How to use Time Capsule 2TB on Mesh Network?

[MitzEclipse]

Hi all

I used to use my Time Capsule exclusively as my router, however, the wifi did not extend properly to one of the rooms in my flat. Hence, I purchased a Netgear Orbi mesh network and I've been very satisfied with the range and wifi speeds.

The issue now is that my macbook pro is not being backed up as I'm not using the Time Capsule's wifi. Is there a way to disable the Time Capsule's wifi and connect directly to the hard drive inside to keep my backups going via Time Machine?

Thanks in advance

 

[estabya]

When I used my old 5th gen Time Capsule for backups I set it up as router with Wi-Fi off, plugged the mesh system into it, and then set my mesh system to bridge mode. It worked great. The Orbi supports bridge mode (called AP mode), so you should be able to set it up that way.

 

[MitzEclipse]

thank you - that seems to work...i have other issues now but with the Orbi setup (can't access the admin console orbilogin.com after changing to bridge setting) but I'll seek help on the netgear forums for this as it's not specific to apple. Thanks again

 

[chrfr]

thank you - that seems to work...i have other issues now but with the Orbi setup (can't access the admin console orbilogin.com after changing to bridge setting) but I'll seek help on the netgear forums for this as it's not specific to apple. Thanks again

I'd do it the other way around. Let the Orbi be the router but put the Time Capsule into bridge mode, turn off its wifi, and connect the Time Capsule via ethernet to the network.

 

[estabya]

I'd do it the other way around. Let the Orbi be the router but put the Time Capsule into bridge mode, turn off its wifi, and connect the Time Capsule via ethernet to the network.

I tried this first, but it didn’t seem to work reliably for all of my Macs. Sometimes my laptops just couldn’t see it unless I rebooted the Time Capsule. I couldn’t get it to work for me but YMMV.

 

[mikzn]

I'd do it the other way around. Let the Orbi be the router but put the Time Capsule into bridge mode, turn off its wifi, and connect the Time Capsule via ethernet to the network.

Any reason to turn off the wifi? I have mine running with "wifi on" and the router wifi running as well - seems to work fine ?

 

[chrfr]

Any reason to turn off the wifi? I have mine running with "wifi on" and the router wifi running as well - seems to work fine ?

It's counterproductive to good wifi performance to have a mesh network you're using, and then leave the wifi enabled on the Time Capsule sitting there with nothing connected to it.

 

[MitzEclipse]

I'd do it the other way around. Let the Orbi be the router but put the Time Capsule into bridge mode, turn off its wifi, and connect the Time Capsule via ethernet to the network.

Any reason to do this? Right now everything seems to be working and I'm getting good wifi speeds... (if it ain't broke...)

 

[mikzn]

It's counterproductive to good wifi performance to have a mesh network you're using, and then leave the wifi enabled on the Time Capsule sitting there with nothing connected to it.

Good to know - thanks for the reply 👍

 

[jdf999]

Hi all, interesting thread. I'm having a similar problem. Using a Deco M5 mesh network running on a Vodafone modem.

The Deco system is in "Access point" mode, (which I presume is the same as bridge mode?) only options are router mode or access point - which seems to suggest it is being driven by my Vodafone router.

I can plug my Gen 5 TC into one of the M5's and set it up absolutely fine, I set it up in Bridge mode, enter the required password etc and it works absolutely fine, until I come to turn the computer off......when it reboots, although the TC light is green, and airport utility shows the TC as Green, my computer won't connect to the TC - it asks for the password, I enter the correct password but it then rejects and refuses to connect to TC.

Infuriating as I have a large hard drive plugged in to the TC which has lots of files on I need to use around the house. (It still behaves the same way if a disconnect the hard drive too).

I'm an absolute computer beginner but I suspect its a network setting that I need to change in the TC setup or perhaps on the Deco system, although the Deco APP doesn't allow any real modifications to control.

I would appreciate if anyone has any ideas on what to try that would be great. At the moment I have to do a TC hard-reset every time I want to link to it - arrrrrgh!

Thanks, JDF

p.s. please keep it as simple and stepwise as possible. I could really understand what was being said above around using the TC as wifi and connecting Mesh network to it....what setting / leads would I set up to try this?