setting up time capsule and downloading torrents

Hi, I have recently bought my first Mac and I'm loving it. We have a local wireless network shared with someone who loves PCs and dislikes Macs with a vengeance (because you can't open them up and tinker with the bits inside!).

I've also got a Time Capsule and I know it can be used as a router but I think I'll probably be asked to continue using our current modem/router that is quite old and doesn't support plug and play. I sometimes download torrents and in order to do this we had to configure the old router to open a port and then give the computer a static IP address and static port so the torrents downloaded fast.

With some help I managed to give the Mac a static IP address and static open port too and the torrent software was happy with the setup. However since I added the Time Capsule into the mix the torrent software is indicating that there is a problem and there are no incoming connections. It is currently doing its first big backup, not sure if that is relevant or not.

I did notice while setting up the TC that it had been allocated an IP address that is different from the static IP address on my Mac. Is that the root of the problem? Do I need to give the TC the same IP address as the Mac or will this create a conflict?

I know the elegant answer to this is to use the TC as the router but I'm not sure that will be acceptable to the other people on the network so please can someone help?

PS In the unlikely event that I do get the thumbs up to use the TC as the router can you use a combined modem/router just as a modem or would I have to buy a modem in order to use the TC as our router?

Feeling very confused!!!

I've done some more reading around on this and apparently if the TC is used in bridge mode all ports are open. I've got mine set up for bridge mode but when I do a port scan using its IP address the torrent port is not open, it is only open on my Macbooks IP address. I tried changing the IP address of the TC so it was the same as my Macbook but that didn't work either, it just stopped the TC from functioning.

Can anyone help?

Good publication here which would lead you thru the set up - check it out.

Hi Collin, thanks for the link. I've just downloaded the book. Hope it works, its too nice a day to spend it wrestling with a computer especially as the computer always wins.

Finally sorted this out. Once NAT was enabled on the Time Capsule the torrent download light turned green and everything works OK. Why that was needed in bridge mode I'm not sure but it was the only thing that made a difference. Maybe all ports aren't open in bridge mode?