Replacing Time Capsule (which is both router and modem)

[pixelrogue]

Hello everyone.

BACKGROUND
One of the mantras that has kept me from changing up our beloved Time Capsule has been” if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” so while the system gets slower by the day it has been steadfast reliable and solid. Between all the dedicated ips, port forwarding etc it didn’t seem worth the effort to change…and there has always been a piece of me hoping for an apple one last thing surprise with the return to routers…as they have returned to lines of business once excited (ie displays.)

Well the homekit portion of the home network died that is pushing into the path of starting over. If i am going this far too rebuild it might be the right time to upgrade the router (said with sad tear off loyalty glances at the time Capsule.)

Worth monitoring the Time Capsule operates as both router and modem.

Home is basically 40x20 footprint, four levels.
Time Capsule is on level two, home office on level 4. Would live to have router, synology etc on level one.

NEEDS
Looking for a tri-band wifi 6 router somewhat future proposed that works well with Mac and Time Capsule. VPN enabled. ZERO SUBSCRIPTION. Primary uses include video streaming, rather beefy IOT Home network, synology nas (ds220+) which is for file manhunt, secondary backup source and streaming.) Devices are mainly ios devices, two or three Mac machines, roughly 70 iot devices. On shore support if possible, and not done short lived support service agreement. HomeKit enabled router would be fantastic. Flashable router also would be nice.

Maybe back to needing a combo router modem.

Side note: eero is out because it intentionally blocks vpn, think it is focused on subscription model and owned by amazon. Love amazon for shopping and do not trust their technology in any way… So yep, not a single ring device on that network. Think this means TP Link also put.

QUESTIONS
What are recommendations? What would be reasonable to expect in terms of cost (we ate price sensitive.) best bang for the dollar! We do not need a massive mesh network for example, still in amazon prime so maybe there is an opportunity, while at the same time want the right solution so not letting the amazon counter dictate the decision.

This likely ALSO means getting a modem (do not want anything to do with yet more hardware or modems mind you…) We are currently with Verizon Fios, however Comcast is always a future option as well as now T-Mobile. We happen to have a relatively new

Can not think of a better place to ask for input than here…this forum has been amazing!

———-
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS…
Maybe a Lynksus Velop, or a Netgear Nighthawk or Orbi, all options on the table.

Modems…. maybe Motorola MB8611 DOCSIS 3.1? <- looking like cable modem only. Any way to not use a modem for Fios the same way as our system is set up now? Fios ethernet plugged directly into time capsule.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Side note: eero is out because it intentionally blocks vpn, think it is focused on subscription model and owned by amazon. Love amazon for shopping and do not trust their technology in any way… So yep, not a single ring device on that network. Think this means TP Link also put.

I want to point out some misconceptions there. I have Eeros, and they do not block VPNs, nor are subscriptions required. Yes, they have them for some services, but they are mainly security-related and all easily accomplished on the desktop side if one wanted them and they don't nag you about them. I don't sub to anything myself. Your point about being owned by Amazon is well taken though, and I must admit being wary of it myself. I bought my Eeros before Amazon bought them out, and I was not a happy camper about that.

EDIT: side note... before I bought into Eero, I had tried Orbi and wound up returning it. I can't recall what the problem was, but there was something buggy and they didn't play well. Maybe a firmware update went bad? Sorry to be vague, but anyway, the experience left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm with you on holding out hope Apple re-enters the router biz. There's just too much opportunity here for privacy abuses with these devices.

EDIT 2: Tom's Guide has a good roundup worth reading over.

Best mesh Wi-Fi systems of 2024

The best mesh Wi-Fi systems give you a strong Wi-Fi signal in every room and even out in the backyard

www.tomsguide.com

 

[pixelrogue]

Yes, please correct misunderstandings.
Eeros
- you can add VPN at the rero router level to protect all shared traffic? Few years ago vpn was not available at the router level for erro.
- subscription not required, however subs are part of their business model and i’d likely bump up against those functions sooner than later.

Ah, good old Tom’s guide yes i will read.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Yes, please correct misunderstandings.
Eeros
- you can add VPN at the rero router level to protect all shared traffic? Few years ago vpn was not available at the router level for erro.

No, you can't do a VPN on the router level, but they don't block VPNs if you are using anything of your choice on connected devices.

- subscription not required, however subs are part of their business model and i’d likely bump up against those functions sooner than later

Quite frankly, if that's not part of the business model of every alternative out there already, it will be. But like I said, wholly optional and not something they pester you about. It bugged me a little at first, but now I don't even think about it. One potential downside to Eeros that I should point out is that they can only be managed via a mobile app. There is no desktop app, nor can it be managed via a browser. They say this isn't a downside, but a security feature. They probably aren't wrong about this, to be honest.

 

[MacInWin]

I have an eero network and can confirm everything said about them. No block of VPN, no mandatory subscriptions, although I do currently have the subscription for Eero Secure, which provides some additional monitoring of what is happening in the net. The app on the iPhone is pretty good for managing the network, but it would be nice to have something on the Mac. I have an M1 Mac, haven't tried to run the Eero app on the Mac, so that might be an option to look into someday.

I had Orbi before and replaced it with Eero. I had lots of issues with Homekit devices and Orbi routers that made my home automation more of a roll of the dice than a workable system. Eero works much better with Homekit, at least so far. it also support Thread, the protocol that is being adopted by most home automation vendors for interoperability.

I have had no nags from Eero or Amazon about subscriptions. Consider this a hearty recommendation of Eero.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Hey, something I want to point out about your need for your router system to work well with Time Capsule. I'm actually still using my Apple Time Capsule for that purpose. I have the Network Mode set to OFF, and it's plugged into one of my Eeros by ethernet, so the drive is accessible and Time Machine works just fine. I also briefly used it as a router in conjunction with the Eeros (Bridge Mode, I think?) to troubleshoot problems with an HVAC device that I couldn't get on my regular network. The Time Capsule broadcast its own SSID but bridged to the internet via its hardwire connection to the Eeros. This is also a way, other than using the Guest Network, to isolate devices to a separate network if there was such a need. This is not Eero-specific, mind you. In the case of that HVAC device, it turned out they wouldn't connect to a network whose password exceeded a certain number of characters (hard limit in older WPA2 security, I think?). I have obscenely long and strong passwords on my Eero, well in excess of that hard limit on the older protocols. I wound up simply reducing the number of characters for the password on my Eero Guest network to get those devices to connect.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I have an eero network and can confirm everything said about them. No block of VPN, no mandatory subscriptions, although I do currently have the subscription for Eero Secure, which provides some additional monitoring of what is happening in the net. The app on the iPhone is pretty good for managing the network, but it would be nice to have something on the Mac. I have an M1 Mac, haven't tried to run the Eero app on the Mac, so that might be an option to look into someday.

Unfortunately the Eero iOS app can't be installed onto M1 Macs. Technically it should be, but they have blocked it on the Mac App Store so you can't see it even when looking at the iPhone & iPad Apps section.

 

[pixelrogue]

Unfortunately the Eero iOS app can't be installed onto M1 Macs. Technically it should be, but they have blocked it on the Mac App Store so you can't see it even when looking at the iPhone & iPad Apps section.

Think you could get this app other ways without much difficulty.