2wire modem and Time Capsule hell

[sffa]

Hello

I am enjoying the magic of watching the hours get sucked into the networking hole. Maybe someone can save me.

I have a 2wire 2701-HGB modem on ATT. I have it as my router and modem over wifi and wired.

I just bought the Time Capsule, and my plan is to have the TC be my router; as well as extend my network since there is crappy coverage in my house.

I can get the TC to join a network; but when trying to create a network, things get messed up.

There seem to be differing reports about whether you can use the TC to bridge the 2wire network. Something about WDS and whether 2Wire supports that. I'm under the impression that so long as I turn off the router capability in my 2wire; as well as the wireless; and connect the TC to the 2wire with an ethernet -- the TC can be my wireless router. And as a noob, what I mean when I say this is that I am thinking my TC will create the network, and talk to the modem, handout the IP addresses and whatnot...the 2wire will just provide the pipe out....ya?

So. based on this

I read all over the place and found these instructions

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22561596-Trying-to-use-Bridged-2701HGB-with-Apple-Time-Capsule

without much luck.

I have reset the TC about 4 times, the same with the 2wire; going between messing with the TC settings first; or messing with the 2wire settings first. I can't seem to get the TC to act like a router, even when I do all the instructions on the DSL advice page.

ANYWAY -- does any one here know FOR SURE whether...

1) you can have the 2wire as a regular modem; and use the TC as a router?
2) you can extend your 2wire network with a TC
3) whether the advice at http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22561596-Trying-to-use-Bridged-2701HGB-with-Apple-Time-Capsule makes sense?


last dumb question

In Network preferences, on my macbook pro, my Airport is connected and has IP address X. My Ethernet is connected and has IP address Y. I don't understand that. Can I have two different IP addresses?

thanks!

 

[DoFoT9]

im quite experienced with 2wire modems i have one on my network.

i go 2wire (modem) -> TC (via ethernet)->computers (both wired and wireless).

are you trying to connect ur TC to the wireless network of the 2wire? or are you creating a new wireless network with the TC that uses the internet from the 2wire>?

when doing wired, connect the internet from the 2wire into the WAN port on the TC. it should work fine. it does for me.

so to answer your questions.

YES - you can use the TC with the 2wire.

YES - you will be able to extend the 2wire network (but its probably better to just use the TC network by itself)

and YES - it is possible to have two IP addresses on your computer. the IP address associates to an interface. ethernet is an interface, as is airport (wireless).

any further questions just ask away.

 

[sffa]

im quite experienced with 2wire modems i have one on my network.

THANKS!! I have some questions! I want to go through and explain exacly what happens when I try to do what you suggest....but, first my problem is that my macbook will not connect over ethernet, only over wifi??? my PC can connect to the 2wire over ethernet when i pull the cable out of the MB and stick it into the PC -- so I have messed up my ethernet settings somehow only on my macbook....any ideas? I looked in network preferences and the ethernet is just set up for DHCP...

I'm sure the ethernet port itself is working b/c I can see my 2wire gateway when plugged in over ethernet on my macbook -- just no regular internet..

 

[DoFoT9]

THANKS!! I have some questions! I want to go through and explain exacly what happens when I try to do what you suggest....but, first my problem is that my macbook will not connect over ethernet, only over wifi??? my PC can connect to the 2wire over ethernet when i pull the cable out of the MB and stick it into the PC -- so I have messed up my ethernet settings somehow only on my macbook....any ideas? I looked in network preferences and the ethernet is just set up for DHCP...

ok yup so first things first, we must get ethernet working.

can you plug in ethernet from 2wire->macbook, ensure that your airport is off, and go to system prefs->ethernet. ensure that its set to DHCP and hit "Renew DHCP". that will hopefully scan for the 2wire modem. if not, try setting everything manually. the router address of my 2wire is 10.0.0.138, so use that as your router address, subnet will be 255.255.255.0. set any IP address within the scope.

that will hopefully allow you in!

if not, we could always set up via wireless - there is no difference really lol.

the 2wire plugs in via ethernet into the WAN port of the TC. from what i remember, the only thing i configued on the TC side of things was to set the router number as 10.0.0.138. my 2wire has DHCP enabled, sending an IP address to the TC. i then have the TC sending its own DHCP addresses out to other network devices. im not sure why i set it up like it.

lately, i have the TC setup as a DMZ device (all connections incoming, such as AFP, VNC etc go directly to the TC), then i port forward the services to individual computers.

its bed time for me tho, sorry ill be back in the morning to hopefully help you some more

p.s. the "renew dhcp" button is your friend

 

[sffa]

ok yup so first things first, we must get ethernet working.

p.s. the "renew dhcp" button is your friend

okay. coolness. did your tricks (except i left my 2wire gateway address as 192.168.1.254) and then got a new dialogue box from airport that said something about the problem being that I had a device setting private Ip address on its' ethernet WAN port. that i was connected to a device or network that is using NAT to provide private IP addresses. it wanted me to change to bridge mode, so I did.

Now, I have my wireless turned off in the 2wire, and I seem to have wireless coming from the TC. yay. I also stuck in the openDNS numbers in the airport, since for some reason there was no DNS working out...

So now, I am wondering....I have my 2wire set to Bridged VC-MUX for ATM encapsulation; connection type is PPoe; and i have read a few places that I should be disbling routing to enable bridge mode. (in the mdc/management diagnostic console in the 2wire)...however, when I attempt to disable routing, it tells me that is not possible in ppoe mode.

Everything seems to be working right now with my mac connecting over widi....but *should* I have routing enabled on my 2wire if my TC is 'creating a new network'? Right now the TC is connected directly to the 2wire, and the wireless is OFF in the 2wire. The TC seems to be making wifi just fine....however, I can't connect to the WiFi network that the TC is broadcasting, with my PC? Although I can connect to that network with my PC over ethernet to the 2wire. Frack...

 

[DoFoT9]

okay. coolness. did your tricks (except i left my 2wire gateway address as 192.168.1.254) and then got a new dialogue box from airport that said something about the problem being that I had a device setting private Ip address on its' ethernet WAN port. that i was connected to a device or network that is using NAT to provide private IP addresses. it wanted me to change to bridge mode, so I did.

ohh true. you can use the WAN port as an ethernet port if you want - there is a setting in Airport Utilities, that must have been why.

Now, I have my wireless turned off in the 2wire, and I seem to have wireless coming from the TC. yay. I also stuck in the openDNS numbers in the airport, since for some reason there was no DNS working out...

yay! no DNS? thank your ISP i guess....

So now, I am wondering....I have my 2wire set to Bridged VC-MUX for ATM encapsulation; connection type is PPoe; and i have read a few places that I should be disbling routing to enable bridge mode. (in the mdc/management diagnostic console in the 2wire)...however, when I attempt to disable routing, it tells me that is not possible in ppoe mode.

my settings are slightly different to yours.
connection type: PPPoA
ATM encapsulation: LLC (PVC search disabled)
broadband IP & DNS are set to "obtain automatically".
i wonder if those settings are related to my ISP/DSL protocols??

Everything seems to be working right now with my mac connecting over widi....but *should* I have routing enabled on my 2wire if my TC is 'creating a new network'? Right now the TC is connected directly to the 2wire, and the wireless is OFF in the 2wire. The TC seems to be making wifi just fine....however, I can't connect to the WiFi network that the TC is broadcasting, with my PC? Although I can connect to that network with my PC over ethernet to the 2wire. Frack...

are you referring to routing the wireless from the 2wire to the TC? if so, no! if your talking about routing the ethernet to the TC, then yes

what wireless settings/encryption are you using from the TC? quite often on a PC you will manually have to input the settings and ensure that you select the correct settings.

to double check, have you turned off the 2wires wireless?

 

[sffa]

ohh true. you can use the WAN port as an ethernet port if you want - there is a setting in Airport Utilities, that must have been why.


to double check, have you turned off the 2wires wireless?

I am closer today

I have the 2wire with the wireless OFF
I went into the MDC turned off routing; set it to direct IP.
My big learning is that you have to hold that 2wire reset button down for like 20 seconds until it power cycles...so i wasn't actually resetting it before.
The only thing the 2wire is doing is running the ethernet to the TC (and ether net to the PC laptop -- more on this later)
The TC is creating the wifi network. Got time machine backing up. ALso have my 32 Gigs of photos on that TC drive.airpor

It's lovely.

The only problem I have now is that my XP laptop and my windows 7 netbook won't connect to the TC wifi. The playstation is connected over wifi. Can't figure out why the pcsthey aren't connecting. any ideas?

on the XP box the error I get is: WIndows in unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. please refresh and try again. (it is in range and refresing does not help) I have changed the channel from 11 to 9 for no good reason, and tried a different radio mode (what is the right TC radio mode anyway? N, G Automatic?) any ideas?

 

[sffa]

I am closer today

I have the 2wire with the wireless OFF
I went into the MDC turned off routing; set it to direct IP.
My big learning is that you have to hold that 2wire reset button down for like 20 seconds until it power cycles...so i wasn't actually resetting it before.
The only thing the 2wire is doing is running the ethernet to the TC (and ether net to the PC laptop -- more on this later)
The TC is creating the wifi network. Got time machine backing up. ALso have my 32 Gigs of photos on that TC drive.airpor

It's lovely.

The only problem I have now is that my XP laptop and my windows 7 netbook won't connect to the TC wifi. The playstation is connected over wifi. Can't figure out why the pcsthey aren't connecting. any ideas?

on the XP box the error I get is: WIndows in unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. please refresh and try again. (it is in range and refresing does not help) I have changed the channel from 11 to 9 for no good reason, and tried a different radio mode (what is the right TC radio mode anyway? N, G Automatic?) any ideas?

------UPDATE---SUCCESS!

I had my security set to WPA. When I set to WPA/WPA2 Personal it worked immediately on my XP box, and I had to update the encryption on my Windows 7 network and that worked too. On the W7 Netbook, it prompted my to connect to the TC network. I have not installed any airport software on either.

 

[DoFoT9]

I am closer today

I have the 2wire with the wireless OFF
I went into the MDC turned off routing; set it to direct IP.
My big learning is that you have to hold that 2wire reset button down for like 20 seconds until it power cycles...so i wasn't actually resetting it before.
The only thing the 2wire is doing is running the ethernet to the TC (and ether net to the PC laptop -- more on this later)
The TC is creating the wifi network. Got time machine backing up. ALso have my 32 Gigs of photos on that TC drive.airpor

It's lovely.

The only problem I have now is that my XP laptop and my windows 7 netbook won't connect to the TC wifi. The playstation is connected over wifi. Can't figure out why the pcsthey aren't connecting. any ideas?

on the XP box the error I get is: WIndows in unable to connect to the selected network. The network may no longer be in range. please refresh and try again. (it is in range and refresing does not help) I have changed the channel from 11 to 9 for no good reason, and tried a different radio mode (what is the right TC radio mode anyway? N, G Automatic?) any ideas?

------UPDATE---SUCCESS!

I had my security set to WPA. When I set to WPA/WPA2 Personal it worked immediately on my XP box, and I had to update the encryption on my Windows 7 network and that worked too. On the W7 Netbook, it prompted my to connect to the TC network. I have not installed any airport software on either.

congrats!! i was going to say exactly that, that you should use WPA/WPA2 personal! its what i use and its the most secure.

you shouldnt have to install software onto the windows computers to access them, its a generic wireless network just like any other company will product - thats why standards were invented.

(what is the right TC radio mode anyway? N, G Automatic?) any ideas?

thats totally your discretion and depended on your type of environment. do you have any 802.11G computers/devices? if so, then you will need to use the "G" mode. if you have only 801.22N decides, then use "N" mode. if you have both, then there should be an option to send out in dual band mode (i think).

glad that its finally working see, i told you it would!

 

[sffa]

glad that its finally working see, i told you it would!

it all seems so simple now

 

[DoFoT9]

it all seems so simple now

thats IT for you! im glad that its working

 

[Dskaines]

I know its been awhile since this thread has been replyed to.

I am wondering if it is possible to "Wirelessly" extend a network of a 2wire modem. Meaning that my 2wire modem is on one side of the house and my TC is on the other and I will not be able to use a ethernet cable. Reason being I am trying to use my TC only for an Airwave(cell phone signal booster) and my 2wire modem is in a closet. The airwave has to be able to recieve GPS signal and cannot do so in the closet.

 

[jbryan635]

I am wondering if it is possible to "Wirelessly" extend a network of a 2wire modem. Meaning that my 2wire modem is on one side of the house and my TC is on the other and I will not be able to use a ethernet cable. Reason being I am trying to use my TC only for an Airwave(cell phone signal booster) and my 2wire modem is in a closet. The airwave has to be able to recieve GPS signal and cannot do so in the closet.

I have a 2wire AT&T router connected to my TC. I can tell you that you cannot just extend the 2Wire router via the TC. However you can setup the TC like I did to be your wireless network and connect it via Ethernet to your 2wire and then by an airport express to extend the TC wireless. It works, so then you could do what you want to do 2wire and TC in closet then other side of the house airport express extending your TC Network.
Thanks JB