Newbie needs help with Time Capsule

[saranee]

Hi all,

Sorry if this get's lengthy. I am new to macs and I do work some with computers, but can easily get confused .

So here is what I am trying to do. I have a pool house about 150 feet from my back door. I have a new macbook air and I want to be able to sit in the pool house and work on it wirelessly (is that a word??). Anyway,

My current set up is this:

In my tv room which is located on the "second" floor of the house at the "front" of the house, I have a cable modem and a Netgear Rangemax Dual Band wireless Router closed away in a small closet in the tv room along with all the other tv stuff. The wireless router works great "inside" the house. I can access it from all rooms of the house. But it does not reach outside, let alone down to the pool house.

So, my husband bought me an Apple Time capsule. One, for backup, and two, thinking that by placing that in the bedroom at the back of the house, which has visual contact of the pool house, it would allow me to use my macbook air in the pool house.

Well this is not the case. I still cannot get internet down at the pool house. Now my husband is not really computer savy either, so it may be that he did not set the time capsule up correctly?

So my question is, the way this is currently set up, and if the time capusle was set up correctly, would the wireless waves from the time capsule reach the pool house from the facing bedroom??? Or is this just not possible?

If I have too, I could move my cable modem and the Netgear router downstairs to the bedroom, and maybe that would allow for the macbook air to access internet from the pool house???, but It is a pain to crawl into that closet and unhook everything. I was hoping that having the time capsule would make life easier.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all your patience....

Saranee

 

[MCAsan]

Time Capsule in the house...second floor as close to pool house as possible. In the pool house, an Airport Express base station as close to the house as possoble. Set up the Express to extend the wifi network created by TC. On the Express you can plug in ethernet to your MBA to get avoid two separate wifi hops (TC - Express - MBA).

Airport Express is around $100 list...a few bucks less at some retailers.

 

[flynz4]

Hi all,

Sorry if this get's lengthy. I am new to macs and I do work some with computers, but can easily get confused .

So here is what I am trying to do. I have a pool house about 150 feet from my back door. I have a new macbook air and I want to be able to sit in the pool house and work on it wirelessly (is that a word??). Anyway,

My current set up is this:

In my tv room which is located on the "second" floor of the house at the "front" of the house, I have a cable modem and a Netgear Rangemax Dual Band wireless Router closed away in a small closet in the tv room along with all the other tv stuff. The wireless router works great "inside" the house. I can access it from all rooms of the house. But it does not reach outside, let alone down to the pool house.

So, my husband bought me an Apple Time capsule. One, for backup, and two, thinking that by placing that in the bedroom at the back of the house, which has visual contact of the pool house, it would allow me to use my macbook air in the pool house.

Well this is not the case. I still cannot get internet down at the pool house. Now my husband is not really computer savy either, so it may be that he did not set the time capsule up correctly?

So my question is, the way this is currently set up, and if the time capusle was set up correctly, would the wireless waves from the time capsule reach the pool house from the facing bedroom??? Or is this just not possible?

If I have too, I could move my cable modem and the Netgear router downstairs to the bedroom, and maybe that would allow for the macbook air to access internet from the pool house???, but It is a pain to crawl into that closet and unhook everything. I was hoping that having the time capsule would make life easier.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for all your patience....

Saranee

Can you connect to the time capsule when you are close to it? That is the first thing to check... and will let you know if it is set up correctly.

/Jim

 

[saranee]

Hi Jim,

Good point. I guess that really is the best place to start and I really did not do that. I am not sure how to do that though.

I just went to:
System Preferences
Internet & Wireless - network

In the "Network" box it says that my status is "connected"

But the only network name that appears is my Netgear Router Network Name. Am I looking in the right spot and what should I be looking for to find out if I am connected to the time capsule?

Thanks,
Saranee

 

[mmomega]

First thing I'll ask is

How are you trying to extend your Network?
By that I am saying do you have the Time Capsule physically connected to the Netgear via a cable or wirelessly?

A way to check if you're connected to the TC is to open Airport Utility and click on the device. It should then show you all wireless client that are connected to it.
If you see your MacBooks name or IP address in the list then you are connected to it.

Also Netgear has made many different rangemax models so I'm not sure which model you have to see if it has WDS (wireless distribution system) which is needed if you want to extend your network wirelessly.

 

[saranee]

If they are connected at all, then it would be wirelessly.

The Netgear Router is on the second floor of the house. The Time Capsule is on the main level of the house.

The Router upstairs is a NetGear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR 3300) if that is helpful.

Ok, this is where you start to shake your head. Where is the Airport Utility located? On the Macbook Air or on the Time Capsule .

Saranee

 

[Weaselboy]

If they are connected at all, then it would be wirelessly.

The Netgear Router is on the second floor of the house. The Time Capsule is on the main level of the house.

The Router upstairs is a NetGear RangeMax Dual Band Wireless-N Router (WNDR 3300) if that is helpful.

Ok, this is where you start to shake your head. Where is the Airport Utility located? On the Macbook Air or on the Time Capsule .

Saranee

Your router does support WDS. Here are instructions how to enable it. That said, WDS between different brands (Netgear>Apple) always seems spotty. So don't be surprised if it will not work. It seems to be better supported if using both routers from the same brand.

You can find the Airport Utility in the /Applications/Utilities folder on your Macbook Air.

 

[saranee]

Ok, so I went to the applications/Utility and this is the picture it showed:

If you can't view picture, let me know. I uploaded it in the "attach file" box.

Anyway, it shows the globe at the top,

below that it says "Internet" and it has a circle that has a green light on next to the word "Internet"

Then below that is a picture of the time capusle

and below that it has a green circle next to the words "saranee's Time Capsule.

I assume that the green circles mean that I am connected to the Time Capsule wirelessly???

Saranee

 

[saranee]

I need to run out for a bit, but will get back on line when I return later this afternoon. Thank you for your help. It is REALLY appreciated.

Saranee

 

[saranee]

I assume by the attached picture below "saranee's time capsule" that I did connect wirelessly to the time capsule correctly?

 

[saranee]

I read that you should only have one router in the house. That I could turn my time capsule into a bridge. Would that make it possible for me to extend my wireless reach to the pool house if I do that?

 

[smellalot]

I assume by the attached picture below "saranee's time capsule" that I did connect wirelessly to the time capsule correctly?

No, it means your TC is connected wirelessly (dotted line) to your main router. Presumably as a simple wireless client and therefore not extending your wifi network.

To extend your existing wifi you have two options:
- setting ups WDS on both routers (as someone else pointed out this mostly does not work) or
- create a roaming network. This will work, but the TC and your Netgear router will need a wired connection.

Maybe you should get a Netgear range extender. I suspect it will work with you existing router.

 

[saranee]

Do you think if I placed the netgear range extender in the bedroom facing the pool house that the wirless connection would reach the lap top in the pool house which is about 150 feet away?

 

[smellalot]

All I can say is "it depends". On whats in the way between the extender and your macbook. It sure is worth a try.

I'd try this by placing the TC in that place to see if you can connect to it.
- press the reset button for about 10 sec
- make a new configuration so it creates its own wifi network
- then try if you can connect to it from your pool house