Reliable internet in Time Capsule

Hello,
I'm sure I'm not the first person to write about this as I've been reading through many other posts and a plethora of alternatives. However, I am always open for other ideas and opinions, so if any of you would like to share some theories and ideas for a fix, I would be much appreciative!
I have had my MBP for 1.5 years and have had consistent problems with it. It finally got so bad a couple of weeks ago that I purchased a Time Capsule because I wanted to save my data in case the computer completely croaked. I had a terrible time getting Time Capsule to work. Internet has always been wonky on this machine. It has a difficult time connecting to my University's WLAN and has always had terrible receiving strength. The Apple authorized service center here told me it's due to the metal casing of the MBP and an unfortunate fact of life. So I was expecting some issues with TC as I would occasionally have problems with my AirPort Extreme. The initial backup took nearly all night (and not because of the size of the backup, but because it would get 600 MB into backing up and then freeze/stall out, and then fail). I was able to finally get a complete backup by taking my MBP, putting it on the computer chair, and literally wheeling it in front of the base station (a distance of less than 2 feet). Then it worked.
I went through the Troubleshooting of the TC booklet and tried very hard to remove any interference factor. There's no cordless phone. It's on a wooden bookcase. No cords near it. It's located in a central location, and my laptop is rarely more than 15 feet away from it. Most of the time, it's less than 5 feet away. I even went and got iStumbler and was able to see about a 85-90% signal strength, with 9% noise, and it was not adjacent to the channels of the other wireless networks in my apartment complex. Yet, as it is, I am able to get online with the TC, it will last for approximately 10 seconds, and then the internet stalls out. TC stays green, signal strength is at maximum bars, yet no internet. Safari will say "Unable to open webpage because of no internet" and will ask to do a Network Diagnostic test. If I click on it, it shows Airport, Airport Settings, and Network Settings as being green. ISP, Internet, and Server are red. It will go through the diagnostic process and about 10 seconds later, will say "Your internet is configured correctly and working properly." Then if I close out of that, go to Safari, my internet is magically working again! ... For 10 seconds. Then I get the Network Diagnostic tool, and this becomes a cycle that goes into perpetuity and becomes very, very frustrating.
I called AppleCare about my other computer issues (dead black screen, wonky keyboard, weird AirPort issues with TC, randomly shutting down, etc.) They recommended a logic board replacement. So I sent it in for service and got it back Thursday with a new logic board. It still displays some weird symptoms, but the AirPort/TC issue is still just as terrible as ever. Even worse, it wouldn't back up at all, it would instantly fail. Called AppleCare again, went through creating a new user to see if the problem replicated there (it did), and was then transferred to a very helpful guy in the Wireless group who had me go through, delete all my preference files for networking/TC in the library, restart, and re-create a wireless network. It worked BEAUTIFULLY. It did another backup, and this time it did another complete backup. It took 5 hours and worked without a hitch. Went to bed last night and put the computer in sleep mode.
Woke up this morning... and we're back to Square One. I get 10 seconds of internet and that's it. I finally got so fed up that I'm now using ethernet because I cannot, for the life of me, get Time Capsule to work. I went through and removed all network preferences again, restored the TC to factory settings, and get 10 seconds of internet time before it croaks. If I turn AirPort off, then turn it back on, it automatically rejoins my TC network and internet works... for 10 seconds.
Called AppleCare again, did a hardware test, and everything shows as normal (even though my computer still shuts off randomly). Was told to try and see how it connects to other networks (it's mostly fine, but signal strength is weak as usual, and drops off a lot, mostly due to the metal casing I'm assuming). Was told that the logic board might need re-replacing to see if it comes with a stronger "System Management Controller" that could send more power to the AirPort card or a new AirPort card or both.
Sorry for this long melodrama! I hope I've explained it well enough that someone might know of something I have missed. I'm really not wanting to call AppleCare again, I'm sure they're tired of hearing me. I've had enough issues with my MBP, without having to add the Time Capsule to the mix. I'm hoping it's something minor.

Talked again with AppleCare... they think my TC needs replacement.

Similar Messages

Connecting Cable Internet to Time Capsule

I know this is dumb, but I'm tired! I'm trying to set up Time Capsule using my cable internet. Time Capsule obviously does not have a coaxial cable port, so how do I actually get my internet feed into the Time Capsule? Do I need to keep using the router provided by Comcast and only use Time Capsule as a wireless backup? Thanks!

sweetsweetjane wrote:
Do I need to keep using the router provided by Comcast and only use Time Capsule as a wireless backup?
You don't need to keep Comcast's router, but you do need something that can operate as a cable modem. Depending on the exact details of your Comcast service, something like this device.
If you don't want to go that route, you should put either the Comcast router or the Time Capsule into "bridge mode". You're better off not having two devices both acting as a router.

Can't connect my new iPhone 4 with internet via Time Capsule. IP4 recognized TC but will not connect with it. (Password etc. is ok)

Can't connect my new iPhone 4 with internet via Time Capsule. IP4 recognized TC but will not connect with it. (Password etc. is ok)

Do the usual wireless things.
Change the wireless name to simple name with only alphanumerics and no spaces.
Set to manual and use channels 1, 6, 11 in turn.
For testing take off the security altogether.
The iphone only works on 2.4ghz so only that band is relevant.

DirecTV DVR HR20 connect to internet via Time Capsule

Hi Everyone,
I've searched and come across various topics about connecting the DirecTV DVR to the internet via Time Capsule, but none of them seem to provide a solution for wireless connectivity.
Can anyone point me to a topic where it describes the steps and any issues related to getting my DirecTV DVR connected to the internet via the Time Capsule wirelessly.
I have gone through the setup and I get connected to my network, but I get the error when it tries to connect to the internet.
Do I have to do any port forwarding or anything special?
I use to have my Netgear supporting this configuration, just purchased the Time Capsule and now I cannot get my DVR connected.
Thanks for the support
Jeff...

The Direct TV DVR has an Ethernet connection on the back, which is strongly recommended if you intend to download movies or any kind of high definition material.
If you are trying to use the new Whole Home feature, wireless is not supported by Direct TV for this service.
If you are trying to connect to the DVR using wireless from the Time Capsule, you must be using some sort of wireless to Ethernet bridge device.
What device are you trying to use?
Have you verified that this device is compatible with the Time Capsule?
As a test, connect the adapter/bridge to your laptop and turn the wireless off on the laptop. Open your browser to see if you can get an Internet connection.
If you can, you know the network connection is good and the focus shifts to the DVR as the source of the problem.
If you can't, we'll need to figure out if the adapter you are using will work the Time Capsule.

Problem connecting Dell Inspiron 6000 to internet via Time Capsule.

Hi,
Unable to connect Dell Inspiron 6000 to internet via Time Capsule.
I get this "Windows is unable to connect to selected network. Network may no longer be in range". Any clue?
Thanks.

What modem do you have?
Is it a router? What mode is the TC being setup in, bridge or router?
Is it cable modem? If so did you power cycle the modem for the required time.. it might be 30min or just 5min or many hours depending on the ISP.
Tell us more.
For mavericks please ensure your network connections have ipv6 set correctly.. ie link-local.

I can't connect to internet using Time Capsule router.

My hard drive recently died. I took the iMac to the Apple store and had a 500 GB hard drive installed. I disconnected my Time Capsule so the Apple rep could restore my data. Now when I try to reconnect to the internet via Time Capsule router, it won't connect. The cable modem is fine, and the Time Capsule's status seems OK with the green light. It even seems to be backing up OK. I don't think I did anything differently, other than unplug it in order to have the Apple rep restore my data. Any thoughts out there?

It sounds like the cable company neglected to mention to you that you must completely reset the modem whenever you change the device that it is connected to. That's because the modem "associates" with a device and "remembers" the settings.
If you then change devices, the modem will "look" for the old device that was connected to it and it will of course not "find" it, so it won't connect.
That's why you need to do the complete sequence that I provided.
If you still cannot connect after the complete reset, then you may have a defective modem. I'm not trying to pick on the cable company....and yours may be an exception...but the last time my modem was having problems, the provider kept insisting that "everything looks good". But, they always say that.
I turned the modem off and called them back an hour later and they still said "everything looks good".
An Ethernet cable has a slightly wider plug than a phone cable. If that's the only connector on the modem, then it must be the right one. Ethernet cables do fail. You might want to check your cable, just in case.

Can no longer get to internet through Time Capsule

I recently had to give my iMac a static IP address, and no the wifi on my time capsule does not work.
The time capsule is and has been plugged into my LAN, my iMac plugs into the time capsule and can connect to the internet fine.
The time capsule has an IP address, has the correct DNS servers, router and domain.
from my iphone i can connect to the time capsules wifi, but cannot get out to the internet.

You have an iPhone question here, since you know that the Time Capsule is working correctly. Try the iOS Troubleshooting Guide.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1398
If still no luck, I suggest that you post in the iPhone support community so that the iPhone experts over there can help. We are not iPhone experts over here.
Using iPhone

No internet on time capsule

I am having problems with my time capsule and WiFi. I had previously set it up and everything was a-ok. Recently we had to move out of the house while there waswork being done on the floors. My guess is everything was unplugged and re-plugged. Now the wifi doesn't work and the time capsule is acting up.
So time cap is connemy thing cted to the modem thru Ethernet (wire seems fine as it functions if I just use a dlink router, which is now my back up system for wifi). The time cap seems fine, has a steady green light. On the comp (which is running on leopard) i can see the time cap. I can also see the wifi signal which is strong but nothing can connect to the internet. It keeps saying connection is slow, which not the case on dlink. So far I have ruled out damaged wires, probe with modem. I know its the time cap that is the prob but can't seem to figure out why or what.
Any guesses?

Reset to factory and start over..
Make sure you set the names to all short, no spaces and pure alphanumeric. Include a different name for 2.4ghz and 5ghz so you can force things to band of your choice.
Make sure the TC is in the right mode.. ie with a modem.. it is router.. and with an existing router it is bridged.
Make sure you create a wireless network.. not extend.
If you still have no luck use fixed wireless channels.

No internet with Time Capsule

I cant get internet through my time capsule. When i run network diagnostics, the network status says that:
Airport, Airport Settings, Network Settings and ISP are fine, but the Internet and Server have failed.
I use a cable modem from virgin media.

gareth1962jones wrote:
I've just installed time capsule with one airport extreme - which is all working fine except that I now can't get into the internet: somehow, I've ended up with two wifi networks - a new one one that the Time Capsule works with but no internet and one that connects me to the internet but not Time Capsule (the wifi network I had beforehand)
I've connected my original wireless modem to the Time Capsule via an ethernet cable. Airport utilities tells me this cable is not connected so I suspect the problem is something to do with that.
Do I need a wireless modem at all with Time Capsule?
Unless you expect problems with range, you might try replacing your AirPort Extreme with the Time Capsule. There are ways to get them to work together, but you'll probably be happier and have less hassle just doing the replacement.
I'd start by using the "Manual Setup" option of AirPort Utility to do a "File -> Save A Copy As..." of your existing AIrPort Extreme configuration. Then connect the Time Capsule in its place and use "File -> Import..." to bring your old settings into the TIme Capsule. There are probably some things you'll need to tweak, but the old settings will at least get you going in the right direction.

Slow internet with Time Capsule

I just bought a 4th generation Time Capsule to replace my Airport extreme.
With the Time Capsule my internet speed has drobbed to less them .60 mps.
When I reattach my Airport extreme I get 6 mps
I am using the lastest firmware (7.6.1) I have checked all of my setting and so has Apple.
Apple has replaced the Time Capsule 2 times, but the 3rd one still has the same problem.
When connect the DSL Modem directly to the computer or the old airport extreme everything is fine.
Apple is now saying that maybe it's my dsl modem, but AT&T says everything is fine and I am running the lastest firmware on the dsl modem.
I am running system 10.8.2 on an iMac and MacBokk Pro with Retina... Also a couple of iPads
Anyone else had this problem? Solution? Ideas?
Thanks.. Jim

Very interesting.. and Apple have not even really tried to troubleshoot this.
What model is the old airport extreme? Give me the A1xxx from the foot.
A screen shot of the setup would be very useful.. particularly the wireless.
Is the modem in bridge?
Can you bridge it and try with the TC doing pppoe?
Or do you have the modem running as router and the AEBS /TC in bridge?
When you run the TC what is the wireless link speed?
What about speed sharing a file in the local network?
I suspect your problem maybe the WAN to LAN throughput which has been reported in some cases as being an issue.. with no resolution.. the bug does not hit everyone so it could be just the combo of that particular dsl modem and TC that is part of the issue.

Wireless internet to Time Capsule?

I receive my internet signal via a wireless router. I also have a home network consisting of a Time Capsule, Mac, Apple TV, and an AirPort Express. I would like to have the TC access the internet signal from the provider's wirless router and access the internet via the TC, because a) I don't have the ability to physically connect the provider's router directly to the TC, and b) my TC needs to have access to the internet for the Apple TV. Also, if I am on my Mac and access the internet via the provider's wireless router I lose the TC's backup capability or the ability to play music from my Mac to other devices connected to the TC (like the stereo receiver and Apple TV).
1. Is there a way to program the TC to recognize the WiFi signal from the wireless router as its source for internet access?
2. I've heard of a 'bridge' but I'm not sure if that's an option here?
3. Would an Ethernet-to-WiFi converter (attached to the TC Ethernet port) work in the same directly connecting the router to the TC worked previously?

1. Is there a way to program the TC to recognize the WiFi signal from the wireless router as its source for internet access?
Yes, if you have another Apple wireless router providing the wireless signal. No, if you don't.
2. I've heard of a 'bridge' but I'm not sure if that's an option here?
Bridging would occur automatically if you have another Apple wireless router providing the wireless signal. It won't otherwise.
3. Would an Ethernet-to-WiFi converter (attached to the TC Ethernet port) work in the same directly connecting the router to the TC worked previously?
In theory, yes. In practice, things are a lot more difficult than the theory. Expect occasional disconnections due to the wireless "hop" that must occur between devices. For best results, you would need line-of-sight between your wireless router and the Time Capsule.
The "best" way to connect your current router is to use a wired Ethernet cable connection, which you can run up to 330 feet or 100 meters with no loss.
If you cannot run the cable, you might want to take a look at a pair of Ethernet powerline adapters to send the Ethernet signal over the existing AC powerlines in your home.
In theory, you already have the wiring in place, you just need the adapters. In practice, things are not quite as simple, so you would want to make sure that you understand the store's return policy in the event that things don't work out. The reason for this is that with powerline products, you won't know how well they will work...or if they will work....until you try them out in your home.
Your local computer / electroncis superstore will have a selection of powerline products to choose from, along with some advice about what might work well locally.

Gigabit internet with Time Capsule

Hello!
Need help, can not resolve it, google says nothing)
- I have previous generation Time Capsule (white and flat, don't know how to define it more clearly)
-I have gigabit internet connection
-when Time Capsule is configured to BRIDGE mode, all is Ok. Tests say I have 700-800 mbps connection. So, there is no problem with connection,
no problem with hardware or cables.
-when I configure TC to work as router (DHCP+NAT) connection speed slows to 200 mbps.
All this with WiFi off, only iMac (late 2012) connected toTime Capsule with cable.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

200Mbps seems a bit slow for a Gen3.. but it is getting old, and the actual setup of the NAT matters. As well as any degradation of the ethernet which tends to be one of the first things affected on Gen 3.
Actually, I can buy new one, if I were sure it solves the problem.
No it won't fix it.. as I said the new Gen5 TC is worse due to using a slower processor.. and Apple have not turned on hardware NAT. The same chipset used in say Asus achieves much higher results by using a built in speed up in the chip. Apple do not use the broadcom drivers because they use NETBSD firmware whereas everybody else uses Linux.
And in bridge mode I have full speed, in specs there say: "One Gigabit Ethernet WAN port for connecting a DSL or cable modem"
The fact that it has gigabit WAN is what is allowing you to get 200Mbps and not 90Mbps which is about the limit of 100mbit ethernet. But that is irrelevant to the speed reduction you get.. which is caused by the slowness of NAT processing. A router needs a very powerful processor to handle 1GB connection. Like a build your own PC with at least 3ghz i5 and maybe i7 running PFSense or similar router OS.
See http://www.pfsense.org/index.php@option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=47.ht ml
To simply get over 500Mbps throughput you need 3ghz processor. The TC is not even in the ballpark.
Without hardware speedup, the processor has to inspect every packet for NAT connection information at the very least.. if there is anything else happening in the router, QoS, Firewall etc they all make higher demands of the processor.. Apple routers of course don't have any of those things.. but you are still forced to handle the outgoing stream which might be half the speed of the incoming. Albeit much smaller packets.
See the WAN to LAN tables here.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/lanwan/router-charts/bar/74-wan-to-lan
You can see the tests for Airport Extreme which are the same as the TC. The Gen 4 is equal to the Gen5 AE.. and it achieved 430Mbps..The Gen4 AE which is equivalent to your Gen3 TC achieved 420, so, slightly less. The new AC version has a slower processor only managed 325Mbps.
The speed with the TC in bridge is fine.. it is then a switch... no router load at all.

No internet via Time Capsule

This is driving me crazy, and the 2nd level tech expert at the Apple help line wasn't able to figure it out either. I've got DSL internet at home from AT&T. Internet works fine when I plug in my MB straight to the DSL modem. Also, my Time Capsule is wirelessly doing hourly backups. I can wirelessly browse the Time Capsule.
However... when I plug ethernet from the DSL modem to Time Capsule, and try to surf wirelessly, I can't access any web pages. They just time out. Even while this is going on, Time Capsule does its scheduled backups. Weird! Note: The Time Capsule was bought in Thailand. In the wireless options of Airport Utility, it is set to China. My only country choices are Argentina, Bangladesh, Chile, China, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan and Taiwan. We did a firmware update hoping it would add all countries, but it didn't. Still, I'm connecting wirelessly for backups, so does the country really matter? At this point, the 2nd level expert gave up and said there was nothing he could do.

Assuming your Internet access is connected via broadband with PPPOE. You need to connect TC for connecting to Internet via PPPOE, just enter your broadband user name and password and let TC connection to Internet ALWAYS ON.
Once the Internet is connected, the TC light should be GREEN. And you can see that in the summary screen of the TC in Airport Utility as well.

Separating Internet From Time Capsule

Until recently I have run an ADSL setup with my modem connected to my time capsule which then acted as the wireless hub for my computers. This work fine... I had internet access and network access in one. I have now connected cable internet but my cable outlet is not near the time capsule so I have connected a wireless modem. The problem I now have is that I have to switch between the two networks. One to access the internet and one to access my printers and files stored on the TC. Firstly, I hope this make sense to someone and secondly, does anyone know if there is a way to make the TC recognise my wireless modem.
Note: As I have two large printers attached to the TC it is not feasible to relocate the TC to the modem

When you mention that you reinstalled with the IP addresses, this hints that these devices are network printers that are connected to the LAN ports on the Time Capsule, correct?
I mentioned in my previous post that the Time Capsule only becomes a wireless backup device when it is configured to "join" a wireless network. It performs no routing functions at all, so the ethernet ports on the TC are not active in this type of setup.
Sorry, I would have mentioned that the ethernet ports are not active in the "join" setup if I had known that you were planning to use network printers, but this information was not presented at the time. The USB port is still active and might be an angle for you, but this type of setup only allows printing, so if you have an all-in-one type device, only the print function will be supported if the device is compatible with the Time Capsule.
Ironically, the AirPort Express 802.11"n" version has the ability to "join" a wireless network and the ethernet port can be enabled on the device. That would unfortunately mean another device was needed for your network if you need "remote" printing capabilities.
Might you have the ability to connect your main router to the Time Capsule using an ethernet connection? This would allow the Time Capsule to function as a switch, so the ethernet ports would be active in this type of setup.

Slow internet using Time Capsule

Hi!
I have a Time Capsule and are experiencing problems with the WiFi speed. There's nothing wrong with my internet connection because when i plug in the internet caple straight into the computer I get great speed all the time.
The Time Capsule is placed about 10 cm from my new iMac so I guess there's gotta be something wrong with my frequency or channel. I've scanned my network and I've tried to use channels that are free from other WiFis but it still doesn't help. I can have 100 mbit speed in one second and then the next i can barely browse a web page.
I've also tried changing the radio mode but I don't know which one to choose. Right now I'm trying 802.11a/n-802.11b/g
Any suggestions?

I have the same mountain lion 10.8.5 and I found that my time capsule was going all the time, It took so long for it to backup, it was making me unable to get speed from my wifi connection, since when one backup competed a new backup started. I was buffering trough movies and have 50+ Mbits of Internet download speed.
I posted this reply after talking to apple 6 times on the 'time capsule slow' on another board:
I had the same problem with slow backups. Called Apple 5 times and went through all the hoops checking plists, airport, and then erasing using my airport utility and the first backup of about 25-30 gigs went fine, but the second backup would take between 1-2 hours. By the time it was finished it was ready to do another backup.
After looking at community fixes I found that my Comcast Norton Anti Virus was the problem. Upon speaking for the 6th time to Apple I was told that should have been the first thing they asked, since antivirus programs check each file going to the time capsule. Even unchecking the scan external drives did not help.
I removed the Norton AV from my system and replaced it with the IAV from apple store (free) and my backups are back to normal. I timed a 100 meg using Ethernet/LAN and it took 9 minutes 32 seconds from clicking backup now, searching for backups, preparing backup, backingup, and cleanup. My Wifi connection on 10 megs took only 1 minute 29 seconds.
Now my backups run so fast I don't even see them working. Also the constant updates to Norton were casuing my backups to be 100 megs or more each time due to daily Norton updates. Now I get backups in the order of 10-20 megs - depending up what I have put on the machine. If I put music on it increases the size of the files installed.
I recommend anyone having this slow wifi or slow time capsule problems to turn off your full antivirus program no matter what you are using and watch the difference in speed. I am so happy! No more 2 hour backups and 45 minutes to 1 hour preparing backup! good luck

Reliable internet in Time Capsule

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