1TB Time Capsule as wireless bridge help

Ok, first of all, I have been reading these past 4 days non stop about how to accomplish my goal (seen next). I have had mixed reviews on if I can do this or not. I figured I would just be a noob, suck it up and ask.

Goal: Use my 1TB time capsule as a wireless extender connected to the main Router/modem I have in house.

Setup. I have a rather decent size house so my Westell Router/ Modem in the studio downstairs does not reach all corners. I have the DSL coming into the studio and running into the Westell Wireless router/modem (Cincinnati Bell). The computer in the studio is a Dell XP. I have set up Airport on the Dell. I then I have the ethernet cable running from the Westell upstairs into the office where my Apple 1TB TC is. The cable is running into the WAN port (I have also tried the other 3 ports to no avail). My Macbook pro connects and backs-up wirelessly no problem and I also have managed to get wireless printing setup flawlessly to the 2 Macbook pros upstairs. That works fine. My goal is to get the wireless portion of the TC working so I can use wireless through the upstairs parts of the house and feed off of the TC.

When looking at internet preferences through Airport on both the Macs and the Dell I have the Bridge option set to the correction option. Now I just need to know how to turn on the TC wireless network, which I am having many Epic failures at doing. Is this even possible to do what I am asking or have I been beating my head against a wall for the past couple of days for no reason.

Summary: Run Westell modem/router to the TC and make TC give off another wireless signal for the 2 Macs upstairs.

Any help would be a godsend, or allah send or whatever entity you feel like inserting-send.

Seems to be if u could set up your Westall to hand out DHCP then set each of units/computers to 'Using DHCP'. First connect an ethernet cable to WAN port on TC and to a MBP and run Airport Utility to set up TC to bridge mode - do it before u get it on line and then check the Network set up. Then use the ethernet cable to join the upstairs TC into the Westall. Run the Dell of a Westall ethernet port. If u need more reading some good stuff here.

Yeah I may have to play around with it all night again. The only thing is I would also like to leave my Westell, or whatever its called, with that wireless running too. By doing that I can hit the PS3 and xb360 in the room by it. Then use the wireless upstairs (TC) to take care of all the units on that side.

I am probably trying to do 100 things too complicated but it's how I roll lol.

So, Collin, would it be fair to say the connection would look like this:

Westell---> Run ethernet cord to Dell and upstairs wall jack--> Run wall jack(ethernet) to WAN of TC and then figure out a way to turn on airport.

BUT for setup On top of running the ethernet to WAN port I need to run an ethernet to macbook to set up.... or take out all plugs and just do a MB to TC setup with the internet not running it. Wow that probably makes no sense, my head is spinning especially because I'm not even at home looking at them now lol.

Oh yes, and one final question. I saw in Airport it gave the option to 'extend' a wireless network. On the TC Advanced options menu I believe I saw 4 tabs: Internet, wireless etc.

Internet showed Bridge mode. Then under wirless should I check the box "Create a new network, or connect to existing network."

Garble garble garble garble lol... argh.. ha ha ha

Ok I think I figured it out in my head. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Connect TC to Westell with the Bridge mode and send it into the WAN. Then under advanced options create a new wireless network from the TC. Then on my MBP and other MBP upstairs have them connect to "time capsule wireless" and not the westell wireless....

Who knows. lol

brockmant said:

Yeah I may have to play around with it all night again. The only thing is I would also like to leave my Westell, or whatever its called, with that wireless running too. By doing that I can hit the PS3 and xb360 in the room by it. Then use the wireless upstairs (TC) to take care of all the units on that side.

I am probably trying to do 100 things too complicated but it's how I roll lol.

So, Collin, would it be fair to say the connection would look like this:

Westell---> Run ethernet cord to Dell and upstairs wall jack--> Run wall jack(ethernet) to WAN of TC and then figure out a way to turn on airport.

BUT for setup On top of running the ethernet to WAN port I need to run an ethernet to macbook to set up.... or take out all plugs and just do a MB to TC setup with the internet not running it. Wow that probably makes no sense, my head is spinning especially because I'm not even at home looking at them now lol.

Click to expand...

connecting TC to MacBook with ethernet cable is a preparatory step before you get into the final system config, just so you can have the TC set up as u want. Trying to do it wirelessly can have hang ups depending on settings. Having it on ethernet temporarily avoids that. i see no reason why you could not have a wireless network off of the Westall and one off the TC as well as long as they were on different channels and not conflicting. Some one else would have to take this set up forward cos i am out of my depth at this point.

Thank you Collin. I hope someone else does chime in because I would like the further advice.

From what I have learned I think I may be able to leave westell on a b/g network and the TC on the N channel. But then again I am not sure. It may be a long night! ha ha... good thing all I have to do tomorrow is church and snowboarding.

brockmant said:

Thank you Collin. I hope someone else does chime in because I would like the further advice.

From what I have learned I think I may be able to leave westell on a b/g network and the TC on the N channel. But then again I am not sure. It may be a long night! ha ha... good thing all I have to do tomorrow is church and snowboarding.

Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do, although using a D-Link DIR-655 instead of the westell.

You can see my post a few minutes ago in this thread.

bobtomay said:

That is exactly what I do, although using a D-Link DIR-655 instead of the westell.

You can see my post a few minutes ago in this thread.

Click to expand...

I just updated in that thread is well. If you could run over and check it out that would be great. (Or click over, that will also be acceptable).

I believe we have this figured out!!!!!!! Ok here is the photos of what I have done to get 2 routers working, BOTH using wireless. The downstairs router has an ethernet running from it to the TC and into the WAN plug. My TC is now sending off a wireless signal for the rooms upstairs which the downstairs could not. Here are my settings:



IN THE PICTURE BELOW I ACTUALLY HAVE UNCHECKED ALLOW THIS NETWORK TO BE EXTENDED!!



TO GET TO THE PICTURE BELOW (PHOTO 4) CLICK ON WIRELESS OPTIONS GEARBOX FROM PHOTO 3

Yep. I'd still go back into that 'Wireless' page - need to set up security or you have a wide open network that any neighbor or drive by has access to.

If only your Macs are connecting to it, use WPA2 personal... create a password, write it down, (or better yet, open up Keychain Access... go to 'File' - 'New Secure Note Item'; make a secure note and save your password there) and go ahead and change the Radio Mode to 'n' only.

Well when I am upstairs I also use the wireless to connect to my BlackBerry so the WPA2 may not be

Yeah when I click on radio mode here are the screens I get:
Automatic
or
802.11a/n- 802.11b/g
or
802.11a- 802.11b/g

Its strange those are the only 3 options. Nothing else. However on my 4th screen I clicked 5Ghz. Hrmmmm...

Also should I really set up a wireless security for the network? The closest house to me is about 300 yards away and I live on 4.5 acres with no one around, that and my driveway is about 100 yards long.

Ok, you convinced me, I'm changing the password to.... ok not telling lol.

Hey there,

Just to confirm everything that has been said, you need to have the following config for your setup to work like Kool & the Gang:

This is how i set it up, for anything Apple flavored initially:

1. Westell Wireless router/modem (DHCP parent - this will dish out the ip addresses to the rest of the network including the TC) >connected via ethernet to (Bridge Mode off)> TC
2. TC>select> create a new wireless network (SSID of your choice)>for wireless connections (WPA2 preferably)> choose 802.11a/n- 802.11b/g (the frequency will default to the lowest common denominator on the network, dependent on the hardware that is attached, but you should still get 'n' range - either a/b/g, or n - Vista PCs are a/b/g invariably)
3. If you have other Apple hardware, capable of receiving on the 'n' frequency - create a separate 5GHz network, through the '> wireless>more options>' tab - Windows hardware seems to struggle connecting to this, so keep it reserved for Apple components is my suggestion - use this SSID (will be superseded by a (5GHz) text with TC created SSID name when searching for wireless access points) - still better performance for the time being
4. Once you have your Apple(s) happily connected - either through the 'normal' SSID setup on TC or the SSID (5GHz), you can then think about the source router.

1. Westell Wireless router/modem > chances are that unless you specifically disabled the wireless SSID from the router to cease broadcasting, it will still be whoring for clients? Check the status first...
2. For using this wireless broadcast from the parent router and for lower encrypted devices>downgrade the wireless encryption to WEP or 'open' (not great, but it's a sh*t sandwich, so guess we'll take a bite)>ensure it has a unique SSID from the one created through the TC (and with the level of encryption appropriate to the attached devices to it)
3. For added stability, assign static IP addresses to those devices that only connect to this router (PS3 i'm guessing etc - WEP maximum at present)
4. Ensure if using ATV, a firewall on port 3689 has been added (TC or the app firewall on Macs doesn't allow this to be configured, the Westell will block it)
5. You should now have a permanent connection to both as required, and for whatever devices on the network....

Customers use the TC '5GHz' network for mac based products only and everything else for windows PCs or guests to logon - works for them, but as with any network it can be temperamental....

Other customers have an Apple Express installed to extend the TC (non-5GHz) network) for AirTunes etc, all works nicely - think about what you want to achieve (network-wise, not in life, or in your head) and it will get there - some network components work better together than others - fact of life unfortunately - all the gear you have is plug-n-play, so once you've sorted what you want, the rest will fall into place...

Happy hunting

Wow, Big Mac... thank you! Looks like you summed it up well lol.