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I just switched to Mac (iMac 24" - 2.66 Gh - 320Gb) this week. So far my biggest stumble is not being able to get Time Machine to see my Time Capsule. I get internet via a Verizon Air Card that is plugged into an iMac USB port. I would like to use the Time Capsule for backup and also to plug a printer into it so I can print wirelessly from the iMac. I live/travel in my motor home full time and equipment placement is critical!

I was told at an Apple store that the Time Capsule would not work wireless unless it had the ISP port plugged in to service. The guy at Best Buy where I bought the machine told me it WOULD work without having ISP service coming into it. He told me I just need to "cancel" through the requests for ISP information. Right now I can't even get Time Machine to see the capsule.

Anyone have any suggestions? I am thinking of returning the Time Capsule and simply getting an external drive for backup (hooked up on USB port on machine) an maybe a Linksys printer link or the like. It seems the Time Capsule - iMac interface isn't as seamless and intuitive as advertised.

On a positive note, using MobileMe, I was able to sync my Outlook Contacts and Calendar very easily. Actually that was a pretty impressive transition.
 
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First off, welcome to Mac-Forums!

With regards to the Time Capsule maybe I'm missing something here - or maybe it's the whiskey - but the Time Machine drive works over WLAN (Airport) so you don't even need access to the internet for it to work. So I can't see why a USB Air Card could affect it?

Never knew you could connect a printer to it though. I guess you connected it via Ethernet?

Glad your happy with your Mac toys though!
 
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You could get a cradelpointe cellular card router for your verizon card, its pricey but it would work. connect the time capsul to the router and run it in a DMZ. If you don't follow, i will elaborate:

DMZ= demilitarized zone, allows you to run a router or whatever you want on a WAN address. So your IP address for the device in the DMZ will be the one provided by the ISP and not a 192.168.1.x

Another option would be to just get a wired ISP service, but if thats not available the above option would be good. If connect cards are your only way to go online, they do make external antennas and amps for them if you are in a rural area.
 
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So let me see if I have this right:

1) You do not want to use the Time Capsule as a router, but just as a disk drive and Print Server.

2) You do not have an ISP connection other than the one connected directly to your iMac.


I think you have two options:

1) Connect your iMac to the Time Capsule via Ethernet. This would allow you to access the NAS functions of the Time Capsule for backups and also use it as a Print Server.

2) Use your iMac as the Wireless Access Point for a new wireless network that you set up your Time Capsule to participate in. To do this, I think you would need to turn on Internet Connection Sharing on the iMac. I think this would work best, but may take some tweaking to accomplish.
 
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It would seem that you should be able to run Airport Utility on your Mac and manually setup the Time Capsule (except for ethernet access). You should then be able to use the internal Airport of your iMac to connect to the Time Capsule for backup and printing.
 
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Gentlemen (assuming men by the names), thank you for the input and suggestions. I too, believe the Time Capsule can act as a client, per what I was told. I will try the setup again. I will try to turn on Internet Sharing on my iMac. The dialogue box in Sharing lists my "Verizon Wireless-VZ Access" card as the Share your connection from: option and "Airport" in the To computers using: option. I do however gets warnings about affecting other network functions.

martyp - my understanding is that once the Time Capsule is connected, a printer can be driven via the USB port on the Time Capsule. We'll see.

Joebury2004 - The DMZ cradle might be an option to look at, but I hope to accomplish this without added hardware. You may have missed my comment about living/travel in my motor home full time, thus the Verizon connect card being my connection to the world. No sarcasm here!

nelsonc - I think your option 2) might be the answer and I will pursue that avenue. I may need some guidance from an expert at setting upsharing.

ron4mac - I think your suggestion falls in line with nelsonc.

Again, thank you and I will report back to you with any progress made.

loneracer
 

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