ball that is good enough to tell you how well Time Machine will work in the next year or two, and it indicates good news, then you can use the TC and Time Machine as your only backup plan.

The rest of us, who are not so fortunate, use a dual back up system, since most of us have seen this message appear at one time or another using Time Machine on a Time Capsule:

Personally, I see this message about every 6-8 months on average, but it will appear at random times as well. When.....not if.....this message appears, its too late. Your backups are corrupted and useless.

Errors are generally caused by the network as a whole. NOT CCC.

A regular reboot of the entire network is a necessity under more recent versions of Mac OS.

Your error is clear..

ie the sharepoint is not mounting.

This is bound to happen when you do not use local backup drive.

All you need to do is ensure the backup is mounted in finder. Mac OS of late has loads of issues if whatever you use as main router is not so bonjour aware.

I have to admit after 50 posts I am somewhat lost in your setup and changes. If you have issues

Please.. please

Give a careful and full description of your network as it exists now. Give us make and model of all the different items. And show screenshots hopefully with their IP addresses.

Some aspects of a network can be improved.. but in the end.. finding local resources depends on bonjour working.. as soon as you move away from Apple routers you must do a bit more work to keep the network updated in the OS.. eg the weekly reboots.

As a BTW.. and follow up.. since I did recommend you used the Asus as network backup device.. I have been experimenting. (I know you moved immediately from Asus to Netgear Orbi.. so lost the use of the Asus.. )

Some care needs to be taken with what USB drive you use.. my first attempt was using one of my Toshiba/HGST Touro desktop drives.. but the result was really poor. I think the way Touro handles data is slightly different and Time Machine would discover the backup was corrupt every time even though the previous backup was successful.

I changed to a simple self powered 2.5" drive.. and that has now been working great.

I plugged the Touro into the local computer and it has no issues.. so it was only over the network the issue existed.

The backup on the Asus has been running a few days.. since 8th Dec.. and is giving me no issues at all.

What is nice is the Asus log gives me complete details of each backup.

Dec 13 14:34:03 afpd[17791]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Dec 13 14:35:35 afpd[17791]: AFP logout by admin

Dec 13 14:35:35 afpd[17791]: AFP statistics: 115855.33 KB read, 275563.77 KB written

Dec 13 14:35:35 afpd[17791]: done

Dec 13 15:34:05 afpd[24929]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Dec 13 15:36:37 afpd[24929]: AFP logout by admin

Dec 13 15:36:37 afpd[24929]: AFP statistics: 203544.57 KB read, 336323.43 KB written

Dec 13 15:36:37 afpd[24929]: done

Dec 13 16:36:33 afpd[32553]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Dec 13 16:38:54 afpd[32553]: AFP logout by admin

Dec 13 16:38:54 afpd[32553]: AFP statistics: 252926.83 KB read, 343025.20 KB written

Dec 13 16:38:54 afpd[32553]: done

Dec 13 17:39:14 afpd[7436]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Dec 13 17:41:22 afpd[7436]: AFP logout by admin

Dec 13 17:41:22 afpd[7436]: AFP statistics: 168125.19 KB read, 264008.84 KB written

Dec 13 17:41:22 afpd[7436]: done

Dec 14 06:01:17 afpd[27847]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Dec 14 06:03:53 afpd[27847]: AFP logout by admin

Dec 14 06:03:53 afpd[27847]: AFP statistics: 310509.77 KB read, 334975.34 KB written

Dec 14 06:03:53 afpd[27847]: done

Dec 14 07:01:15 afpd[2297]: AFP3.3 Login by admin

Yes.. ARRIS is just Surfboard by another name.. and yes.. they are the model that is problematic.

Make up your mind now.. will you replace with ARRIS with another brand or the TC as main router.. either is fine.. and neither is bad.. it is just apple has no idea how to make their stuff work .. no other router has this issue.

There are a couple of work arounds.. eg using a switch between the modem and the TC.. or a crossover cable used to work for some people. But the simple fact is.. Apple is going to blame Arris.. and Arris more correctly.. since it only happens on apple routers.. blame Apple.. you need to get out of infinity loop (pun intended).

VOIP modem may be not easily replaced.. and your ISP might not give you setup info or authenticate it.. Check with the ISP for retail models that can do both cable with phone.. at the speed you have signed for.

I don’t really want to replace the TC since I rely on it for backups of my MB and my MBP

Replacing the TC as router does not mean replacing the TC altogether.. it can work happily in the network bridged to whatever router you buy.

Or if the switch you mentioned is cheaper and/or easier, maybe I would do that.

I would rate that pretty low as working solution. I mentioned it... more if you have one available.. do not bother buying one .. you will be disappointed 80% of the time.

I understand.. sorry there is no fix known.. and I have not personally experienced the issue .. if I did I would have some hope of figuring out how to fix it.

How fast is your download / upload speed?

It could be possible to fix the speed of the ethernet port via a switch to 100mbit.. but that means if your speed is over that, you are wasting your connection.

You don't need an expensive router.. since you already have wireless in the airport.. so if you give me the speed I can advise you on a suitable router that is not so expensive.

Ok.. that is a great connection when you do get close.

The TC will just make that connection speed.. so you do need a fairly decent router..

TP-Link stuff is usually my go to .. for cheaper end, reasonable hardware.

The cheapest WR1043ND should be ok.. but C7 is a good option.. Also the Asus models are a favourite.. the standard is RT-AC68U but you can get a bit cheaper one.. RT-AC58U.. but I haven't used it.. all the others I have.

Excellent choice.. it is actually the successor to the RT-AC68U I listed.. almost identical with a more powerful processor.

Plus it is supported by Merlin firmware which is very popular as alternative but fully compatible with Asus firmware. ie you can swap between them. Merlin includes some extra features without changing layout at all.

I have not used the Asus for TM backup.. At the present time I have too many valid network targets to worry about it.. I have two Time Capsules.. plus a Synology NAS..

And I do have some doubts about USB drives plugged into routers. I would recommend using a powered drive not self powered type.. powered drive can use 2.5" drive if you want it to be small.. but routers often do not have sufficient power to handle drive demands. A desktop 3.5" drive is also more reliable in the long run. Just a few thoughts ..

Give it a try and see if it is reliable. I would be interested in your assessment.

Time Machine itself can be rather difficult when used with non-apple targets. We are seeing in these discussion areas a huge increase in the number of people posting with TM issues in networks.. since Sierra upped the security to network drives.. it has led to huge increase in the failure rate of backup. This has continued unabated with High Sierra.

Our current recommendation is keep TM to local targets.. ie USB disk plugged into a computer.. this has been ok. Use an alternative like Carbon Copy Cloner to network targets. Just another few thoughts.