2

I have a modem+wireless router that my ISP gave that I use to connect to the internet as well as connect my IP TV box.

I just bought a Time Capsule and I want to use it as the wireless access point. Unfortunately I am having difficulty getting the TC to connect to the internet. I have already turned off the wireless on the ISP router but I am afraid if I mess with any DHCP settings I might lose access to my TV set top box; ditto with bridge mode. However I am open to any suggestion.

Isnt there a way for the TC to connect to the internet over my existing router and use a different IP range to allow wireless devices to connect to it?

bobbyalex
  • 483
  • 3
  • 6
  • 18

2 Answers2

2

Well, as it turns out there IS a way to do this.

Connect the TC to the ISP's router using an ethernet cable. This will cause the ISP's router to allocate an IP address for it. Go into your ISP router's settings and find the place where you can reserve an IP. It will probably ask you for the IP and MAC address. You can find these details on the page where the router shows all connected devices.

Next, open the DHCP settings page on the ISP's router and reduce the allocated range. For eg: if the range allocated was from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.253 change the ending address to 192.168.1.150. This is just an example, you can change the end address to anything you want.

After you have done this, go to your TC's internet settings and change the address allocation setting to Static; by default it would have been set to DHCP + NAT. Enter the IP address you reserved in the previous step, here. In all possibility it would already have be filled in.

Next, go to the DHCP page of the TC and change the allocation range to 192.168.1.151 - 192.168.1.250. We are allocating the remaining range to the TC so that it can hand it out to any connected clients.

Restart the ISP's router. Once that is up, restart the TC.

bobbyalex
  • 483
  • 3
  • 6
  • 18
1

Put the time capsule in bridge mode: https://discussions.apple.com/message/23393821 that turns off the 2nd router and let's your ISPs device perform router functions.

Tyson
  • 1,490
  • 12
  • 13
  • With this wont I lose routing functionality on the TC? I also have a windows machine that needs access to the TC files. – bobbyalex Jul 24 '14 at 13:55
  • Plus the ISP router ethernet is 100 mbps and that will probably slow down my backups. – bobbyalex Jul 24 '14 at 13:55
  • The router only sets up communication between machine A and machine B, it doesn't actually handle each packet sent from A to B when A and B are on the same network. You are in fact turning off the router of the TC by putting it in bridge mode, but the need is ONLY ONE router on the network. – Tyson Jul 24 '14 at 14:00
  • My point it this: when I put the TC into bridge mode, I wont be able to use any of the ethernet ports on the TC, correct? So I have to hookup my windows PC to the ISP router which only has 100 Mbps ethernet ports effectively slowing down any large file transfers. Also does the wireless of the TC work in bridge mode? – bobbyalex Jul 24 '14 at 14:18
  • You can ask your ISP to change your modem/router to bridge mode rather than setting bridge mode on the TC. This would actually be my preference if this were my problem to sort. Beware tho, you need to get thru a layer of tech support to get this done... the front line call takers will most likely tell you it can't be done. here is an example: http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Home-Networking-Router-WiFi/Arris-TG862-Bridge-Mode/td-p/1527885 – Tyson Jul 24 '14 at 14:46