Setting up an extended wireless network

Unfortunately, the Country Codes between the modem/router and the Time Capsule do not match.....and that is likely creating some issues with some of Apple's newer updates that we may not be able to solve, since Apple ships different products to different areas in the world based on the wireless "rules" in that area.

It appears that the Time Capsule is set up generally correct, but we need to check some settings using AirPort Utility on your Mac.

See if you can open AirPort Utility, then click on the picture of the Time Capsule, and then click Edit in the lower right corner of the smaller window that appears.

Click on the Wireless tab at the top of the screen, then check the settings for the following:

Network Mode......This should be set to "Create a wireless network"

Wireless Network Name.....This should be the exact same wireless network name as your modem/router network

Wireless Security.......Unfortunately, you will need to change this to WPA/WPA 2 Personal to match the modem/router network

Wireless Password......This should be the exact same wireless password that the modem/router is using

Verify Password......This is the same password to confirm

Click on the Network tab at the top of the screen, then check the setting for the following:

Router Mode.....This must be set to "Off" Bridge Mode.

Click Update at the lower right of the window.

At this point, you should be able to "walk" your Mac laptop from the area near the modem router to the area near the Time Capsule and remain on the same network.

To verify that the Mac is changing access points automatically, hold down the option key like you did before and note the BSSID when the Mac is near the modem router and the BSSID when the Mac is near the Time Capsule.

You should see different BSSID's when the Mac moves from one location to the other, which confirms that the Mac is staying on the same wireless network, but it is changing the access point from the modem/router to the Time Capsule as it moves from one area to another.

I will answer the question about 5 GHz later.

This means I’m going to try set up my TC as a network drive forvtime machine purposes, no router functionality (I think I can disable WiFi, but the notvthe router part, and I understood I need the router part in any case as I need the functionality to use the internal hard drive as network storage drive.

It is a simple task to turn off the WiFi service on the TC......

Open AirPort Utility

Click on the picture of the Time Capsule

Click Edit in the smaller window that appears

Click the Wireless tab at the top of the window

Change the setting for Network Mode from "Create a wireless network" to "Off"

Regarding the "router part" of the Time Capsule, this may surprise you, but the router service of the Time Capsule should already be turned "Off" since you have been using the Time Capsule with a modem/router. To confirm that this is the case......

Click on the Network tab at the top of the screen

Check to make sure that the current setting for Router Mode is "Off (Bridge Mode)"

(IF.....the Time Capsule really was acting as a router, the Router Mode setting would read "DHCP and NAT")

Click Update at the lower right of the window to save the changes and let the Time Capsule restart

Channel: 149 (5GHz, 80MHz)

Country Code: NZ

This is not valid in the UK.

It is problematic buying Airports in other markets as they will not conform to your local wireless standards.

Contact me directly to see about changing over the country.. not easy to do.

rayhav@gmail.com

so I thought to myself "what if the device name creates a conflict?".

Normally, you would not be able to assign the same device name to two or more different devices. AirPort Utility will normally add a (2) or (3) etc to the name of the device to avoid the conflicts that will occur with identical device names.

It is OK to have the AirPorts produce a wireless network using the same name, security, and password...... as long as the devices are not located too close to each other.

The next problem for me to sort out is that one of the external USB drives connected to the TC, doesn't wake up automatically.

Unfortunately, Apple does not provide any type of controls to tell an attached USB drive what to do. It is clear that the TC USB port is sending a signal to ramp up, since the Seagate drive is doing so......or, did you mean to say that the Seagate drive does not go into sleep mode?

Check with the support folks at the drive manufacturer to see if you can install firmware or modify the settings for the Lacie drive to tell it not to sleep.

However, the LaCie drive seems to go into standby mode, and doesn't wake up automatically.

I will leave Bob to handle the network setup since he started.. but this one.. yes.. it is a problem and there is nothing much you can do to fix it.

My experience exactly matches yours. A simple self-powered disk was OK.. although if you touch it I think you will find it is never spinning down. That is not really a big issue as the power consumption on laptop drives is very low.

But my HGST Touro Deskpro.. it would go into standby and never receive the spinup signal. Other than setting up some sort of transfer to keep the disk awake.. you can probably do it just by keeping it mounted in Finder.. once it went into standby that was the end. The TC is giving a wake up but the USB setup does not seem to pick it up.

You might find some deep dark secret LaCie setting to stop the drive going into standby but likely as not this is issue that makes it unsuitable to be used with TC or any Apple router.

Basically what I want is the Modem/router will be the living room access point with wifi. The Time capsule is connected to the modem/router, and the airport express units are connected to the time capsule.

Let's take this one step at a time and go over each step in detail.

The Time Capsule must connect to the modem/router using a permanent wired Ethernet cable connection.

IF...the modem router will be creating a WiFi network......you would not want the Time Capsule to create a network using the same name and password as the modem/router......unless.....the Time Capsule will be located at least a room or two away from the modem/router.

Reason.....you do not want two wireless access points using the same network name and password to be in close proximity to each other, since that will create wireless interference effects that will cause problems for the WiFi network. In addition, WiFi devices will be confused about which signal to which to connect.

Alternately....iF....the Time Capsule must be located close to the modem/router......you would want the Time Capsule to create a network that uses a different wireless network name then the modem/router for the same reason. If the Time Capsule must be located near the modem/router, then the Time Capsule will be using a different wireless network name and password than the modem/router......and you can use the modem/router WiFi as a second or guest network, or likely turn it off if you don't need a second network.

So, 1) we need clarification from you on where you plan to locate the Time Capsule since that will determine what you can and cannot do as far as the setup is concerned.

and the airport express units are connected to the time capsule.

The AirPort Expresses can connect and "extend" the network in two different ways. The best way by far, performance wise, is to connect each Express back to the Time Capsule using a permanent, wired Ethernet cable connection.

The less desirable way is to have the Expresses connect back to the Time Capsule using wireless.....which unfortunately will always result in a loss of about half of the potential speed over the wireless network. Sometimes that is OK with some users though.

So, 2) we need clarification on "how" you plan to connect the Expresses back to the Time Capsule....wired, or wireless.

Finally, 3) We need to know if you are still using the Mac that you list in your profile......the one running Mountain Lion.....or whether you have updated the operating system on the Mac to a more recent version. If you have updated, what version of the operating system is the Mac running?

OK, thanks for the information. I will assume that you have set up both the modem/router and Time Capsule to use the same wireless network name and password, and that both are using WPA2 Personal security.

Let's start by powering off the Time Capsule and the two AirPort Express devices completely for now.

Restart the modem/router and then move your laptop to the same room or close proximity to the modem/router and check to make sure that you can get a good Internet connection that way.

If you can get a good connection, hold down the option key on your Mac while you click on the WiFi menu at the top of the screen. Jot down the settings that you see for the following items:

IP Address

Router

Security

BSSID.....just note the last 4 digits or characters

Channel

Country Code

RSSI

Noise

Tx Rate

PHY Mode

MCS Index

If all appears to be OK, power up the Time Capsule and move the laptop to the same room or close proximity and run the same checks on the Time Capsule as above

Post back with your results and we will know how best to continue. It may be necessary to check and/or change some of the settings on the Time Capsule.

The settings you asked for are:

IP Address: 192.168.1.21

Router: 192.168.1.1

Security: WPA/WPA2 Personal

BSSID: ending with a3:63

Channel: 100

Country Code: GB

RSSI: -50dBm

Noise: -89dBm

Tx Rate: 867 Mbps

PHY Mode: 802.11ac

MCS Index: 9

This is for your check using the Mac laptop near the modem/router......and with the Time Capsule and other AirPorts powered off, correct?

Things look good overall, but you would want to change the Security on the modem/router to WPA2 Personal. The WPA/WPA2 Personal setting that is currently in use is not as secure as WPA2 Personal.

If you cannot change the setting of WPA/WPA2 Personal to WPA2 Personal, then we will have to adjust settings on the Time Capsule and AirPorts, which normally use the more secure WPA2 Personal. It is very important that each WiFi access point uses the same wireless network name, same security, and same password.

As I requested above, can you now power up the Time Capsule and run the exact same checks as above using your Mac laptop in the same room as the Time Capsule, and then post back those results?

You may have to set up the Time Capsule again if you did reset it back to default settings. Do you need help with this procedure? Keep the AirPort Express devices powered off for now please.

I understand what you want to set up. My current setup is much the same except I do not use AirPort Expresses, I use AirPort Extremes.

Unfortunately, the Apple Support document that you are using is long out of date.....since it uses examples from AirPort Utility versions that were discontinued over 6 years ago. The instructions and illustrations do not track at all with current versions of AirPort Utility for Mac and the iPhone / iPad, so you are going to need to ignore the "how to" instructions in the document.

It is OK to use the Apple support document for general information.....but it is basically useless as far as a "how to" guide.